Full opinion text
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER JOSEPH F. BIANCO, District Judge: Juliet Anilao, Harriet Avila, Mark Dela Cruz, Claudine Gamaio, Elmer Jacinto, Jennifer Lampa, Rizza Maulion, James Millena, Theresa Ramos, Ranier Sichon (the “nurse plaintiffs” or “nurses”), and Felix Q. Vinluan (“Yinluan”) (collectively “plaintiffs”) brought this action against Thomas J. Spota, III, individually and as District Attorney of Suffolk County (“District Attorney Spota” or “Spota”); the Office of the District Attorney of Suffolk County (“the DA’s Office”); Leonard Lato, individually and as an Assistant District Attorney of Suffolk County (“Lato”); and the County of Suffolk (collectively the “County defendants”), as well as against Sentosa Care, LLC (“Sentosa Care”); Avalon Gardens Rehabilitation and Health Care Center (“Avalon Gardens”); Prompt Nursing Employment Agency, LLC (“Prompt”); Francris Luyun (“Luyun”); Bent Philipson (“Philipson”); Berish Rubinstein (“Rubinstein”); Susan O’Connor (“O’Connor”); and Nancy Fitzgerald (“Fitzgerald”) (collectively the “Sentosa defendants”), alleging that the County defendants and the Sentosa defendants violated plaintiffs’ constitutional rights pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The claims in this case stem from what was originally a contractual employment dispute between the nurse plaintiffs and the Sentosa defendants. According to the Amended Complaint, the nurse plaintiffs, who had been recruited to work in the United States by Sentosa-affiliated entities, were displeased with their employment conditions upon arriving here and believed that the Sentosa defendants had breached the promises they had made to the nurses during the nurses’ recruitment. The nurses sought the advice of Vinluan, an attorney, who advised the nurses that the Sentosa defendants had breached their employment contracts with the nurses in a variety of respects and that, accordingly, the nurses could terminate their employment with Avalon Gardens. After the nurses resigned, however, the Sentosa defendants allegedly took a series of retaliatory actions against plaintiffs, including reporting the nurse plaintiffs to the New York State Education Department (which is in charge of licensing for nurses), seeking a preliminary injunction against plaintiffs, and attempting to report plaintiffs to the Suffolk County Police Department. However, each of these actions taken by the Sentosa defendants ultimately was unsuccessful. In particular, the Education Department’s investigation exonerated plaintiffs of any wrongdoing, the preliminary injunction was denied for failure to prove a likelihood of success on the merits, and the Police Department refused to take action because, according to the Amended Complaint, the police did not believe that any crimes had been committed. Consequently, the Sentosa defendants approached the DA’s Office and met with District Attorney Spota to induce him to prosecute plaintiffs. As a result of this pressure from the Sentosa defendants, Spota allegedly entered into an agreement with the Sentosa defendants to prosecute plaintiffs for the benefit of the Sentosa defendants. Plaintiffs claim that, pursuant to this agreement, Spota assigned one of his Assistant District Attorneys, defendant Lato, to investigate plaintiffs. There appears to be no dispute that the investigation was conducted in the absence of any police involvement and, accordingly, was conducted solely at the direction of the DA’s Office. Ultimately, ADA Lato presented the case to the Grand Jury — including a presentation of allegedly false testimony by defendant Philipson and possibly others — and procured an indictment charging plaintiffs with endangering the welfare of a child, endangering the welfare of a physically disabled person, conspiring to do the same, and solicitation. This indictment was returned by a Grand Jury approximately one year after the nurse plaintiffs’ resignations. The prosecution of plaintiffs was halted, however, when the New York State Appellate Division granted plaintiffs’ Article 78 petition for a writ of prohibition based upon the fact that plaintiffs were being “threatened with prosecution for crimes for which they cannot constitutionally be tried.” Matter of Vinluan v. Doyle, 60 A.D.3d 237, 873 N.Y.S.2d 72, 83 (2009). Specifically, the Appellate Division found that the prosecution sought to punish the nurse plaintiffs for resigning from their employment at will and to punish Vinluan for providing legal advice to the nurses in connection with their resignation, and, as such, the court found that the prosecution violated plaintiffs’ First and Thirteenth Amendment rights. After the prosecution of plaintiffs was accordingly prohibited, plaintiffs commenced this action in federal court, alleging that defendants violated their constitutional rights in a variety of respects. Specifically, plaintiffs have claimed not only that defendants violated plaintiffs’ First and Thirteenth Amendment rights, but also that the indictment was procured in violation of plaintiffs’ Fourteenth Amendment due process rights “in that the Grand Jury was not properly charged on the law, was given false evidence, and was not presented with exculpatory evidence.” (Am. Compl. ¶ 112.) Moreover, plaintiffs allege that the prosecutors also engaged in unconstitutional conduct during the investigative stage pri- or to the presentation of evidence to the Grand Jury. Accordingly, plaintiffs have brought this § 1983 action to vindicate the violation of the above-mentioned constitutional rights. Moreover, plaintiffs also have brought state-law claims for malicious prosecution and false arrest. Before the Court now are the County defendants’ and the Sentosa defendants’ motions to dismiss plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint. As a threshold matter, the County defendants contend that they are absolutely immune for the actions they took in prosecuting plaintiffs. Also as a threshold matter, the Sentosa defendants contend that they were not acting under color of state law at any point and that, accordingly, they cannot be held liable under § 1983. Additionally, the Sentosa defendants argue that plaintiffs have failed to plead essential elements of their malicious prosecution and false arrest claims. For the reasons set forth herein, defendants’ motions are granted in part and denied in part. Specifically, as to the County defendants, the Court concludes: (1) the individual County defendants are entitled to absolute immunity for conduct taken in their role as advocates in connection with the presentation of the case to the Grand Jury; (2) the individual County defendants are not entitled to absolute immunity for alleged misconduct during the investigation of plaintiffs, and the Court cannot determine at the motion to dismiss stage, given the allegations in the Amended Complaint, whether the individual County defendants are entitled to qualified immunity for their actions in the investigation phase; (3) plaintiffs have sufficiently pled § 1983 claims against the individual County defendants for alleged Due Process violations in the investigative stage; and (4) plaintiffs have sufficient pled a claim for municipal liability against the County of Suffolk. As to the defendants Philipson, Luyun, Rubinstein, Sentosa Care, Prompt, and Avalon Gardens, the Court concludes: (1) plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged that they were acting under color of state law, and (2) plaintiffs have sufficiently pled claims for malicious prosecution and false arrest under both § 1983 and state law, as well as a § 1983 conspiracy claim. As to defendants O’Connor and Fitzgerald, the Court dismisses the claims against them without prejudice for: (1) failure to plead that they were acting under color of state law, and (2) failing to set forth allegations to properly plead the state-law malicious prosecution and false arrest claims as to these two individual defendants. Finally, as to the § 1983 conspiracy claim against all defendants, the Court finds that plaintiffs have sufficiently pled a claim against all defendants except O’Connor and Fitzgerald, who, as noted supra, were not alleged to have been acting under color of state law for purposes of the § 1983 claims. With respect to the individual County defendants, the Court emphasizes that, although the Amended Complaint contains a panoply of serious allegations of misconduct by prosecutors in connection with the Grand Jury presentation and initiation of the prosecution of the plaintiffs, there is no question, as a matter of law, that the prosecutors are cloaked with absolute immunity for their role in presenting that case to the Grand Jury and, thus, the constitutional claims arising from that alleged conduct (although extremely troubling, if true) cannot form the basis for a Section 1983 claim for false arrest or malicious prosecution. Moreover, under well-settled Second Circuit jurisprudence, the fact that this prosecution was halted by a New York State appellate court via a writ of prohibition does not eviscerate the existence of absolute immunity in connection with their advocacy role in the Grand Jury. Based upon the allegations in the Amended Complaint and the New York State’s writ of prohibition, it is clear that, even if the prosecutors’ charges constituted an impermissible infringement upon the constitutional rights of the nurses and their attorney, the charges were still brought within the defendants’ prosecutorial duties and, thus, the individual County defendants remain absolutely immune. As a result, the false arrest and malicious prosecution claims cannot proceed against the County defendants. However, there is no absolute immunity for any alleged unconstitutional acts violating due process (including any alleged fabrication of evidence) during the investigative stage, not undertaken in preparation for the Grand Jury presentation or in the prosecutors’ role as an advocate. Although the individual County defendants argue that everything was done in preparation for the Grand Jury presentation, the allegations in the Amended Complaint are that the Suffolk County Police Department declined to be involved in the investigation because the police did not believe a crime had been committed and that the prosecutors thus performed the role of investigators in the gathering of evidence prior to the presentation to the Grand Jury. Given these allegations, in the context of all of the allegations in the Amended Complaint, this factual issue cannot be resolved at the motion to dismiss stage. Moreover, although qualified (rather than absolute) immunity still exists for prosecutors in their investigative role, the Court cannot resolve that issue at this juncture because of the factual allegations in the Amended Complaint, which must be accepted as true for purposes of this motion. Therefore, a plausible (but limited) Section 1983 claim against the individual County defendants — based upon the alleged violation of due process in the investigative stage prior to the preparation of the ease for the Grand Jury (including the alleged fabrication of evidence) which resulted in a subsequent deprivation of liberty — survives a motion to dismiss, as does a Section 1983 conspiracy claim to do the same with the Sentosa defendants. Similarly, for the reasons discussed below, the Monell claim against the County also withstands defendants’ motion to dismiss. Finally, with respect to the Sentosa defendants, they do not have the benefit of absolute or qualified immunity as private actors. Moreover, although the Sentosa defendants argue that the fact that they are private actors precludes a Section 1983 claim against them, the Court disagrees given the factual allegations in the Amended Complaint. In other words, the Amended Complaint sufficiently alleges that these private actors engaged in a conspiracy with the state actors to jointly deprive plaintiffs of their constitutional rights. For example, the Amended Complaint goes beyond simply alleging that information was supplied to the prosecutors by the Sentosa defendants; rather, it alleges that the Sentosa defendants agreed with the County defendants to procure an indictment through knowingly presenting false testimony to the Grand Jury and withholding exculpatory evidence, and that the prosecution would not have taken place but for the pressure and influence of the Sentosa defendants on the County defendants. The allegations, taken as a whole, are sufficient to state a plausible Section 1983 claim against the Sentosa defendants (except defendants O’Connor and Fitzgerald) — for engaging in joint action with the County defendants in connection with an alleged false arrest and malicious prosecution of plaintiffs, as well as a violation of plaintiffs’ due process rights, and conspiring to do the same with the County defendants — which survives a motion to dismiss. I. Background A. Facts Each of the nurse plaintiffs is a citizen of the Philippines and a legal resident of the United States. (Am. Compl. ¶ 1.) In addition, each nurse plaintiff was trained as either a nurse or a physician in the Philippines and was duly licensed in his or her profession in the Philippines. (Id. ¶ 21.) As set forth in the Amended Complaint, due to a severe shortage of trained nurses in the United States, many health care providers recruit nurses in the Philippines to come and work as nurses in the United States. (Id. ¶ 22.) Among the entities engaged in such recruitment activities is Sentosa Recruitment Agency, Inc. (“Sentosa Recruitment”), which is owned by, or is related to entities owned or controlled by, defendant Philipson and which has the sole purpose of recruiting nurses for facilities affiliated with Sentosa Services LLC. (Id. ¶¶ 24, 26-27.) Sentosa Recruitment, operating through individual defendant Luyun, recruited the nurse plaintiffs in this case and, “[i]n order to induce each Nurse Plaintiff to sign a contract,” Sentosa Recruitment made a number of promises, including that the nurse plaintiffs would be “direct hire” nurses rather than “agency” nurses and that they would have eight-hour shifts, night shift differentials, medical and dental benefits, malpractice insurance, two months of free housing, and a competitive salary. (Id. ¶¶ 25, 29-31.) The nurse plaintiffs claim that the Sentosa defendants (namely, Philipson, Luyun, Rubinstein, Sentosa Care, and Prompt) made the above-mentioned promises with the knowledge that these promises were false and without the intention to fulfill them. (Id. ¶ 32.) Acting in reliance on these promises, each nurse plaintiff signed a contract to work at a specific facility affiliated with Sentosa; none of the nurses, however, signed a contract with Avalon Gardens. (Id. ¶¶ 33-34, 39) The contracts provided, inter alia, that the nurse plaintiffs would be required to work at the facilities with which they contracted for a period of three years, and that if they resigned prior to that time, they would be required to pay a $25,000 penalty. (Id. ¶¶ 35-36.) Upon arriving in the United States, the nurse plaintiffs were employed by Prompt and assigned to work at Avalon Gardens. (Id. ¶ 40.) Soon thereafter, the nurses began to complain both about the conditions at Avalon Gardens — including complaints that, inter alia, their housing was inadequate and overcrowded, they did not receive promised time off, and they were not paid their correct hourly and overtime wages — and about the fact that they were not direct hires. (Id. ¶¶ 41-43.) Their complaints, however, failed to resolve any of these alleged problems. (Id. ¶ 44.) Indeed, the nurse plaintiffs allege that the Sentosa defendants breached the promises made to the nurses in a variety of respects. (Id. ¶ 37.) For example, as indicated supra, not only were the nurse plaintiffs employed as agency nurses, rather than direct hires, but they also did not receive insurance as they were promised, were not permitted to work eight-hour shifts, and did not receive vacation, time off, and pay. (Id.) In order to ascertain their rights, the nurse plaintiffs contacted the Philippine Consulate in New York to provide them with a referral to an attorney who could advise them. (Id. ¶ 45.) The Consulate referred the nurse plaintiffs to Felix Vin-luan, who advised the nurse plaintiffs that their employment contracts had already been breached in multiple ways by the Sentosa defendants and that, accordingly, the nurse plaintiffs were not bound under those contracts to continue their employment. (Id. ¶¶ 46 — 47.) Based upon this advice of counsel, and upon the fact that the Sentosa defendants refused to remedy the aforementioned breaches, the nurse plaintiffs resigned their employment on April 7, 2006. (Id. ¶ 48.) In addition, at or around the same time, other nurses who had been recruited in the Philippines by Sentosa Recruitment, were employed by Prompt, and were working at Sentosa-affil-iated facilities also resigned their employment based on the same complaints about their employment. (Id. ¶ 49.) To prevent additional nurses from resigning, Philipson threatened that the nurse plaintiffs and the others who resigned would be prosecuted, deported, faced with license revocation, and subjected to a civil suit if they did not return. (Id. ¶ 50.) Philipson also threatened nurses who had not yet resigned that they would face these same consequences if they resigned. (Id. ¶ 51.) Plaintiffs allege that, insofar as all upcoming shifts had been covered and there were no legitimate future concerns about patient care, these threats were made solely to coerce the nurses to remain as Sentosa employees. (Id.) Avalon Gardens, Prompt, and other Sen-tosa-affiliated entities then began taking a series of retaliatory actions against plaintiffs, including filing a complaint in Nassau County Supreme Court alleging, inter alia, breach of contract and tortious interference with contract and seeking to enforce the $25,000 penalty in the nurse plaintiffs’ contracts and $50,000 in punitive damages. (Id. ¶ 52.) These Sentosa entities also sought a preliminary injunction to enjoin plaintiffs from speaking with other nurses about resigning. (Id. ¶ 53.) Additionally, in April 2006, Avalon Gardens, through defendants O’Connor and Fitzgerald, filed a complaint with the New York State Education Department (the “Education Department”), which is responsible for licensing nurses and governing their conduct. (Id. ¶ 54.) Furthermore, approximately three weeks after the nurse plaintiffs resigned, defendant O’Connor, or another person acting at her behest and on behalf of Avalon Gardens, called the Suffolk County Police Department to file a complaint. (Id. ¶ 59.) According to the Amended Complaint, these retaliatory actions ultimately failed. For example, the Suffolk County Police Department refused to take any action against plaintiffs because, “in their stated opinion, no crime had been committed.” (Id.) Moreover, in June 2006, Justice Stephen Bucaria of the New York State Supreme Court denied the Sentosa entities’ motion for preliminary injunction on the ground that they had failed to establish a likelihood of success on the merits. (Id. ¶ 55.) Finally, in September 2006, the Education Department sent an email to Vin-luan stating that the nurse plaintiffs had been fully exonerated of any wrongdoing. (Id. ¶ 57.) In particular, the Education Department determined that the nurses had not committed abandonment and had not engaged in unprofessional or immoral conduct in connection with their resignations. (Id.) At this point, the attorney for Sentosa Care, Howard Fensterman (“Fenster-man”), arranged to have a private meeting with District Attorney Spota and defendants Philipson, Luyun, and others. (Id. ¶ 60.) Plaintiffs assert that Fenster-man and the principals of Sentosa have made substantial contributions to various politicians and, as such, have “amassed political power and influence” that enable them to obtain favorable actions from elected officials. (Id. ¶¶ 61-62.) According to plaintiffs, the meeting between the Sentosa defendants, their attorneys, and defendant Spota had the effect of pressuring Spota to file an indictment against plaintiffs that he would not otherwise have filed. (Id. ¶ 64.) Specifically, plaintiffs claim that, as a result of the meeting, Spota assigned the case to one of his deputies, defendant Lato, “for the purpose of gathering evidence and securing an indictment.” (Id. ¶ 70.) In or around early November 2006, Lato interviewed Vinluan and assured Vinluan that he was not a target of the investigation. (Id. ¶ 71.) Vinluan then provided Lato with “significant exculpatory information,” including the Education Department’s decision, Justice Bucaria’s order denying the motion for a preliminary injunction against plaintiffs, and information regarding the fact that none of the nurse plaintiffs had ceased working during a shift. (Id. ¶ 72.) Plaintiffs claim that “[n]onetheless[,] Lato, with the consent and at the urging of Spota, presented the case to a Grand Jury.” (Id.) Plaintiffs further claim that Lato and other unidentified investigators from the DA’s Office interviewed the nurse plaintiffs and similarly informed them that they were not the targets of a criminal investigation. (Id. ¶ 73.) Plaintiffs assert that, had they known they were targets, they “would have chosen other courses of conduct, including not participating in the interviews, or demanding to testify before the Grand Jury.” (Id. ¶ 74.) Plaintiffs make numerous allegations of wrongdoing involving the presentation of evidence to, and the procuring of the indictment from, the Grand Jury. For example, plaintiffs allege that Lato “deliberately used lurid photographs of children on ventilators to inflame the passions of the grand jurors and to procure a constitutionally invalid indictment for the benefit of the Sentosa defendants.” (Id. ¶ 75.) In addition, plaintiffs claim that the allegations in the indictment against Vinluan— that Vinluan “advised the defendant Nurses to resign” and that the purpose of the conspiracy was to obtain alternative employment for the nurses — were baseless and were founded upon the false testimony of Philipson and possibly other Sentosa employees or principals. (Id. ¶¶ 80-82.) Likewise, plaintiffs assert that “the indictment was further based upon knowingly false testimony by Philipson or other Sen-tosa principals ... that one or more of the Nurse Plaintiffs had walked off during a shift, that shifts were inadequately covered, and that patients, including the children on ventilators ... were endangered.” (Id. ¶ 84.) Plaintiffs claim that not only did the Sentosa witnesses know that this information was false, but also the County defendants “knew that this testimony was false, but nonetheless presented it to the Grand Jury pursuant to their agreement with the Sentosa Defendants.” (Id. ¶¶ 85-86.) Finally, plaintiffs allege that the Grand Jury was not properly charged on the law, was falsely informed that one or more of the nurses had resigned during their shifts, and was not told that the Education Department had determined that the nurse plaintiffs had not violated the Education Law. (Id. ¶ 83.) The Education Department’s determination, according to plaintiffs, would have been fatal to the indictment insofar as the indictment was “based entirely upon the duty to patients created by the Education Law.” (Id.) Approximately one year after the nurse plaintiffs’ resignations, the Grand Jury returned an indictment charging the nurse plaintiffs and Vinluan with endangering the welfare of a child, endangering the welfare of a physically disabled person, conspiring to do the same, and solicitation (for allegedly requesting and attempting to cause the nurses to resign). (Id. ¶¶ 78-79.) Plaintiffs were arrested as a result of their indictment. (Id. ¶ 87.) Plaintiffs moved to dismiss the indictment on the grounds that, inter alia, the prosecution violated the nurse plaintiffs’ Thirteenth Amendment rights and Vin-luan’s First Amendment rights. (Id. ¶ 94.) Their motion was denied by the state trial court judge on September 27, 2007. (Id. ¶ 95.) Plaintiffs thereafter filed an application for a writ of prohibition with the Appellate Division, which stayed all proceedings pending a determination on plaintiffs’ petition. (Id. ¶¶ 96-97.) In their petition, plaintiffs argued that the prosecution against them was “not a proper proceeding because it contravenes the Thirteenth Amendment proscription against involuntary servitude by seeking to impose criminal sanctions upon the nurses for resigning their positions, and attempts to punish Vinluan for exercising his First Amendment right of free speech in providing the nurses with legal advice.” Vin-luan, 873 N.Y.S.2d at 78. On January 13, 2009, the Appellate Division issued a writ of prohibition against further prosecution of the indictment, finding that the criminal prosecution “constituted an impermissible infringement upon the constitutional rights of these nurses and their attorney, and that the insurance of a writ of prohibition to halt these prosecutions is the appropriate remedy in this matter.” Id. at 75. (See also Am. Compl. ¶ 98.) The court noted that, under New York law, “[t]he primary function of prohibition is to prevent ‘an arrogation of power in violation of a person’s rights, particularly constitutional rights.’ ” Vinluan, 873 N.Y.S.2d at 78 (quoting Matter of Nicholson v. State Comm’n on Judicial Conduct, 50 N.Y.2d 597, 606, 431 N.Y.S.2d 340, 409 N.E.2d 818 (1980)). Thus, where plaintiffs were alleging violations of their First and Thirteenth Amendment rights, prohibition was an available remedy because if the court determined that “the prosecution im-permissibly infringe[d] upon these constitutional rights, the act of prosecuting [plaintiffs] would be an excess in power, rather than a mere error of law.” Vin-luan, 873 N.Y.S.2d at 78. Turning to the merits of plaintiffs’ petition, the Appellate Division found, as an initial matter, that “the Penal Law provisions relating to endangerment of children and the physically disabled, which all the petitioners are charged with violating, do not on their face infringe upon Thirteenth Amendment rights....” Id. at 80. Moreover, the court noted that “Thirteenth Amendment rights are not absolute, and that ‘not all situations in which labor is compelled by ... force of law’ are unconstitutional.” Id. at 81 (quoting United States v. Kozminski, 487 U.S. 931, 943, 108 S.Ct. 2751, 101 L.Ed.2d 788 (1988)). However, because the indictment explicitly made “the nurses’ conduct in resigning their positions a component of each of the crimes charged ... the prosecution ha[d] the practical effect of exposing the nurses to criminal penalty for exercising their right to leave their employment at will.” Id. at 80-81. In addition, “although an employee’s abandonment of his or her post in an ‘extreme case’ may constitute an exceptional circumstance which warrants infringement upon the right to freely leave employment, the respondent District Attorney profferfed] no reason why this [was] an ‘extreme case.’ ” Id. at 81. Indeed, the court noted that the nurses did not abandon their posts in the middle of their shifts, but instead resigned after the completion of their shifts. Id. Accordingly, although the nurses’ resignation may have made it difficult for Sentosa to find skilled replacement nurses in a timely fashion, it was “undisputed that coverage was indeed obtained, and no facts suggesting an imminent threat to the well-being of the children [were] alleged.” Id. at 82. Thus, the court explained: [W]e cannot conclude that this is such an ‘extreme case’ that the State’s interest in prosecuting the petitioners for misdemeanor offenses based upon the speculative possibility that the nurses’ conduct could have harmed the pediatric patients at Avalon Gardens justifies abridging the nurses’ Thirteenth Amendment rights by criminalizing their resignations from the service of their private employer. Id. As to Vinluan, the court found that his prosecution “impermissibly violate[d][his] constitutionally protected rights of expression and association in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments.” Id. In so holding, the court relied upon the Supreme Court’s instruction that “ ‘[t]he First and Fourteenth Amendments require a measure of protection for advocating lawful means of vindicating legal rights including advising another that his legal rights have been infringed.’ ” Id. (quoting In re Primus, 436 U.S. 412, 432, 98 S.Ct. 1893, 56 L.Ed.2d 417 (1978) (additional quotation marks and alterations omitted)). The Appellate Division found that the indictment impermissibly sought to punish Vinluan for exercising his First Amendment right to provide legal advice, and held that “it would eviscerate the right to give and receive legal counsel with respect to potential criminal liability if an attorney could be charged with conspiracy and solicitation whenever a District Attorney disagreed with that advice.” Id. at 83. Accordingly, the court concluded that “[w]here, as here, the petitioners are threatened with prosecution for crimes for which they cannot constitutionally be tried, the potential harm to them is ‘so great and the ordinary appellate process so inadequate to redress that harm’ that prohibition should lie.” Id. (quoting Matter of Rush v. Mordue, 68 N.Y.2d 348, 354, 509 N.Y.S.2d 493, 502 N.E.2d 170 (1986)). The court analogized the situation to one in which a defendant was about to be prosecuted in violation of his constitutional right against double jeopardy or in violation of his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination — which would likewise present situations in which a defendant was being prosecuted for a crime for which he could not be constitutionally tried — and, thus, granted plaintiffs’ petition and prohibited District Attorney Spota from prosecuting plaintiffs under the indictment. Id. at 78, 83. B. Procedural History Plaintiffs filed their complaint on January 6, 2010. The County defendants filed their motion to dismiss on March 23, 2010 (“County Mem.”), as did the Sentosa defendants (“Sentosa Mem.”). On May 10, 2010, plaintiffs filed their opposition (“Pis.’ Opp.”). The Sentosa defendants filed their reply (“Sentosa Reply”) on June 14, 2010, and the County defendants filed their reply on June 15, 2010 (“County Reply”). On July 8, 2010, the Court held oral argument and gave plaintiffs leave to file an Amended Complaint. Plaintiffs filed their Amended Complaint on July 29, 2010. On August 19, 2010, the Sentosa defendants and the County defendants filed supplemental letters in support of their motion to dismiss the Amended Complaint (respectively, “Sentosa Supp.” and “County Supp.”). Plaintiffs filed supplemental responses in opposition on September 7, 2010 (“Pis.’ Supp.” and “Vinluan Supp.”). Finally, the County defendants and the Sentosa defendants filed supplemental replies on September 21 and September 22, 2010, respectively (“County 2d Supp.” and “Sentosa 2d Supp.”). These motions are fully submitted and the Court has considered all of the parties’ arguments. II. Standard of Review In reviewing a motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), the Court must accept the factual allegations set forth in the complaint as true and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff. See Cleveland v. Caplaw Enters., 448 F.3d 518, 521 (2d Cir.2006). “In order to survive a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), a complaint must allege a plausible set of facts sufficient ‘to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.’” Operating Local 619 Annuity Trust Fund v. Smith Barney Fund Mgmt. LLC, 595 F.3d 86, 91 (2d Cir.2010) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twom-bly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). This standard does not require “heightened fact pleading of specifics, but only enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955. The Supreme Court recently clarified the appropriate pleading standard in Ashcroft v. Iqbal, setting forth a two-pronged approach for courts deciding a motion to dismiss. — U.S. -, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). The Court instructed district courts to first “identify! ] pleadings that, because they are no more than conclusions, are not entitled to the assumption of truth.” 129 S.Ct. at 1950. Though “legal conclusions can provide the framework of a complaint, they must be supported by factual allegations.” Id. Second, if a complaint contains “well-pleaded factual allegations, a court should assume their veracity and then determine whether they plausibly give rise to an entitlement to relief.” Id. “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged. The plausibility standard is not akin to a ‘probability requirement,’ but it asks for more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully.” Id. at 1949 (quoting and citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (internal citations omitted)). III. Discussion Plaintiffs have asserted six causes of action in their Amended Complaint. In their first cause of action, plaintiffs allege that the County defendants “acted in concert with, and at the behest of’ the Sento-sa defendants to secure the indictment of plaintiffs in violation of plaintiffs’ First, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights. (Am. Compl. ¶ 107; see also id. ¶¶ 88-93.) Plaintiffs claim not only that defendants knew or should have known that plaintiffs could not legally be prosecuted for their actions, but also that the County defendants would not have prosecuted plaintiffs but for the pressure from “the politically powerful Sentosa Defendants.” (Id. ¶¶ 109-10.) Plaintiffs assert that the motivation for the prosecution was to punish plaintiffs for their part in the nurses’ resignation and to discourage other nurses from resigning. (Id. ¶ 108.) Moreover, plaintiffs allege that the improperly procured indictment violated their Fourteenth Amendment due process rights. (Id. ¶ 112.) The Court construes plaintiffs’ second cause of action as alleging claims against defendant Spota for failure to supervise and against defendant County of Suffolk for municipal liability under Monell. (See id. ¶¶ 123-27.) In their third cause of action, plaintiffs allege that the County defendants and the Sentosa defendants conspired to violate plaintiffs’ constitutional rights. (See id. ¶¶ 134-38.) Plaintiffs’s fourth and fifth causes of action allege claims for malicious prosecution (see id. ¶¶ 139-47) and false arrest. (See id. ¶¶ 148-51.) Finally, in their sixth cause of action, plaintiffs allege a claim against only the Sentosa defendants for conspiring to deprive plaintiffs of their civil rights. (See id. ¶¶ 152-72.) As noted supra, plaintiffs have brought their claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Section 1983 “is not itself a source of substantive rights, but a method for vindicating federal rights elsewhere conferred by those parts of the United States Constitution and federal statutes that it describes.” Baker v. McCollan, 443 U.S. 137, 145 n. 3, 99 S.Ct. 2689, 61 L.Ed.2d 433 (1979). For claims under § 1983, a plaintiff must prove that “(1) the challenged conduct was attributable at least in part to a person who was acting under color of state law and (2) the conduct deprived the plaintiff of a right guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States.” Snider v. Bylag, 188 F.3d 51, 53 (2d Cir.1999) (citation omitted). Here, for purposes of their motion to dismiss, the County defendants do not dispute that they were acting under color of state law. Thus, to the extent that the County defendants are not immune from liability for their conduct, the question presented with regard to the County defendants is whether their conduct deprived plaintiffs of the various rights they assert under the Constitution. However, the Sentosa defendants contend that they were not acting under color of state law and that they therefore cannot be held liable under § 1983. As discussed infra, the Court finds that plaintiffs have sufficiently pled that the Sentosa defendants were acting under color of state law and, accordingly, the Court will assess whether plaintiffs have stated claims against the Sentosa defendants for deprivation of plaintiffs’ constitutional rights. A. The County Defendants The County defendants move to dismiss the Amended Complaint on a number of grounds. As a threshold matter, the County defendants argue that defendants Lato and Spota are entitled to absolute immunity for their actions insofar as “[e]ach of the claims alleged by the plaintiffs against the [County] defendants relate to the decision to ‘secure an indictment’ ..., the means or manner in which evidence was presented to the grand jury, or the conduct of the defendants after the indictment was handed up.” (County Mem. at 2.) These actions, according to the County defendants, were “within the scope of their duties in initiating and pursuing the criminal prosecution, or taken in preparation for those functions,” and, as such, are actions for which the County defendants are immune from liability. (Id.) However, for the reasons set forth herein, the Court finds that while certain of plaintiffs’ allegations relate to actions taken by the County defendants in their role as advocates — i.e., actions covered by the absolute immunity doctrine — other allegations relate to the County defendants’ conduct in connection with their investigation of plaintiffs prior to the initiation of any prosecution. As to this latter type of investigatory conduct, the Court concludes that, based upon the allegations in the Amended Complaint, it cannot grant absolute immunity to the County defendants at this juncture under the motion to dismiss standard. Additionally, the Court concludes that, at this stage of the litigation, it also cannot grant the County defendants qualified immunity as a matter of law, given the allegations in the Amended Complaint. In the alternative, the County defendants move to dismiss the Amended Complaint for failure to state a claim. Specifically, the County defendants argue: (1) plaintiffs have failed to state a conspiracy claim because they have not pled facts sufficient to establish that the Sentosa defendants were state actors; (2) plaintiffs cannot establish a lack of probable cause in connection with their malicious prosecution or false arrest claims because the indictment serves as presumptive evidence of probable cause; (3) plaintiffs’ allegations fail to satisfy Rule 8; and (4) the County cannot be held liable because plaintiffs have failed to allege that a County custom or policy caused a violation of plaintiffs’ civil rights. The Court will address each of these arguments in turn. 1. Absolute Immunity a. Legal Standards “It is by now well established that ‘a state prosecuting attorney who acted within the scope of his duties in initiating and pursuing a criminal prosecution’ ‘is immune from a civil suit for damages under § 1988.’ ” Shmueli v. City of New York, 424 F.3d 231, 236 (2d Cir.2005) (quoting Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409, 410, 431, 96 S.Ct. 984, 47 L.Ed.2d 128 (1976)). “[District courts are encouraged to determine the availability of an absolute immunity defense at the earliest appropriate stage, and preferably before discovery. This is because ‘[a]n absolute immunity defeats a suit at the outset, so long as the official’s actions were within the scope of the immunity.’ ” Deronette v. City of New York, No. 05-CV-5275, 2007 WL 951925, at *4, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21766, at *12 (E.D.N.Y. Mar. 27, 2007) (citing Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 526, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985) and quoting Imbler, 424 U.S. at 419 n. 13, 96 S.Ct. 984 (additional citations omitted)). However, the Second Circuit has held that in the context of a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), “when it may not be gleaned from the complaint whether the conduct objected to was performed by the prosecutor in an advocacy or an investigatory role, the availability of absolute immunity from claims based on such conduct cannot be decided as a matter of law on a motion to dismiss.” Hill v. City of New York, 45 F.3d 653, 663 (2d Cir.1995). “In determining whether absolute immunity obtains, we apply a ‘functional approach,’ looking to the function being performed rather than to the office or identity of the defendant.” Hill, 45 F.3d at 660 (quoting Buckley v. Fitzsimmons, 509 U.S. 259, 269, 113 S.Ct. 2606, 125 L.Ed.2d 209 (1993)). In applying this functional approach, the Second Circuit has held that prosecutors are entitled to absolute immunity for conduct “ ‘intimately associated with the judicial phase of the criminal process.’ ” Fielding v. Tollaksen, 257 Fed.Appx. 400, 401 (2d Cir.2007) (quoting Imbler, 424 U.S. at 430, 96 S.Ct. 984); Hill, 45 F.3d at 661 (same). In particular, “[s]uch immunity ... extends to ‘acts undertaken by a prosecutor in preparing for the initiation of judicial proceedings or for trial, and which occur in the course of his role as advocate for the State.” Smith v. Garretto, 147 F.3d 91, 94 (2d Cir.1998). On the other hand, “[w]hen a district attorney functions outside his or her role as an advocate for the People, the shield of immunity is absent. Immunity does not protect those acts a prosecutor performs in administration or investigation not undertaken in preparation for judicial proceedings.” Hill, 45 F.3d at 661; see also Carbajal v. Cnty. of Nassau, 271 F.Supp.2d 415, 421 (E.D.N.Y.2003) (“[W]hen a prosecutor supervises, conducts, or assists in the investigation of a crime, or gives advice as to the existence of probable cause to make a warrantless arrest — that is, when he performs functions normally associated with a police investigation — he loses his absolute protection from liability.” (citation omitted)). The Second Circuit has noted that “[t]he line between a prosecutor’s advocacy and investigating roles might sometimes be difficult to draw.” Zahrey v. Coffey, 221 F.3d 342, 347 (2d Cir.2000). The Court, however, may rely on certain established distinctions between these roles. For example, the Supreme Court has explained that “[t]here is a difference between the advocate’s role in evaluating evidence and interviewing witnesses as he prepares for trial, on the one hand, and the detective’s role in searching for the clues and corroboration that might give him probable cause to recommend that a suspect be arrested, on the other hand.” Buckley, 509 U.S. at 273, 113 S.Ct. 2606. In addition, the Second Circuit has identified the juncture in the criminal process before which absolute immunity may not apply. Specifically, “[t]he majority opinion in [Buckley] suggests that a prosecutor’s conduct prior to the establishment of probable cause should be considered investigative: ‘A prosecutor neither is, nor should consider himself to be, an advocate before he has probable cause to have anyone arrested.’ ” Zahrey, 221 F.3d at 347 n. 2 (quoting Buckley, 509 U.S. at 274, 113 S.Ct. 2606); see also Hill, 45 F.3d at 661 (“Before any formal legal proceeding has begun and before there is probable cause to arrest, it follows that a prosecutor receives only qualified immunity for his acts.”). Thus, in interpreting Buckley, the Second Circuit has distinguished between “preparing for the presentation of an existing case,” on the one hand, and attempting to “furnish evidence on which a prosecution could be based,” on the other hand— only the former entitles a prosecutor to absolute immunity. Smith, 147 F.3d at 94. Notably, the mere fact that a prosecutor might later convene a grand jury and obtain an indictment does not automatically serve to cloak his prior investigatory actions with the protection of absolute immunity. As the Supreme Court stated in Buckley: That the prosecutors later called a grand jury to consider the evidence this work produced does not retroactively transform that work from the administrative into the prosecutorial. A prosecutor may not shield his investigative work with the aegis of absolute immunity merely because, after a suspect is eventually arrested, indicted, and tried, that work may be retrospectively described as ‘preparation’ for a possible trial.... Buckley, 509 U.S. at 275-76, 113 S.Ct. 2606. Furthermore, “a determination of probable cause does not guarantee a prosecutor absolute immunity from liability for all actions taken afterwards. Even after that determination ... a prosecutor may engage in ‘police investigative work’ that is entitled to only qualified immunity.” Id. at 274 n. 5, 113 S.Ct. 2606; see Zahrey, 221 F.3d at 347 n. 2 (“All members of the Court [in Buckley] recognized ... that a prosecutor’s conduct even after probable cause exists might be investigative.”). Once a court determines that a prosecutor was acting as an advocate, “a defendant’s motivation in performing such advo-cative functions as deciding to prosecute is irrelevant to the applicability of absolute immunity.” Shmueli, 424 F.3d at 237 (citation omitted); see also Bernard v. Cnty. of Suffolk, 356 F.3d 495, 503 & 507 (2d Cir.2004) (noting that “once a court determines that challenged conduct involves a function covered by absolute immunity, the actor is shielded from liability for damages regardless of the wrongfulness of his motive or the degree of injury caused” and holding that “a political motive does not deprive prosecutors of absolute immunity from suit for authorized decisions made in the performance of their function as advocates”). However, a prosecutor may lose absolute immunity even for acts performed in his role as an advocate if the prosecutor acts in the “clear absence of all jurisdiction” or “without any colorable claim of authority.” Barr v. Abrams, 810 F.2d 358, 361 (2d Cir.1987). In determining whether a prosecutor has acted beyond the scope of any colorable authority in such a manner, “a court will begin by considering whether relevant statutes authorize prosecution for the charged conduct. If they do not, absolute immunity must be denied.” Bernard, 356 F.3d at 504. However, “if the laws do authorize prosecution for the charged crimes, a court will further consider whether the defendant has intertwined his exercise of authorized prosecutorial discretion with other, unauthorized conduct,” including tying the exercise of his discretion “to an unauthorized demand for a bribe, sexual favors, or the defendant’s performance of a religious act.” Id. Ultimately, a prosecutor “will not be deprived of immunity because the action he took was in error, was done maliciously, or was in excess of his authority; rather, he will be subject to liability only when he has acted in the ‘clear absence of all jurisdiction.’ ” Stump v. Sparkman, 435 U.S. 349, 356-57, 98 S.Ct. 1099, 55 L.Ed.2d 331 (1978) (citation omitted). b. Application i. Functional Test (1) Advocatory Conduct Applying the functional test to this case, defendants are correct that plaintiffs have made a number of allegations regarding both the initiation of the prosecution against plaintiffs and defendants’ presentation of evidence before the grand jury. For example, plaintiffs repeatedly allege that the County defendants’ presented false or otherwise improper evidence to the Grand Jury, procured the indictment through false testimony, and conspired with the Sentosa defendants to present false evidence. {See, e.g., Am. Compl. ¶ 75 (“Defendant Lato deliberately used lurid photographs of children on ventilators to inflame the passinos of the grand jurors ....”); id. ¶ 82 (noting that the allegations in the indictment were “based upon the false testimony of Philipson, and/or other Sentosa employees or principals, before the Grand Jury”); id. ¶ 83 (“[T]he presentation of evidence to the Grand Jury was improper, in that ... the Grand Jury was falsely informed that one or more of the nurses had resigned and left the facility before completing his or her shift.”); id. ¶¶ 84-85 (“[T]he indictment was further based upon knowingly false testimony by Philipson or other Sentosa principals and employees .... ”); id. ¶ 86 (“[T]he [County] Defendants knew that this testimony was false, but nonetheless presented it to the Grand Jury pursuant to their agreement with the Sentosa Defendants.”).) Plaintiffs also claim that the County defendants presented the ease to the Grand Jury despite having knowledge of exculpatory information and that they failed to present this exculpatory information to the Grand Jury. {Id. ¶¶ 72, 83.) Furthermore, plaintiffs allege that the County defendants failed to properly instruct the Grand Jury on the law. {Id. ¶¶ 83, 112.) While these allegations are certainly troubling (if true), these alleged actions were all undertaken as part of the prosecutor’s role as an advocate and undoubtedly fall within the scope of the absolute immunity doctrine. See Peay v. Ajello, 470 F.3d 65, 67-68 (2d Cir.2006) (“Plaintiffs claims against [his prosecutor], which encompass activities involving the initiation and pursuit of prosecution [including fabricating evidence used at trial, withholding exculpatory evidence, suborning perjury, and attempting to intimidate him into accepting a guilty plea], are foreclosed by absolute prosecutorial immunity, regardless of their alleged illegality.”); see Hill, 45 F.3d at 661 (Assistant District Attorney’s alleged acts of, inter alia, “conspiring to present falsified evidence to, and to withhold exculpatory evidence from, a grand jury” were “clearly protected by the doctrine of absolute immunity as all are part of his function as an advocate”); Fields v. Soloff, 920 F.2d 1114, 1120 & n. 2 (2d Cir.1990) (absolute immunity applied where plaintiff challenged actions undertaken by AD As in their role as legal advisors to the Grand Jury because “[informing the grand jury of the judge’s orders and overseeing the wardens in confiscating [unauthorized material from grand jurors] were actions undertaken pursuant to their legal obligation to supervise the jury” and “constituted activity within the scope of their judicial duties”); Urrego v. United States, No. 00 CV 1203, 2005 WL 1263291, at *2-3 (E.D.N.Y. May 27, 2005) (finding prosecutor was entitled to absolute immunity where he was alleged to have presented false evidence in order to obtain a superseding indictment); Storck v. Suffolk Cnty. Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 62 F.Supp.2d 927, 943 (E.D.NY.1999) (“A prosecutor is also absolutely immune from charges alleging the withholding of exculpatory evidence from a grand jury and suppressing Brady material. An allegation of conspiracy to perform the foregoing acts does not change the conclusion that the acts are entitled to absolute immunity.” (internal citations omitted)). In addition, plaintiffs take issue with the motivation underlying defendants’ decision to prosecute plaintiffs. Specifically, plaintiffs allege that the County defendants decided to prosecute plaintiffs only after being pressured to do so by the “politically powerful” Sentosa defendants. {See, e.g., Am. Compl. ¶¶ 62-64 (“As a result of their amassed political power and influence, the Sentosa defendants are able to obtain favorable actions from elected officials, which would not be taken ... without Sen-tosa’s influence---- [T]he meeting between the Sentosa defendants, their attorneys, and Defendants Spota ... had the effect of[ ] pressuring Spota to file an indictment that he would not otherwise have filed .... ”); id. ¶ 69 (“[I]t was at Philip-son’s instance [sic] that Spota took the unusual step of indicting an attorney for giving advice to his clients.”); id. ¶ 108 (“The reason for the indictment was to assist the Sentosa Defendants in their quest to punish the Plaintiffs for their part in resigning, and to discourage other nurses ... from resigning....”).) However, as noted supra, it is well-settled that a prosecutor’s motivation for initiating a prosecution has no impact on a determination of whether the prosecutor should be protected by absolute immunity. Indeed, both the Second Circuit and the Third Circuit have specifically found that allegations of improper political motives — similar to the allegations here — are not sufficient to remove the prosecutor’s actions from scope of absolute immunity where the prosecutor otherwise was acting in his role as an advocate in initiating the prosecution. See Bernard, 356 F.3d at 502 (holding that “district court erred in ruling that an improper political motive could take [prosecutors’] decisions to prosecute plaintiffs and their conduct before the grand jury outside the scope of official functions shielded by absolute prosecutorial immunity” because “a defendant’s motivation in performing such advocative functions is irrelevant to the applicability of absolute immunity”); Kulwicki v. Dawson, 969 F.2d 1454, 1464 (3d Cir.1992) (“In this case, [plaintiff] alleges that [the prosecutor] had charges brought against him because [plaintiff] was [the prosecutor’s] political rival. [The prosecutor] allegedly knew that [plaintiffs actions] did not amount to a conspiracy or an attempt to deal in infant children, yet he directed Detective Loutzenhiser to file the baseless charges.... Consideration of personal motives is directly at odds with the Supreme Court’s simple functional analysis of prose-cutorial immunity, however. The Court has explicitly stated that even groundless charges are protected, in the interest of maintaining vigorous prosecution of crime. .... Functionally, [the prosecutor’s] actions are absolutely immune. [He] was performing a core prosecutorial function in causing [the detective] to file criminal charges against [plaintiff].” (footnote and citations omitted)). Although plaintiffs object to the fact that the County defendants allegedly undertook this prosecution because of political reasons (ie., to appease the politically connected Sentosa defendants), this motivation does not change the fact that “the initiation and pursuit of a criminal prosecution are quintessential prosecutorial functions” that fall squarely within the scope of the absolute immunity doctrine. Shmueli, 424 F.3d at 237. This conclusion does not change even if the County defendants shared a desire with the Sentosa defendants to “punish” plaintiffs for resigning. Stated simply, “as long as a prosecutor acts with colorable authority, absolute immunity shields his performance of advocative functions regardless of motivation.” Bernard, 356 F.3d at 498. Likewise, the County defendants are also shielded from liability for their decision to prosecute Vinluan in retaliation for exercising his First Amendment rights. Indeed, the Supreme Court has explicitly stated that an “action for retaliatory prosecution will not be brought against the prosecutor, who is absolutely immune from liability for the decision to prosecute. Instead, the defendant will be a nonprosecutor, an official ... who may have influenced the prosecutorial decision but did not himself make it, and the cause of action will not be strictly for retaliatory prosecution, but for successful retaliatory inducement to prosecute.” Hartman v. Moore, 547 U.S. 250, 261-62, 126 S.Ct. 1695, 164 L.Ed.2d 441 (2006) (internal citation omitted). Thus, to the extent that plaintiffs’ claims are based upon the County defendants’ initiation of the prosecution against plaintiffs or their conduct in front of the Grand Jury, the County defendants are absolutely immune from liability on these claims. However, construing the allegations in the Amended Complaint in plaintiffs’ favor for purposes of this motion to dismiss, plaintiffs have also alleged improper investigatory conduct on the part of the County defendants. The County defendants argue that plaintiffs have done no more than merely label defendants’ conduct as “investigatory,” but, as set forth below, the Court disagrees and finds that plaintiffs have alleged conduct that, if true, would not be protected by the absolute immunity doctrine. (2) Investigatory Conduct Based upon the allegations in the Amended Complaint, the Court is not presented here with a scenario in which the police conducted an investigation and the prosecutors merely took the evidence that the police uncovered and presented it to a Grand Jury. Instead, plaintiffs have alleged a highly unusual set of circumstances in which the police not only lacked involvement in the investigation of plaintiffs, but also had expressly declined to investigate plaintiffs because they felt that no crime had been committed. (See Am. Compl. ¶ 59 (“Approximately three weeks after the resignations of the Nurse Plaintiffs ... O’Connor ... called the Suffolk Police Department to file a complaint. Upon information and belief, the Police Department refused to take any action as, in their stated opinion, no crime had been committed.”).) Indeed, drawing all reasonable inference in plaintiffs’ favor, plaintiffs allege that it was only after the police took no action on the Sentosa defendants’ complaints about plaintiffs that the Sento-sa defendants approached the District Attorney’s office. (See id. ¶ 60.) In other words, it was only after the police declined to get involved that District Attorney Spo-ta allegedly decided to have his staff investigate plaintiffs’ conduct. (See id. ¶ 70 (“As a result of [the meeting with the Sentosa defendants], Defendant Spota assigned the case to one of his deputies, defendant Leonard Lato, chief of the Insurance Crimes Bureau, for the purpose of gathering evidence and securing an indictment.” (emphasis added)).) Construing these allegations in the light most favorable to plaintiffs — as the Court must on a motion to dismiss — plaintiffs have pled sufficient facts to support a reasonable inference that the County defendants not only were involved in the investigation of plaintiffs but also were, by necessity, spearheading the investigation of plaintiffs due to the police’s decision not to take action. (See also Vinluan Supp. at 2 (noting that the investigation was conducted entirely by the County defendants and not the police).) The County defendants argue in response that, even if their conduct could be deemed investigatory, plaintiffs have not alleged any wrongdoing during the investigatory stage that could support a § 1983 action. The Court, however, disagrees. Assuming the allegations in the Amended Complaint to be true and construing them in plaintiffs’ favor, plaintiffs’ claims are clearly premised upon an allegation that the County defendants manufactured false evidence and testimony during their investigation of plaintiffs. In other words, if there was fabrication of evidence by prosecutors in the Grand Jury, and the same prosecutors conducted the investigation prior to the Grand Jury presentation, it is certainly reasonable to infer that fabrication also took place in the investigative stage. Thus, the Court finds that plaintiffs have sufficiently pled allegations that the County defendants violated plaintiffs’ “constitutional right not to be deprived of liberty as a result of the fabrication of evidence by a government officer acting in an investigatory capacity, at least where the officer foresees that he himself will use the evidence with a resulting deprivation of liberty.” Zahrey, 221 F.3d at 344. In Zahrey, the Second Circuit addressed similar allegations that the defendant prosecutor had “joined a conspiracy that coerced two witnesses ... to falsely accuse Zahrey of crimes.” Id. at 345. The defendant prosecutor argued — as do the County defendants here — that “nothing he did before presenting evidence to the grand jury violated [the plaintiffs] rig