A former Hunterdon County assistant prosecutor claims that state Attorney General Paula Dow and others in the Christie administration conspired to dismiss criminal charges against Sheriff Deborah Trout and her associates.

Bennett Barlyn makes the allegations in papers filed in with the Hunterdon County Clerk on Dec. 8. In them, he hints that Governor Chris Christie may have played a role as well.

Barlyn says he’ll sue for damages arising from his being fired by acting county Prosecutor/Deputy Attorney General Dermott O’Grady after publicly complaining on August 23 about the plan to drop the case.

That was the day Superior Court Judge Paul Armstrong acceded to a deputy attorney general’s request to dismiss the charges.

Barlyn claims that representatives of the Attorney General’s Office and/or Division of Criminal Justice “formulated a plan to dismiss” 43 counts of official misconduct and other crimes against Trout, Undersheriff Michael Russo and former sheriff’s investigator John Falat Jr. That plan, Barlyn alleges, included forcing the removal of individuals in the Prosecutor’s Office who had been involved in the investigation and prosecution of the trio.

Former Assistant Prosecutor William McGovern made similar claims in court papers filed on Dec. 1. Barlyn and McGovern seek unspecified damages.

Barlyn contends that the Attorney General’s Office claim of “legal and factual deficiencies in the indictments” as a reason for dismissing the charges is a red herring. If that were true, Barlyn says, the state could have moved to present the matter to a grand jury again, “in an effort to cure the alleged deficiencies.”

He claims that before the case was presented to the grand jury in late 2009, Dow “was briefed on the case… and expressed confidence in the (Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office) handling the investigation.” He says she was kept informed throughout the grand jury, which in March 2010 handed up the sealed indictments that were subsequently released on May 7, the day O’Grady replaced former Prosecutor J. Patrick Barnes.

It was at that time, Barlyn alleges, that the plan to dismiss the charges was "formulated."

He claims that representatives of the Attorney General’s office, including O’Grady, “through the creation of an unprofessional and hostile work environment,” sought to remove Barlyn and forced the retirement of McGovern and former Assistant Prosecutor Charles Ouslander, who left the Prosecutor’s Office on Sept. 30.

Barlyn alleges that Barnes was forced out by Dow, who “directed Prosecutor Barnes to submit his resignation.” At the time, according to Barlyn, Barnes told his colleagues that Dow had said the decision was made by “people above her.”

When O’Grady was appointed, the Prosecutor’s Office came under the direct control of Dow’s office and the Division of Criminal Justice took control of the case.

Around that time Russo was quoted in news reports calling Barnes, “rubbish,” and was said to have stated publicly that Christie would have the indictments thrown out, but has since denied having done so.

Among the dismissed charges against Russo and Falat were allegations that the pair had used Sheriff’s Office equipment to create fraudulent identification cards.

According to Barlyn, one individual who received such cards and who was questioned by Prosecutor’s Office detectives has close ties to the governor and was a major contributor to Christie's campaign. But Barlyn doesn't identify the man.

In addition to the governor and Dow, Barlyn's tort claim notice names the state of New Jersey, the Governor’s Office, the Attorney General’s Office and the Division of Criminal Justice, the County of Hunterdon, its Sheriff’s Office and Prosecutor’s Office and various past and present employees of each of the named entities.