Two federal investigators have spoken with Ben Barlyn, a former New Jersey prosecutor who has accused New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s administration of improperly tampering with a local criminal prosecution, Barlyn said.
But, despite some media outlets reporting that the allegations have sparked a criminal investigation against the Christie administration by federal prosecutors, a source with knowledge of the situation said the U.S. Attorney's Office regularly checks out complaints and the process is not necessarily part of a criminal investigation.
Barlyn says he was fired for objecting to the dismissal of an indictment against local Hunterdon County officials in 2010. He believes that the Christie administration instructed the state Attorney General’s Office to interfere in the prosecution. Barlyn suspects the local officials were politically connected.
The Christie administration has denied any involvement in the case, saying that there was no interference and that Christie did not know the local officials involved.
Barlyn has sued state officials over his termination. He wants access to grand jury transcripts, which he says could prove that the prosecution was sound and he, and some of his colleagues, were wrongfully terminated.
“We have been saying this, people committed crimes,” Barlyn said in an interview. “It’s nice to be listened to about your allegations.”
The story was first reported by the International Business Times.
The federal prosecutor’s office declined to comment on whether or not a criminal investigation was taking place.
The case in question involves a 2010 indictment of Deborah Trout, a former Hunterdon County sheriff, and two of her subordinates on more than 43 criminal counts that included allegations she failed to check the backgrounds of some employees.
“The crux of my complaint is that I was fired because I publicly complained [that] the dismissal of the indictments was improper,” Barlyn said to the Bergen Record last year. “There was no legal basis that could possibly justify dismissing all 43 counts.”
Those charges were dropped after the state Attorney General’s Office took over the case.
For more background on the case, click here.