Suspended Island Heights Cop Who Lied About Guns Indicted: Prosecutor

TOMS RIVER, NJ ? A suspended Island Heights police detective has been indicted in connection with lying about following a court order and turning over all of his handguns, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Tuesday.

Matthew Curtis, 47, of Little Egg Harbor Township, was indicted Aug. 30 on providing a false report to law enforcement authorities, contempt of a judicial or protective order, and being a certain person prohibited from possessing a weapon, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

Curtis had been ordered on May 11, 2022, to surrender to law enforcement any guns that he owned or possessed under a temporary restraining order issued in connection with a domestic violence investigation, Billhimer said.

On May 11, 2022, Curtis surrendered several weapons, and on May 13, 2022, he wrote and signed a letter saying he had sold three handguns registered to him prior to the issuance of the TRO, and said he no longer owned them, Billhimer said.

A subsequent weapons trace by the U.S. Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives indicated Curtis was still the registered owner of those handguns, Billhimer said.

On Dec. 11, 2022, Curtis filed a report with the Little Egg Harbor Police Department saying three handguns were stolen from his unlocked personal vehicle in front of his home.

The investigation showed one of the handguns he said was stolen was among the three he claimed to have sold before the temporary restraining order was issued, Billhimer said.

The firearm Curtis first claimed to have sold and later claimed was stolen was later recovered from a defendant accused of stealing a motor vehicle and eluding in Essex County, Billhimer said.

Curtis was charged and processed at the Ocean County Sheriff's Office on Feb. 14, 2023, and released on a summons. He was suspended with pay from his job with the Island Heights Police Department on that date, Billhimer said.