Ex-state lawyer in Ohio charged in e-mail probe

COLUMBUS (AP) — A former state lawyer fired for intercepting e-mails between Ohio Department of Public Safety employees and investigators has been charged with three counts of disclosing confidential information.

Joshua Engel is due in Franklin County Common Pleas Court on Friday. Each charge is a second-degree misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to 90 days in jail and a $750 fine.

Engel was suspended and demoted as chief legal counsel earlier this year amid the investigation of a botched drug sting at the governor’s residence. He was fired Sept. 29, and the agency said he’d ordered filters be set up to automatically deliver him sensitive e-mails.

The office of the Franklin County prosecutor says that included e-mails to and from the state inspector general, the Ohio Ethics Commission and U.S. Department of Justice.