A New Jersey attorney and local politician has pleaded guilty to accepting an improper referral fee for advising a local police officer in the process of suing the municipal government in a whistleblower matter.

Haddon Township Commissioner Paul Dougherty, who resigned on Oct. 16, pleaded guilty before Camden County Superior Court Judge Edward McBride Jr. to a single charge of third-degree conspiracy to confer an unlawful benefit on a public official, according to a release from Attorney General Gurbir Grewal.