Bergen County judge suspended for three months after 'inappropriate' TikToks

The Supreme Court of New Jersey has suspended a Bergen County judge from judicial office without pay for three months after he was accused of committing three judicial conduct violations by posting "inappropriate" TikTok videos of himself over a two-year span.

The court ordered that the suspension should last from Oct. 8, 2024, to Jan. 8, 2025.

The Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct filed a complaint against Judge Gary N. Wilcox on June 30, 2023, when it accused Wilcox of posting 40 videos between March 2021 and April 2023 lip-syncing vulgar song lyrics and wearing questionable attire, according to court documents.

The complaint said 11 videos posted to his TikTok account, which were under the alias "Sal Tortorella," were deemed inappropriate because they showed the Bergen County judge lip-syncing songs that included references to violence, sex, misogyny and racist terms or showed Wilcox in his judicial robes and/or partially dressed while lying in bed.

Robert Hille, Wilcox's attorney, said, "Because the court has now spoken, we defer to the court," when asked to comment about the case.

Some of the songs mentioned in the complaint were "Jump" from Rihanna, "Sure Thing" by Miguel and "Touch It" by Busta Rhymes. At least one video was filmed in Wilcox's chambers, the complaint said.

Wilcox filed an answer to the formal complaint on Aug. 18, 2023, when he said, "Respondent admits to utilizing the platform, but does not consider himself an expert in its use and in customizing an account." The document said Wilcox "never intended for the posting to be seen by the public at large," and later changed the setting on his account to "friends only" or "followers only."

In the response , the judge said the videos were recorded on his personal phone, on personal time, and were intended for his personal use. The account has been deactivated, and Wilcox said in his response that he has no intentions of renewing the activity.

The violations that were listed in the Code of Judicial Conduct were:

• Canon 1, Rule 1.1, which requires judges to observe high standards of conduct so that the integrity and independence of the Judiciary may be preserved.
• Canon 2, Rule 2.1, which requires judges to avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety and to act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the Judiciary.
• Canon 5, Rule 5. l(A), which requires judges to conduct their extrajudicial activities in a manner that would not cast reasonable doubt on the judge's capacity to act impartially as a judge, demean the judicial office, or interfere with the proper performance of judicial duties.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Bergen County judge suspended for three months after 'inappropriate' TikToks