Suspended Hammonton police sergeant indicted for stealing drugs from evidence room

A suspended Hammonton police sergeant accused of stealing drugs from the evidence room he oversaw has been indicted on multiple charges.

Robert Zbikowski, 47, was first charged on a five-count summons in November 2024, nine months after he was suspended from his job.

The Hammonton Police Department first contacted the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office after Zbikowski failed a urine test Feb. 12, 2024, leading to an inventory being taken of the evidence room, according to the affidavit of probable cause previously reported by BreakingAC.

Nine items listed as containing confirmed and suspected methamphetamine were missing, the investigator wrote.

Surveillance of the evidence room on Feb. 15 and 16, 2024, found Zbikowski tampering with two separate logged and secured evidence bags both suspected to be methamphetamine, the affidavit states. 

Search warrants were obtained in September for Zbikowski’s cell phone and to obtain his DNA sample via a buccal swab. 

The N.J. State Police DNA Laboratory confirmed Zbikowski’s DNA on one evidence bag that was torn open and described as containing a pill bottle with nine blue circular pills believed to be oxycodone, according to the investigation.

There also were tears, holes and cuts made near on evidence bags in the area under the folded seal and behind the label. The investigator observed cuts through the middle, pen sized puncture holes and holes resembling those made by pressing the fingers of both hands into plastic and pulling in opposite directions, which were deemed inconsistent with the lawful entry of evidence bags for further law enforcement investigational purposes. 

Additionally, "items of controlled dangerous substance evidence that had been returned from the lab and visibly marked with NJSP evidence labels were found torn, cut open, tampered with, and empty," the investigator wrote.

A grand jury indicted Zbikowski last week on second-degree charges of official misconduct and pattern of official misconduct, along with third-degree theft, and fourth-degree charges of evidence tampering and obstruction.

    Robert Zbikowski was featured in a Hammonton Police Department video in 2019, making the introduction of a seized vehicle turned K-9 car for him and his then-partner, Chase.

He was charged on summonses, and therefore never jailed.