Robert Chetirkin was removed as head of Northern State Prison in Newark. He's now an assistant superintendent at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton
The top official at Northern State Prison in Newark has been demoted and reassigned after failing to report to the Department of Corrections that one of his officers briefly lost a service weapon, NJ Advance Media has learned.
Robert Chetirkin, 44, was removed as administrator last month and temporarily placed in the department's central operations unit amid an internal probe by the Special Investigations Division, according to two sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly address the matter.
On March 5, Chetirkin began a new job as the assistant superintendent at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, said Matt Schuman, a spokesman for the Corrections Department.
The demotion carries a $14,000 pay cut. Chetirkin had been making $122,000 annually as Northern State Prison's administrator, public records show. The new position pays $108,000 a year, Schuman said.
Chetirkin did not respond to a request for comment.
Schuman characterized the move as a transfer and would neither confirm nor deny an investigation took place. Citing personnel privacy rules, Schuman said he could not discuss the reason for Chetirkin's reassignment.
The spokesman also declined to answer questions about the circumstances of the lost weapon.
"I cannot acknowledge such an incident took place," Schuman said. "If an incident takes place and there are no criminal charges attached to it, it's not considered public information."
According to the sources, a corrections officer assigned to the Newark prison lost the weapon, a handgun, in January. The gun was recovered hours later and was never in the possession of inmates, the sources said.
The name of the corrections officer could not be obtained, and the sources were uncertain if he or she had been disciplined.
Chetirkin was made aware of the weapon's loss but did not report it to his superiors in the Department of Corrections as required, the sources said.
A 20-year veteran of the department, Chetirkin has previously served as assistant superintendent at both Northern State Prison and the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Avenel, public records show.
Before his promotion to administrator at Northern State last year, he was associate administrator at the Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility in Bordentown.
Mark Mueller may be reached at mmueller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarkJMueller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.