Trentonian reporter Isaac Avilucea sues state prosecutors for attacking his reputation

TRENTON — Award-winning Trentonian news reporter Isaac Avilucea is seeking damages and demanding a trial by jury in a lawsuit he filed against bigwigs from the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.

His complaint against Deputy Attorneys General John Tolleris and Erin O’Leary accuses them of being “motivated by malice” when they falsely attempted to portray Avilucea as a lawbreaking journalist.

The complaint, filed May 7 in the Mercer County Superior Court Law Division, is centered upon the harrowing tale of 2016 and 2017 when representatives of the state AG’s office tried to prevent Avilucea and The Trentonian from publishing sensitive information about a boy who twice brought drugs to school.

Avilucea lawfully obtained a child custody report about a 5-year-old boy who was found with drugs at school on two separate occasions, but Tolleris accused the journalist of stealing the documents, and O’Leary falsely painted Avilucea as an unethical reporter who would do anything to get a story, according to the allegations in his lawsuit and courtroom testimony.

Read more: https://www.trentonian.com/news/trentonian-reporter-isaac-avilucea-sues-state-prosecutors-for-attacking-his/article_d3409132-7455-11e9-a195-f73f252393f0.html