The embattled state Office of Public Integrity and Accountability decided over two years ago that it would not prosecute Gloucester County Fire Marshal Shawn Layton for the death of two dogs in his county vehicle in 2022, but opted to keep that secret until earlier this month.
Two people familiar with the investigation confirmed that the OPIA had wrapped up its probe into the former Mantua Township committeeman, but then-OPIA director Drew Skinner decided to keep that under wraps.
K-9 Ember, Gloucester County’s three-year-old arson investigation dog, died under mysterious circumstances in August 2022 while in the care of Layton. Officials later confirmed that Ember and Layton’s personal dog were found dead inside Layton’s county-issued Chevrolet Tahoe. The Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation, which was later turned over to the OPIA.
The prolonged investigation took a heavy personal toll on Layton, leaving him to spend years under a cloud of uncertainty with his reputation and future hanging in the balance. That uncertainty was particularly difficult because prosecutors, the New Jersey Globe has confirmed, had long known where the case had landed, even as he remained publicly in limbo without resolution.
“Prosecutors wield enormous power, and sometimes silence alone can ruin a life,” said a criminal defense attorney, who spoke without attribution because he didn’t want to criticize an OPIA official publicly. “By allowing an investigation to linger without resolution, they can leave reputations shattered, careers frozen, and families trapped in uncertainty, even when no charges are ultimately brought.”
Assistant Attorney General Andrew Wellbrock said nothing about the probe until July 10, when he sent a letter to Gloucester County Counsel Eric Campo informing him that “upon review of the allegations, this matter will be returned to your office.”
But even with the investigation viewed internally as over, prosecutors refused to say the probe had concluded.
In a declination letter, Wellbrock said that the OPIA would “not pursue criminal charges at this time.”
Both officials in the state attorney general’s office spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation.
“No, I don’t want to go on the record,” said a former deputy attorney general. “Why? Because they are vindictive fucking assholes.”
Wellbrock did not return a call to his direct line. Instead, a voicemail recording said the office would simply “review” the message.
The letter to Campos came two days after the Salem County Prosecutor’s Office charged a sergeant with the county sheriff’s department, Codey Henderson, with animal cruelty charges after he allegedly left a pair of K-9s in his car for several hours without proper ventilation, which led to their deaths on May 29.
As recently as July 10, the OPIA pushed back on Campos’ statement that the matter was resolved without disclosing the existence of the declination letter.
Skinner departed the OPIA in September 2025 to become general counsel in the Office of the New York City Chief Medical Examiner. He was replaced by Eric Gibson, a tainted former federal prosecutor who was brought in to supervise the state’s prosecution of Democratic powerbroker George E. Norcross and others.
His departure came after Mercer County Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw dismissed the charges in the 112-page indictment against Norcross and his co-defendants. Gibson lost a bid to convince state appellate court judges to overturn Warshaw’s ruling and reinstate their indictments.
Wellbrock was also part of the Norcross prosecution team.
The OPIA has faced considerable criticism from former federal and state prosecutors for alleged misconduct and selective integrity testing.
Gibson’s initial hiring sidelined the other OPIA co-director, Jeffrey Manis, from the Norcross case. Manis tried the state’s case against Osher Eisemann, a popular Lakewood Rabbi. Superior Court Judge Joseph Paone dismissed the indictment in August after the state rested its case, finding that prosecutors failed to prove allegations of money laundering and official misconduct.
In 2022, a Superior Court Judge dismissed an indictment after finding that Saddle Brook Police Chief Robert Kugler didn’t violate any law by permitting police escorts for funeral processions to cemeteries involving a local funeral home he owns.
The judge, Marilyn Clark, found that Deputy Attorney General Eric Cohen had left out key information that might have benefited the suspended police chief to the grand jury that indicted him. Kugler was the Republican nominee for Bergen County Sheriff at the time of his indictment.
Cohen is no longer with the attorney general’s office.
In April 2025, Superior Court Judge Reema Sethi Kareer dismissed an indictment against former Phillipsburg Councilman Frank McVey, who was accused of threatening Mayor Todd Tersigni in a blackmail scheme. McVey spent years trying to pry discovery from the state, which was legally obligated to provide it but purposely and strategically withheld it.
Because then-Warren County Prosecutor James Pfeiffer once represented Tersigni in a private legal matter, a judge disqualified the entire prosecutor’s office from participating in the case against McVey. That included Anthony J. Robinson, the first assistant prosecutor and a former top lawyer at OPIA. The allegations forced McVey to drop out of the mayoral race and lose his council seat.
At least five former state and federal prosecutors have accused Deputy Attorney General John Nicodemo of misconduct, alleging that he withheld evidence from defense attorneys and lied to grand juries. Nicodemo, a cartoonish failed dinner-theater actor, is no longer a line prosecutor and now holds a desk job at the Division of Highway Traffic Safety, albeit at his old salary.
Voter fraud charges against Paterson Councilman Alex Mendez from the 2020 municipal election were dismissed in May 2026.
