Troopers file suits, saying they were punished for pursuing North Jersey sex assault case

Six state troopers have filed civil complaints against top state police officials, alleging they were improperly punished for pursuing a sexual assault charge against a Sussex County man against the wishes of county prosecutors.

They said in the complaints that they told a Wantage Municipal Court judge that the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office had not approved the charges before the judge found probable cause to pursue the case. The case was later dismissed in Superior Court in Newton at the behest of prosecutors.

The union representing state troopers filed a labor dispute in the matter last year, at the time hinting that prosecutors were politically motivated because the defendant's father had been an appointed executive in Morris County. The labor complaint is pending.

Sussex County Prosecutor Francis A. Koch denied the accusations last year in a lengthy statement, saying there wasn't enough evidence to pursue the case and that state police overstepped their authority in bringing the charges. He said the new bail reform law required police to get an assistant prosecutor's approval before filing charges for indictable offenses. No one in his office, he said, knew the defendant's family.

The civil suits, filed in Superior Court in Newton on Monday, do not touch on prosecutors' motivations.

More: Accusations surface in sexual assault case: Was it political pressure or police mishandling?

The troopers' attorney, Mike Hanifan, alleges in the complaints that his clients were wrongly transferred out of Sussex County and deprived of promotions. They are asking to be reinstated to their former positions, to be granted promotions they missed and to receive punitive damages.

According to the complaints, a Sussex County assistant prosecutor, Seana Pappas, threatened to "start a war" if state police moved forward with the charges. The troopers alleged that while she reviewed criminal complaints and affidavits related to the case, she did not examine written and recorded statements. They also said they believed they were following proper procedures.

The state police did not immediately respond on Thursday to a request for comment.

The state police superintendent, Col. Patrick Callahan, was listed as a defendant along with his predecessor, Col. Joseph R. Fuentes, and other top officials. The troopers filing the charges were Justin DeLorenzo, Matthew McCurry, Brian E. Weiss, Gregory Lewis, Shane D. Krisanda and Darran Crane, a union representative.

The case began when a woman went to state police in January 2017 saying she had been sexually assaulted in the parking lot of Boomer's Place, a bar in Hampton Township. The man she accused was arrested and charged with second-degree sexual assault and fourth-degree criminal sexual contact.

Ian M. Schweizer, 35, whose father, Glenn Schweizer, is the former Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority executive director, spent one night in jail before the charges were dismissed. His attorney told The Record last year that his client denied the charges.

Schweizer told police that he and the woman were kissing in the parking lot of Boomer's when she touched him sexually before he put his hands down her pants, according to an affidavit signed by DeLorenzo.

Schweizer then said "he went too far" and "it upset the victim," who got into her vehicle” and “abruptly departed." The woman told police that Schweizer grabbed her as she told him to stop.

She said in an interview with The Record last year that she "never touched Schweizer in a sexual way" and accused prosecutors of pressuring her to agree to drop the charges.