A judge in New Jersey is under investigation for allegedly filming TikTok videos in which he lip-synced to popular songs, at times in his bed or his judicial chambers.
Last Friday, the advisory committee on judicial conduct in New Jersey’s supreme court filed a complaint against Gary Wilcox, a 58-year-old superior court judge who presides over criminal cases in Bergen county.
He is accused of using the alias “Sal Tortorella” while posting more than 40 videos to the popular online platform.
“In 11 of the videos respondent posted to TikTok,” the complaint alleged, “either the content – eg, including references to violence, sex, and misogyny – location – ie, in chambers, in the courthouse, and in a bed – or respondent’s physical appearance – eg, wearing his judicial robes and/or partially dressed while lying in bed – were inappropriate and brought disrepute to the judiciary.”
According to the complaint, Wilcox recorded several videos in his chambers, including songs that contained profanity, graphic sexual references and racist terms.
In one video that appeared to have been filmed in his chambers, Wilcox is alleged to have mouthed lyrics from Jump by Rihanna: “If you want it let’s do it / Ride it, my pony / My saddle is waitin’ / Come and jump on it / If you want it, let’s do it.”
In another video, the complaint alleges, Wilcox is seen in his chambers with law books visible behind him and while wearing a suit and tie he lip-syncs: “All my life, I’ve been waiting for somebody to whoop my ass. I mean business! You think you can run up on me and whip my monkey ass? Come on. Come on!”
The complaint also alleged that Wilcox wore a T-shirt featuring Beavis and Butt-Head and walked through a courthouse as Get Down by Nas played in the background.
“The song contains explicit lyrics concerning a criminal case and a courtroom shooting as well as derogatory and discriminatory terms, drug and gang references, and the killing of a doctor in a hospital who treated another gang member,” the complaint said.
Another video appeared to show Wilcox smiling at the camera with Touch It by Busta Rhymes playing in the background. According to the complaint, the following lyrics played: “For the record, just a second, I’m freakin’ it out / While she tryna touch see I was peepin’ it out / She turned around and was tryna put my dick in her mouth / I let her.”
The complaint said: “By his conduct in posting these and similar videos to TikTok, [Wilcox] exhibited poor judgment and demonstrated disrespect for the judiciary and an inability to conform to the high standards of conduct expected of judges.”
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The TikTok account, which the complaint said Wilcox celebrated when it reached 100 followers, appears to have been removed from the platform.
According to the New Jersey courts website, the advisory committee on judicial conduct could recommend measures including dismissal of the case with or without private discipline, public admonition, public reprimand, public censure, suspension or proceedings to have Wilcox removed from the bench.
In a statement to the New York Times, Wilcox’s lawyer, Robert Hille, said: “I don’t think that at the end of the day anybody is going to believe there was any desire to do any harm here.
“These are mainstream performers … This is music that’s out there in the public. And clearly it elicits a different response depending on who is listening.”