Coalfire CEO Wants Criminal Charges Against His Employees Dropped

The CEO of cybersecurity services firm Coalfire on Wednesday released a statement pledging to clear two employees of all charges stemming from their arrests by the Dallas County, Iowa, sheriff during a security test at the county courthouse last month. 

Coalfire will "continue to support and aggressively pursue all avenues to ensure that all charges are dropped and their criminal records are purged of any wrongdoing," said Tom McAndrew. While charges against Coalfire employees Justin Wynn and Gary Demercurio have already been reduced from the initial felony charges to misdemeanor trespass, McAndrew said the reduction is insufficient.

Coalfire had been hired by the state of Iowa to test courthouse security. At issue is whether the state judicial system had the authority to authorize this sort of physical pen test for a building owned and operated by a county. Coalfire's employees seem caught in the middle of this jurisdictional disagreement.

The Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice has apologized for the pen test and announced changes will be made to the contracts for any future such tests, including prohibitions on entering courthouse property after business hours.

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