1) New Job.
2) Having been railroaded by my college girlfriend I sympathize. The cheapest course is usually compliance.
Aside:
(She told Deans I planned to kill her, Deans didn't accuse me of anything, and told me to leave her alone ( I already was) and when the Deans didn't like me asking what I was accused of, Deans forcefully committed me to a Psych ward....But , with the help of my friends, and some unexpected allies in the insurance industry... the doctors figured out I wasn't crazy..and I tried to return to campus with my little piece of paper that proves I am not crazy. ( I love that joke.) only to be told they lied when they said I could come back if I had such a piece of paper. I had a case - they put up posters defaming me without evidence. The lied on the hospital admissions. They made a deal to accept that piece of paper then refused. But why spend $10-20K and three years of your life when you still don't get to attend your last semester with all of your friends? So I accepted exile and transferred credits. )
But they were able to do that outside the criminal court system at a private school .. What could they have possibly had to put the fix in with your case? They had no evidence but a police report, right? This would have been a jury trial, right?
What could they possibly have lied about or presented to make a jury believe them - when the PA hadn't even opened the case file? Unless you have a lot of prior history to dredge up , what will they convict you on? If it was me I would have switched to drag it out more mode.. my guess is that the PA realized they didn't have the right guy and wanted to save face, and the longer you let that case sit on his desk, the better the deals would get.. but then the deal you took wasn't a bad one. (there is a limit to what you could take dragging it out as well) But if the event was invented, the evidence would have to be as well.
Since they made no insurance claim against you,and there wasn't a prior grudge, what most likely happened was that this person really did get into a hit and run, and then reported the wrong license plate. And again, now they want to save face as well, but not to the point of committing their own crime of putting in an false insurance claim.. When you live in a nest of progressive narcissism, most of the people you interact with will act accordingly.
3) You got a list right? Add the name and wait