hiring into the sheriff's office were often not done. The grand jury would find that Undersheriff Michael Russo had overseen his own background check. When a web forum had posted articles about deputies' connections to an SPCA chapter that the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation had said was "the paradigm of a society that is out-of-control", Russo had emailed the site administrator, telling him he was "under investigation for criminal/civil prosecution" and demanding immediate removal of the content; Russo would be indicted for this intimidation. During the investigation, Russo was reportedly overheard to say on more than one occasion that Christie would "step in [and] have this whole thing thrown out." Russo later denied saying this. Trout resisted the investigation, and Barnes repeatedly asked the public corruption unit of the office of state Attorney General (AG) Paula T. Dow to take the case from the county, but he was told that the county should proceed themselves. Dow, a former Essex County Prosecutor, was a Christie appointee as AG, and was previously his counsel when he was New Jersey's US Attorney. (Following her service as AG, Christie would place Dow in a Port Authority post, and then in a Burlington County Superior Court judgeship.) HC assistant prosecutor William McGovern reportedly met with Dow, telling her that the sheriff and deputies had apparently violated multiple state laws, but came away with a seeming mandate to continue to work it from HC. In March 2010, the grand jury issued indictments totaling 43 counts, initially sealed, against Trout, Russo (who was then campaigning for election as Warren County Sheriff), and sheriff's investigator John Falat, Jr., who were each charged with official misconduct (7, 23, and 6 counts, respectively) and variously with other counts of criminal simulation and falsifying records. On May 7, 2010, the indictments were unsealed. Later on that same day, Dow took over the HC Prosecutor's Office, ousting Barnes, and put Deputy AG Dermot P. O'Grady in charge. The old prosecutors were removed from the case. (Within a few months, Barlyn would be fired, McGovern would resign after being asked to stay quiet, and Charles M. Ouslander would be forced to retire.) Over Barlyn's objections, Deputy AG Christine Hoffman filed to dismiss the indictments, saying that the presentation to the grand jury had "legal and factual deficiencies", but the filings did not list any prosecutorial missteps. Indictments are rarely dismissed, and