A civil trial against a former Roseland police officer accused of grooming and sexually abusing a teenage girl may be pushed back again, as attorneys for the woman ask a judge to extend the pretrial discovery deadline by two weeks. The woman says Richard Haffner, a 15-year veteran of the Roseland Police Department, used his badge and his position to coerce her into sexual acts starting when she was 14.
According to The Progress, Haffner began grooming the victim after she was hired at The Chicken Factory, where she worked for him, and he went on to repeatedly coerce her into sexual acts over roughly two years. The lawsuit alleges he used his authority as a police officer to manipulate her and contacted her. He also employed her at a Roseland restaurant, according to the same report.
Court filings cited by the paper describe how Haffner demanded the victim stay silent. The report also says Haffner's girlfriend reported his relationship with an underage girl in summer 2020 and abruptly recanted days later.
Evidence That Led to Haffner's Arrest
Haffner was arrested on March 31, 2021, and ultimately charged with aggravated sexual assault and endangering a child's welfare. The original March 2021 indictment brought by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office comprised 21 criminal counts, including multiple charges of aggravated sexual assault of a minor under his power, witness tampering, and engaging in prostitution as a patron, according to Essex News Daily.
During the criminal investigation, detectives executed a search warrant on the phone belonging to Haffner's girlfriend and retrieved a voicemail in his own voice detailing his intent to engage in sexual acts with the minor victim, according to the Scardella Law Firm. Investigators also say Haffner sent inappropriate text messages to the victim. Haffner was suspended without pay before his March 31, 2021, arrest after the prostitution-patron accusation, according to Daily Voice.
Haffner faced criminal charges in the case. The civil lawsuit alleges that law enforcement agencies enabled Haffner's abuse and failed to investigate or notify authorities once red flags emerged.
Why the Trial Keeps Slipping
The Progress reported that attorneys for the woman asked a judge to extend the pretrial discovery deadline by two weeks, a request that could push the trial back another five months if approved.
New Jersey's Daniel's Law restricts disclosure of home addresses and unpublished telephone numbers without a court order. Enacted in November 2020 after the fatal shooting of the son of Judge Esther Salas, the law shields the addresses and unpublished phone numbers of active, former, and retired judicial officers, prosecutors, and police officers, according to the New Jersey Office of Information Privacy.
A Statute Built to Protect Officers, Now Colliding With Abuse Claims
The tension is not unique to Roseland. In June 2025, the New Jersey Supreme Court issued a unanimous 5-0 ruling affirming that Daniel's Law protections apply strictly to bar disclosure of protected officers' home addresses even when sought for public interest reporting or oversight, according to NJ Spotlight News.
At the same time, the civil case raises questions about potential institutional responsibility for alleged childhood sexual abuse.
