Three suspended New Jersey cops have racked up over $2.6 million in salary — including annual pay raises — as they appeal their suspension for using the “n-word” and other racial slurs on the job in 2019.
Clark Township Police Chief Pedro Matos, internal affairs Sgt. Joseph Teston, and Capt. Vincent Concina are each collecting six-figure salaries for the past five years.
The trio were first suspended in 2020 and remain embroiled in a lawsuit with the town, suing to get back to work, NJ.com reported.
In 2019, a whistleblower in the police department secretly recorded Matos and Teston making the racist statements.
Matos talked of reinvestigating a 2017 bias incident in which a black puppet was found hanging at local high school, stating, “Because I want to prove that them f—–g n—–s did it,” according to one recording.
In another audio tape, Teston compared a black suspect to a “f—–g animal,” saying he had a “big f—–g monkey head,” according to NJ.com.
Matos makes an annual salary of $195,995 and has seen his pay rise 18.9% since being suspended. Taxpayers have shelled out $979,278 to him since he was shelved.
Concina’s annual salary is $178,979 — jumping 18.8% since his suspension — costing Garden State taxpayers $894,641.
And Teston took home $147,556 in 2025 — with a 14.7% salary increase while suspended — totaling $744,626.
In sum, Jersey taxpayers shelled out more than $2,618,585 — about $22,000 every two weeks.
The cops’ suits in Superior Court claim that prosecutors delayed completing the investigation into misconduct violations for more than 18 months, and concluded in 2023 by filing no charges against the officers.
Due to the prolonged delay, lawyers for the officers claim that they should face no disciplinary action for the caught-on-tape slurs — for which Clark Township paid a $400,000 hush-money settlement in 2020 to a whistleblower.
Concina was not caught using slurs, but was accused of retaliating against whistleblower Lt. Antonio Manata for exposing Matos and Teston, according to the report.
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