North Bergen Municipal Court Judge Nino F. Falcone was censured and permanently disqualified from judicial service by order of the New Jersey Supreme Court after he was charged with criminal sexual contact for the alleged inappropriate touching of a client’s representative.

Falcone’s culpability in the criminal sexual contact matter was proven by a clear and convincing evidence standard. By the same standard, the committee found that Falcone had been “duplicitous” when testifying in defense of the ethics charges in violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct, according to an order filed by the Supreme Court of New Jersey on Tuesday.