Aide for Pa. AG pleads not guilty to email snooping

Associated Press

NORRISTOWN, Pa.

A former small-town police chief who became one of Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s closest confidants pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a charge he snooped on emails to help her keep tabs on a grand jury investigation that has threatened to end her career.

Patrick Reese, 47, had no comment as he left a suburban Philadelphia courtroom surrounded by cameras and reporters after his arraignment on a contempt charge. He was released on $5,000 unsecured bond pending a Sept. 9 trial before the judge whose protective order he allegedly violated.

The former Dunmore police chief is accused of accessing emails in an attorney general’s office archival system to keep Kane informed about the grand jury investigation that resulted in criminal charges against her last week. Judge William Carpenter had ordered Kane and her staff to stay out of the case.

“He did searches and queries that related to the case and to the protective order,” Montgomery County First Assistant District Attorney Kevin Steele said after the arraignment.

Reese, a supervisory special agent who was in charge of Kane’s security detail and often drove her, was one of a small number of aides who had access to the email system, prosecutors said.

Employees in the office referred to Reese as the “chief of staff” and saw him as a “go-between” when trying to deal with Kane, according to court papers.

Reese was a passenger, with another agent behind the wheel, when Kane’s state-issued SUV struck a parked car last October near Scranton.

The crash left Kane with a concussion that kept her from working out of her Harrisburg office for a month, according to a spokeswoman. Reese and the driver suffered unspecified injuries.

Reese faces up to six months in jail if convicted.

Under state ethics rules, state workers charged with criminal conduct related to their employment face a mandatory suspension without pay.

If an employee is convicted, he or she is terminated.