On August 26, 2009, Chiappone and his wife, Diane, were indicted on seven counts, including theft by deception, official misconduct, tampering with public records, falsifying records, conspiracy, and misrepresentation of contributions or expenditures, having allegedly issued over $8,000 in state-issued paychecks to campaign volunteers in 2005, then diverting the money into his personal accounts and his campaign fund, without declaring it on his campaign finance forms. In spite of the charges against him and calls for his resignation from Governor Jon Corzine and Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts, Chiappone proclaimed his innocence and refused both to resign and to withdraw from his re-election campaign.