The Department of Corrections suspended Senior Correctional Police Officer Meralis Cardona for 30 days in 2024. On December 14, 2023, Cardona was arrested for driving while intoxicated and refusal to submit to a breathalyzer test. On April 8, 2024, Cardona pleaded guilty to operating under the influence of liquor or drugs. Cardona signed a settlement agreement on September 10, 2024.
N.J.A.C. 4A: 2-2.3(a) 6. an employee N.J.A.C. 4A: 2-2.3(a) 12. . C11: an employee. E1: Violations of a rule
regulation
policy
procedure
order or administrative decision. N.J.S.A. 39:4-50. Operating under the Influence of Liquor or Drugs.
Separated while IA pending
No
Synopsis as reported by the agency
On December 14, 2023 Officer Cardona was arrested as a result of Drinking While Intoxicated and refusal to submit a breathalyzer test. On April 8, 2024 Officer Cardona plead guilty to the charge of operating under the influence of liquor or drugs. Officer Cardona signed a settlement agreement on this matter on September 10, 2024.
Similar records
AnalysisComputed by this site from shared agency, year, charge category, and sanction outcome. Not a legal or factual equivalence.
Sustained charge(s): N.J.A.C. 4A:2-2.3(a)(6) Conduct Unbecoming a Public Employee. N.J.A.C. 4A:2-2.3(a)(12) Other Sufficient Cause. C7: Fighting or creating a…
same agency · same year · similar sanction outcome
Sustained charge(s): N.J.A.C. 4A: 2-2.3(a) 12. Other sufficient cause. A9: Refusal or failure to work overtime without a reasonable excuse. E1: Violations of a…
same agency · same year · similar sanction outcome
Other officers at Department Of Corrections
433 other named officers with reported major discipline records at this agency. Major discipline is final and post-appeal, as reported by the agency.
No confident pension match found. This site links a pension record to a named officer only when the name and the exact employing agency both match a New Jersey Treasury record. Where that bar is not met, nothing is shown rather than a guess. See methodology for how these matches are made and what is withheld.
Questions and answers
What is a summary of Meralis Cardona's major discipline record?
The Department of Corrections suspended Senior Correctional Police Officer Meralis Cardona for 30 days in 2024. On December 14, 2023, Cardona was arrested for driving while intoxicated and refusal to submit to a breathalyzer test. On April 8, 2024, Cardona pleaded guilty to operating under the influence of liquor or drugs. Cardona signed a settlement agreement on September 10, 2024.
What is Meralis Cardona's major discipline record at Department Of Corrections?
Meralis Cardona has one major discipline record at Department Of Corrections in the New Jersey Attorney General's 2020-2025 releases, from 2024. These are final, adjudicated actions, not allegations.
How large is Department Of Corrections, the department Meralis Cardona worked for?
Department Of Corrections reported 4,741 sworn officers to the FBI for 2025. This is department-level context from the FBI's Law Enforcement Employees census, not a statement about Meralis Cardona individually.
Sources
[1]New Jersey Major Discipline Data, 2020-2025. New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Sheet "Major Discipline Data", row 1338. Snapshot retrieved 2026-07-03. ↩
[2]FBI Law Enforcement Employees (LEE), New Jersey subset. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Row 8641. Derived from the public Law Enforcement Employees (LEE) / Police Employee Data dataset (1960-2025), https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/. ↩