Former New Jersey sheriff’s officer sentenced to 3 years in prison for off-duty crimes

Records show a former Mercer County sheriff’s officer was sentenced last month to three years in prison for three separate incidents of violence.

Matthew Sickler, 37, must serve a mandatory minimum of a year behind bars in the two cases, and after crediting time spent behind bars awaiting trial, he will be eligible for parole in February, records show.

Three incidents – two last year and one earlier this year – occurred in Plumsted, Ocean County. In each of them, he was charged with multiple crimes, including aggravated assault and possession of a firearm.

Records show Sickler pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm and one count of aggravated assault on a domestic violence victim on the same day in July as part of a plea deal.

An Ocean County Superior Court judge sentenced Sickler on September 24. Records show he is currently incarcerated at Burlington County State Prison.

His lawyer did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

In the first incident last year, Sickler allegedly threatened to kill the victim by pointing a gun at his head. In the second case, he was accused of forcing his way into a home while arming and disarming a person in the presence of children.

In January this year he was charged with assaulting the victim by strangulation and breaching an existing domestic violence order. Records show he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault on a victim of domestic violence in connection with this incident.

The Mercer County Sheriff’s Office suspended Sickler early last year after his first arrest. Its end date was not immediately known. Sickler joined the department in 2016.

Sickler was also involved in a fight in a hotel lobby in Bordentown Township in 2022 with a Trenton police officer. Both later pleaded guilty in municipal court to disorderly conduct.