Warren County pays $2M to 2nd victim of ex-sheriff allegedly known for raping boys in custody

Edward Bullock was Warren County's sheriff from 1982 to 1991, when he abruptly resigned amid an investigation. This photo was taken in April 1992 when he was sentenced for official misconduct. Accusations that he sexually assaulted boys in custody persisted until his death 2015 and lawsuits allege the county knowingly ignored Bullock's actions.

Edward Bullock, then a Lopatcong Township resident, became Warren County's sheriff in 1982 at the age of 51, following the resignation of Kenneth Gaylord. Bullock previously served three years as undersheriff, preceded by 18 years as a constable in the county court, and was appointed by Gov. Tom Kean to finish the term.

Following his appointment to the sheriff post in June 1982, Bullock ran on the Republican ticket and won his first full term that November.

In 1985, the now-55-year-old Edward Bullock ran for a second term as Warren County's sheriff and won.

In 1988, Edward Bullock won his third term as Warren County's sheriff. He called himself a "natural" for the job, according to an Express-Times story before the election, which also says he was a 1946 graduate of Phillipsburg Catholic High School and served in the Army from 1951 to 1953.

Edward Bullock won his fourth term as Warren County's sheriff in November 1991. He abruptly resigned later that month.

"I'm just completely stressed," was Edward Bullock's explanation for his resignation as Warren County's sheriff in November 1991. For months, rumors swirled about the reason until it was announced in March 1992 that he was the subject of a state police sting operation in which he tried to curry sexual favors from a trooper posing as a sexually abused teenaged boy.

Former Warren County Sheriff Edward Bullock pleaded guilty to official misconduct in April 1992. He served nine months in jail.

Former Warren County Sheriff Edward Bullock, then an Ocean County resident, returns to the courthouse in March 2014 after surrendering to authorities on sex abuse charges. In addition to criminal charges, the first of four civil suits alleging abuse was filed in 2013.

Ex-Warren County sheriff Edward Bullock, 86, appears in state Superior Court in Flemington in July 2015 for his trial on charges he sexually assaulted a boy in the 1980s. The jury eventually deadlocked, with one juror saying they believed the accuser's claims but did not see enough physical evidence to convict Bullock.

Edward Bullock leaves court in Flemington in July 2015 after a jury deadlocked in the 86-year-old former Warren County sheriff's trial on child sex assault charges. A February retrial was planned but Bullock died Nov. 16, 2015. Warren County still faces four lawsuits alleging officials knew of Bullock's actions in the 1970s and '80s and did nothing to stop him.

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Warren County has settled the second in a series of lawsuits over a former sheriff who allegedly was known to rape boys in county custody in the 1980s.

The county agreed to pay the accuser $2 million, with the amount split between the county and its insurer. The settlement was confirmed by NJ Advance Media during research for a special report on police-related lawsuit settlements across New Jersey.

After a decade of fighting in court, victims of former Sheriff Edward Bullock have now received a combined $7 million from Warren County and its insurer. Two lawsuits are still pending.

• MORE: 16 times N.J. cop misconduct cases were settled for $1M or more

Bullock was sheriff from 1982 to 1991. He abruptly resigned after he was caught in a New Jersey State Police sting soliciting sex from an undercover trooper he thought was an underage boy. Bullock pleaded guilty to official misconduct in 1992 and served nine months in jail.

The ex-sheriff died in 2015 at age 86, a few months after a jury deadlocked in a criminal trial over one of the alleged rapes.

The latest settlement concludes a lawsuit filed in 2015. The victim, identified only by the initials C.C., was 14 and 15 years old and under the county’s care during four alleged assaults by the sheriff, including Bullock giving the boy back rubs in his courthouse office and fondling the teen during a transport to the county youth shelter.

Previously, the county reached a $5 million settlement with another accuser in 2022, just before that civil case went to trial. That lawsuit was filed in 2013.

A third lawsuit was filed in 2016, just a couple months after Bullock died. It claims a young boy in custody, identified as R.M., was “targeted and repeatedly abused” between 1987 and 1989, including “literally dozens of times” while being transported between county facilities. It also says that the boy was abused at Bullock’s Lopatcong Township home and at the home of Bullock’s friend, identified only as R.C.

A fourth civil suit was filed in 2020. In it, the accuser says he was a teenage hitchhiker on his way to New York City in 1979 when Bullock, then an undersheriff, picked him up in an official vehicle, drugged him and raped him with another man before the teen could escape.

A small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenges the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

Wendy Goetz, of Frelinghuysen Twp. attends the small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenging the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

A small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenges the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

A small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenges the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

A small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenges the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

A small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenges the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

A small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenges the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

A small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenges the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

A small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenges the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

A small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenges the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

A small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenges the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

Jack Jeffress, currently of Los Angeles, attends the small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenging the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

Crystal Montgomery, of Phillipsburg, attends a small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenging the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

Kathryn Parkinson-Gee, of Long Valley, attends the small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenging the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

Bridget Murphy, 3, Maggie Murphy, 5, and James Murphy, 7, of Belvidere, attend the protest with their parents outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenging the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

A small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenges the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

A small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenges the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

A small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenges the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

Christopher Bauknight, of Washington Boro. attends the small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenging the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

Monique Davis-Campbell, Franklin Twp., Sommerset County atttends the small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenging the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

Wendy Goetz, of Frelinghuysen Twp. attends the small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenging the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

A small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenges the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

Jack Jeffress, currently of Los Angeles, attends the small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenging the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

A small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenges the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

A small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenges the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

Jack Jeffress, currently of Los Angeles, attends the small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenging the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

W.M. attends a small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenging the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

A small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenges the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

A small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenges the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

Jack Jeffress, currently of Los Angeles, and Tammy Healy, of Sparta, attend the small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenging the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

Jack Jeffress, currently of Los Angeles, attends the small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenging the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

Jack Jeffress, currently of Los Angeles, and attends the small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenging the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

Jack Jeffress, currently of Los Angeles, and Tammy Healy, of Sparta, attend the small protest outside the Warren County Court House in Belvidere On April 27, 2021, challenging the county to acknowledge its role in former Sheriff Edward Bullock’s alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the county’s care. Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor

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