Prosecutor: Sex assault probe of Murphy staffer was thorough

JERSEY CITY >> The county prosecutor whose office investigated sexual assault allegations against a campaign staffer for Gov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday she stands behind the probe, which concluded last year with no charges filed.

In an emailed statement, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez also called allegations she interfered in the case “offensive and irresponsible.”

Suarez said she is familiar with former Murphy staffer Albert Alvarez and his accuser, state employee Katie Brennan, but that she wasn’t involved in the 2017 investigation and didn’t realize the two were at the center of it until a reporter approached her this month.

The investigation has been reopened and transferred to the Middlesex County prosecutor’s office to avoid a conflict of interest.

The four investigators and two supervising assistant prosecutors “handled the investigation

properly and behaved like the seasoned professionals that they are,” Suarez wrote.

Brennan, chief of staff at the state’s housing agency, said Alvarez sexually assaulted her in April 2017 when they both were working to get Murphy elected. Alvarez, who resigned his post as chief of staff at the Schools Development Authority this month, has denied wrongdoing through his attorney. Brennan’s story was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.