Aide to Pennsylvania AG Kathleen Kane is convicted for email snooping in violation of court order
An aide to Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane was convicted of criminal contempt on Tuesday for violating a protective order by reading office emails to learn about a grand jury investigation of Kane.
The aide, Patrick Reese, was convicted by a Montgomery County judge, report the Legal Intelligencer (sub. req.), TribLive.com, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Times-Tribune. He was Kane’s driver and a special agent in charge of her security detail. He has since been reassigned.
Reese could be sentenced to up to six months in jail.
Reese was charged the same day as Kane, who is accused of leaking grand jury information to embarrass a former prosecutor and lying about it to a grand jury.
Prosecutors said Reese searched archived emails on the attorney general’s server for grand jury subpoenas, the dates of witness testimony, and the identity of a grand juror. He was also accused of searching for the email of the judge and the special prosecutor.
Reese’s lawyer contended his client didn’t know about the protective order, and there was no evidence Reese actually read the emails. The lawyer also maintained the emails searches were intended to investigate a leak about the investigation of Kane to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Reese plans to appeal.
