The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office has come under scrutiny, after the CEO of Colorado-based cybersecurity company Coalfire criticized their handling of the break-in at the courthouse.

In a statement issued on the Coalfire website, CEO Tom McAndrew described their side of the incident, and openly questioned the methods of Sheriff Chad Leonard. McAndrew alleged that the front doors to the courthouse were already open when his “penetration testers” attempted entry into the building at around midnight on September 11th. He claimed that 29-year-old Justin Wynn of Naples, Florida, and 43-year-old Gary DeMercurio of Bothell, Washington then locked the doors to attempt forced entry, and purposely tripped the alarms to gauge the response time of law enforcement. The pair then apparently explained to responders what they were doing, and gave credentials and a contact in the State Court Administration (SCA).

McAndrew alleges that the deputies and officers on scene were about to let the perpetrators go, but were stopped when Leonard arrived and had them arrested. The Coalfire CEO criticized the Sheriff for failing to de-escalate the situation and for bringing county and state politics into the incident. However, Leonard remains steadfast that the State had no right to authorize such an operation in a county-owned building. “It’s a courthouse, so some people in their mind think, ‘Well that must be a State building.’ They’re not thinking of the big picture, that belongs to the county that you reside in. And I know in the State of Iowa we’re obligated to provide space for the courts to host court, but it does not make it a State building. So (I’m) pretty confident that we did the right thing as far as our county’s concerned.”

Wynn and DeMercurio were arrested and charged with third-degree burglary, a class D felony, and possession of burglars tools, a serious misdemeanor. The burglary charges were recently amended to trespassing – first offense, a simple misdemeanor, at the request of Dallas County Attorney Chuck Sinnard. However, McAndrew is still demanding all charges be dropped. For their part, the SCA apologized for the incident, and have since amended their policy for security testing. The next hearing in the case will be on November 6th.

Raccoon Valley Radio will bring you more information as it becomes official.