He’s got a “rap sheet” of his own.
A rap-loving New Jersey judge posted TikTok videos of himself lip-syncing to raunchy Rihanna and Busta Rhymes tunes in his courthouse chambers — and also while semi-nude in bed, according to a bombshell complaint.
Under the pseudonym “Sal Tortorella,” Bergen County Superior Court Judge Gary Wilcox allegedly posted some 40 videos to his public TikTok account between April 2021 and March 2023, including some with profanity-laced lyrics and references to violence, sex, and misogyny.
In one recording, Wilcox spits the lyrics to Rihanna’s song “Jump,” including the lines: “If you want it let’s do it. Ride it, my pony. My saddle is waitin’, come and jump on it. If you want it, let’s do it,” according to the complaint from the state Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct.
Bergen County Superior Court Judge Gary Wilcox, 58, has been hit with a complaint accusing him of posting inappropriate lip-synching videos on TikTok for two years. Anne-Marie Caruso/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORKIn a second video, the judge, dressed in a suit and tie and posing in front of law books, allegedly lip-syncs the following text: “All my life, I’ve been waiting for somebody to whoop my ass. I mean business! You think you can run up on me and whip my monkey ass? Come on. Come on!”
Wilcox, 58, also filmed himself flashing some cash and pretending to light a match while singing Miguel’s hit “Sure Thing” which includes the lines: “If you be the cash, I’ll be the rubber band. You be the match, I will be a fuse, boom. Painter, baby, you could be the muse. I’m the reporter, baby, you could be the news. ‘Cause you’re the cigarette, and I’m the smoker. We raise a bet, ’cause you’re the joker,” the court document says.
His TikTok page, which has since been deleted, also allegedly showed him in decidedly non-judicial attire — wearing a Beavis and Butt-Head T-shirt while strolling through the courthouse to the tune of Nas’ “Get Down.”
It’s unclear how many followers “Sal Tortorella” garnered — but at one point, he proudly posted about reaching 100 followers, the filing says.
The Harvard-educated jurist is now under investigation by the state Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, which detailed Wilcox’s wannabe rap career in a five-page complaint filed on Friday.
The complaint alleges that some of the objectionable videos were recorded in Wilcox’s chambers at the courthouse. APThe filing alleges some of the videos are problematic because of their content, the location of filming, including in the judge’s chambers, in the courthouse, and in a bed, or Wilcox’s attire — “wearing his judicial robes and/or partially dressed while lying in bed.”
The complaint says that the song contains “explicit lyrics concerning a criminal case and a courtroom shooting as well as derogatory and discriminatory terms, drug and gang references, and the killing of a doctor in a hospital who treated another gang member.”
It noted that one video allegedly shows the judge smiling at the camera with text superimposed on the screen that reads: “When an ex-girlfriend calls you ‘Santa’ because of your new white beard.” In the background, the song “Touch” by Busta Rhymes is playing, including the lyrics: “For the record, just a second, I’m freakin’ it out. While she tryin’ to touch, see, I was peepin’ it out. She turned around and was tryin’ to put my d–k in her mouth. I let her.”
Another recording shows him wearing a “Freedom of Speech” T-shirt while lip-syncing the lines: “Go ahead baby. You hittin’ them corners too god damn fast. You gotta slow this mothaf—a down. You understand? I almost spilled my [Cognac] on this $200 suit,” according to the complaint.
Wilcox graduated from the highly prestigious Harvard Law School and began practicing law in 1989.
After serving as a federal prosecutor, Wilcox was appointed to the bench as a family court judge in 2011 by then-Gov. Chris Christie.
In 2016, he was reassigned to adult criminal court and received tenure in 2018.
The complaint argues that by posting racy public videos to TikTok, Wilcox “exhibited poor judgment and demonstrated disrespect for the Judiciary and an inability to conform to the high standards of conduct expected of judges.”
Wilcox is now being investigated for violating three canons of the Code of Judicial Conduct, which require judges to observe high standards of conduct, avoid the appearance of impropriety, and conduct their “extrajudicial activities in a manner that would not cast reasonable doubt on the judge’s capacity to act impartially as a judge.”
Wilcox has 20 days to submit a written formal answer to the complaint, reported NorthJersey.com.
After receiving the answer, the Advisory Committee will schedule a formal hearing. If the panel finds that Wilcox violated the Code of Judicial Conduct, he could face disciplinary actions ranging from a public reprimand to removal from the bench.
Wilcox could not be immediately reached for comment.






