By Chris OrletRecord Managing EditorA former St. Louis County assistant prosecutor, who says he resigned to save his office embarrassment, is now an assistant prosecutor for Warren County.According to published reports, John Quarenghi, 48, resigned in December after he learned that “intimate” text messages, images and emails that he had exchanged with a former paralegal were part of a federal investigation against the woman.The defendant in the investigation, Jillian Nichols, 26, was indicted on charges involving her attempt to defraud a law firm client by falsely representing that the prosecutor on the client’s criminal case had solicited a bribe.Nichols is also charged with lying to the FBI about her illegal conduct.Quarenghi has not been accused of any wrongdoing. However, evidence that is part of a federal investigation shows that Quarenghi and Nichols had shared intimate electronic communications. At the time, Quarenghi was the prosecutor in a case against a client represented by the law firm where Nichols worked.Quarenghi, who is single, began having contact with Nichols after learning she no longer worked for the firm.Warren County Prosecutor Jennifer Bartlett hired Quarenghi as assistant prosecuting attorney in February shortly after terminating former Warren County Assistant Prosecutor Kelly King.King is now an assistant prosecutor in Montgomery County and has filed to run against Bartlett in the August primary.On Friday, Bartlett said she hired Quarenghi because he is a “phenomenal prosecutor with years of experience and for his ability to try cases.”Bartlett added that the U.S. attorney general’s office has said that Quarenghi has not done anything illegal or unethical.Ed Magee, the executive assistant to St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch, verifed that Quarenghi had resigned his position with the St. Louis County prosecutors office and said, “He was an excellent employee when he was on our staff.”Calls and emails to Quarenghi’s attorney Neil Bruntrager were not returned.According to the federal indictment, Nichols worked for a St. Louis law firm, assisting on the defense of a state felony criminal case pending in St. Louis County Circuit Court against a firm client, Ziyaa Umarov, 19. Umarov was charged in 2012 with sexual assault and deviate sexual assault.As part of her duties, she worked closely with Umarov in investigating and helping prepare his defense, often meeting with him outside the presence of the defense attorney. Nichols left the defense attorney’s firm in September, 2013, though she continued to meet with Umarov and discuss his criminal case with him.The indictment states that between June and December, 2013, Nichols engaged in a scheme to defraud Umarov by falsely telling him that the prosecutor had solicited a payment of $10,000 in order to give favorable consideration in his pending criminal case. She falsely represented that she had favorable evidence “planted” on Umarov’s cellphone in order to support his defense. She also allegedly falsely represented that she had paid the forensic expert hired by the defense attorney to analyze Umarov’s cellphone so that the expert would validate and verify the “planted” evidence.On Dec. 10, in response to Nichols’ false statements about the $10,000, Umarov, who by then was working with the FBI, agreed to give her an initial $5,000 in cash for her to pay the bribe to the prosecutor and then an additional $5,000 after the prosecutor gave him favorable consideration in his pending criminal case. In order to conceal the scheme, she told Umarov not to tell his defense attorney of their discussions about purportedly bribing the prosecutor or planting evidence on his cellular phone.Finally, the indictment alleges that Nichols lied repeatedly to the FBI about her involvement in the scheme when interviewed as part of its  investigation in December 2013.Nichols was indicted Feb. 19 by a federal grand jury on one felony count of wire fraud and one felony count of making false statements. Last week, Nichols pleaded not guilty of charges of wire fraud and lying to the FBI.For more see this Thursday's Record.

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