A New Jersey police chief has been indicted on charges including kidnapping and several counts of domestic assault and battery after an alleged incident at a Boston hotel, according to statements from the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office. Carmen Veneziano, 47, the chief of the Totowa Police Department, has been accused of confining and assaulting a woman in a hotel room in the Back Bay neighborhood on September 14, sometime between the early hours of 3:30 and 5:30 a.m., as reported by NBC Boston.
Veneziano, who was arrested last Friday by police linked to the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office, waived extradition proceedings and is set to face the court in Massachusetts, while back in his hometown, acting swiftly upon receiving word of the gravity of the charges laid before Veneziano, the Mayor of Totowa, John Coiro, suspended Veneziano without pay pending the outcome of the trial, as per a statement from WCVB, the mayor remarked, "While I did not see the exact charges in writing, the Prosecutor’s Office did relay to me that these charges were serious in nature and considered felonies," and detailed his action, "On Friday afternoon, December 19, 2025, based on the situation and after consultation with the two senior members of our Public Safety Committee, I immediately suspended Mr. Veneziano without pay until the legal process is concluded."
Prior to this incident, Veneziano was charged with operating under the influence and reckless, careless driving as well as being a fugitive from justice stemming from a February 2025 episode in Point Pleasant, signaling not the first of his run-ins with the law even as he held the office of the chief of police since March 2020. Veneziano is expected to stand before the court for the arraignment on the kidnapping and assault and battery charges at Suffolk Superior Court today, where further details surrounding the allegations might be disclosed.
