The Township of Stafford agreed to pay $34,000 to a man who claimed that Mayor John Spodofora used "the Stafford Police as his personal agents" to retaliate against him for publicly criticizing Spodofora for "stolen valor" (i.e. exaggeration of military service).
In his lawsuit, Earl Galloway, a retired Navy Master Chief, said that after he created a spoof Facebook page called "Spodophony" which contained "accurate information to correct [Spodofora's] exaggerations and fabrications" regarding his service in the Vietnam conflict, Spodofora filed an identify theft charge against him, attempted to block Galloway's membership into the Stafford GOP club and publicly accused him of "hacking into [Spodofora's] child's computer and stealing files."
Galloway's lawsuit also claimed that Stafford police released his phone number, date of birth and social security number to the Asbury Park Press which subsequently published this confidential information.
Also named in the suit was Stafford Police Chief Joseph Giberson.
The case is captioned Galloway v. Stafford, Essex County Superior Court Docket No. OCN-L-1146-15 and Galloway's attorneys were Joshua S. Bauchner and Michael H. Ansell of Woodland Park.
The settlement agreement contains a confidentiality clause, which prevents the parties to the suit from publicly disclosing the settlement terms.
None of lawsuit's allegations have been proven or disproven in court. Settlement agreements typically state that payment does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing by any of the defendants.
All that is known for sure is that Stafford or its insurer, for whatever reason, decided that it would rather pay Galloway $34,000 than take the matter to trial.