Former Warren County Prosecutor James Pfeiffer files suit against AG Platkin and Gov. Murphy

WARREN COUNTY, NJ – Attorney Brad M. Russo of Russo Law Offices, LLC in Phillipsburg Friday announced the filing and service of a Verified Complaint on behalf James L. Pfeiffer, Warren County Prosecutor upon Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and Governor Phil Murphy.

Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin on April 5 announced that he has exercised supersession over the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office.

Platkin appointed Anthony Picione to serve as Acting Warren County Prosecutor, replacing James Pfeiffer, who resigned immediately.

“The act of supersession follows an investigation conducted by the Office of the Attorney General’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability into misconduct by members of the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office. A copy of the report will be made public once all impacted parties have received the required notice,” a spokesperson for the NJ Attorney General’s Office told RNJ.

The purpose of the complaint is to verify that Pfeiffer remains the duly appointed and confirmed Prosecutor for Warren County and that he has not legally resigned or been lawfully removed from his position.

The complaint seeks an order pursuant to the Declaratory Judgment Act for the following:

• Determining that only the Governor can seek, request and/or accept the resignation of a sitting County Prosecutor pursuant to N.J.S.A. 52: 17B-110; and N.J. Const. Art. V, Sec. 4 para 5.
• Determining that the Plaintiff has not been lawfully removed as a County Prosecutor pursuant to N.J.S.A. 52: 17B-110, and/or N.J. Const. Art. V, Sec. 4 para 5. and therefore, remains the duly appointed and confirmed Warren County Prosecutor.
• Determining that the Attorney General’s supersession of the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office on April 5, 2024, is void ab initio because the Attorney General failed to comply with N.J.S.A. 52: 17B-106.\

In summary the Attorney General’s actions in removing Pfeiffer from his office were illegal for the following reasons:

• The Attorney General has no Constitutional or other legal authority to seek, request and/or accept the resignation of a County Prosecutor. This falls squarely upon the Governor.
• The Attorney General has no Constitutional or legal authority to appoint and direct the swearing in of an County Prosecutor or an acting County Prosecutor. This falls squarely upon the Governor.
• The Attorney General’s actions in threatening and coercing a County Prosecutor to retire/resign were fraudulent and criminal in nature.
• The Attorney General’s actions in superseding (taking over the entire office) the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office (“WCPO”) were illegal in that the power of the Attorney General to supersede a County Prosecutor’s office only exists if it is requested in writing by the Governor, the Assignment Judge for the County or a Grand Jury – none of which existed prior to his action in superseding the WCPO.

The goal of this action is to have Pfeiffer returned to his position as Warren County Prosecutor as soon as  possible. The New Jersey Constitution provides that every County in New Jersey shall have a County Prosecutor and that Prosecutor is required to be a resident of the County, Russo said.

At this time the County illegally remains under the control of the New Jersey Attorney General’s office. The residents of Warren County are entitled to be represented by Pfeiffer, who is a resident of Warren County who was duly appointed by Governor Murphy and confirmed by the New Jersey Senate, Russo said.

Pfeiffer was appointed by Governor Murphy as the Acting Prosecutor for Warren County on November 1, 2019. In 2020, Pfeifer was nominated by Governor Murphy to be the Prosecutor for Warren County, confirmed by the Senate on June 12, 2020, and sworn into office on July 9, 2020. His term of office runs until at least July 8, 2025, and beyond if and until a successor has been appointed, Russo said.

In March of 2022 two disgruntled Lieutenants, Lt. Kries, and Lt. Boyce who had both been bypassed for a promotion to Deputy Chief, in favor of a female Seargent, filed a complaint with Richard Burke of OPIA (Office of Public Integrity and Accountability), Russo said.

OPIA is an office of the Attorney General, under his direct supervision. Burke was the previous Warren County Prosecutor before  Pfeiffer and had promoted both Kries and Boyce to their Lieutenant positions just one month prior to Pfeiffer taking over as the Prosecutor from Burke, Russo said.

The complaint was that funds from an Insurance Fraud reimbursement grant were being used to fund raises for the Assistant Prosecutors’ and administrative staff and alleged improper conduct by members of the Warren County Prosecutor’s office executive staff in failing to maintain time records to support the reimbursement sought, Russo said.

No money received from the grant was used for raises. All raises were provided by the elimination of a detective position and as the result of retirements which resulted in excess funds being available from the new employees’ salaries being less than those of the retiring employees’, Russo said.

Although these facts were readily available OPIA in their investigation failed to review the budget for the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office or interview the County Administrator which would have objectively verified these facts, Russo said.

The factually incomplete OPIA report concluded that Pros. Pfeiffer did not properly oversee the grant because the grant administrator, who had been employed in the office for 12 years by prior previous Prosecutors, did not keep adequate time records for part time detectives assigned to work an insurance fraud investigation. This conclusion was reached even though the grant administrator was told by a State employee responsible for overseeing and processing the grant for the Attorney General’s office that time slips were not required to be submitted, Russo said.

The successful insurance fraud investigation which was funded by the Insurance Fraud grant was known as “Operation Vacant Lot”. This investigation involved 177 trucking companies, over 400 trucks resulting in the arrest of 12 insurance agents/brokers with a total fraud of 20 million dollars over a five-year period. This was the largest insurance fraud prosecution in Warren County history, Russo said.

OPIA went on to illegally charge Pfeiffer with insubordination for failing to comply with an order by the Director of OPIA, Russo said.

Pfeiffer was ordered to provide direct access to the County of Warren’s computer server so that\ OPIA could directly access the emails of all Prosecutor’s office employees for 14 months – anticipated to cover over 200,000 emails. This action was in violation of privacy laws protecting the disclosure of individual’s personal financial identifiers, health/medical records as well as being in violation of a County of Warren directive that forbid County department heads and employees from providing access to the County’s computer server and or disclosing data which includes emails without the consent of the County Commissioners, Russo said.

The computer system is not owned or under the control of the Prosecutor’s office and legally Pros. Pfeiffer had no authority to provide access to the County’s computer server. Pros. Pfeiffer properly referred that matter to County Counsel to handle the illegal demand. Thereafter the matter was handled by County counsel who agreed that the broad request was clearly improper and provided restricted access to OPIA. Despite properly turning over this request to County counsel for handling, Prosecutor Pfeiffer was ultimately falsely charged with insubordination, Russo said.

On April 5, Pfeiffer was directed to appear at the Attorney General’s office in Trenton, at which time the Attorney General demanded his resignation. He was threatened that if he did not resign “things will get worse for him”. He was further advised that it was the Attorney General’s intent to remove him from office involuntarily if he refused to resign. As set forth in detail in the complaint, the Attorney General’s actions in seeking and requesting a County Prosecutor’s resignation is illegal and in violation of the Constitution of the State of New Jersey, statutes, case law and administrative regulations, Russo said.

The Attorney General’s actions in removing a County Prosecutor were not only Constitutionally and procedurally illegal, but his actions were also fraudulent and in violation of various criminal laws in the State of New Jersey as set forth in detail in the complaint, Russo said.

Also concerning is that fact that the Attorney General handpicked Mr. Anthony Picone, the second in command at OPIA (the department conducting the very investigation at issue), to be illegally appointed and sworn in to replace Pros. Pfeiffer. The Attorney General does not have the legal authority to appoint a County Prosecutor. Picone is being politically rewarded for his loyalty with a $44,000.00 raise which will also result in a substantial increase in his state pension for the balance of his life, Russo said.

Picone has no experience in running an office, he has not been involved in negotiating Union contracts, nor has he ever prepared a budget for a County Prosecutor’s office. Although the Attorney General’s press release would lead you to believe Mr. Picone lives in Warren County – that is not true. Picione has not lived in Warren County since graduating from school some 25 plus years ago. He presently resides in Hunterdon County and continues to work for the State of New Jersey – not the County of Warren, Russo said.

“The actions of the Attorney General against Prosecutor Pfeiffer are clearing illegal, retaliatory and politically motivated. Pros. Pfeiffer has been an a highly respected attorney for 38 years being first admitted to practice law in 1986 which is the same year Mr. Platkin was born. He has handled high profile, complex criminal and civil matters including murders, as well as representing victims of racial discrimination and sexual harassment and abuse in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania,” Russo said.