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Grand jury investigating former Connellsville Police sergeant

By Susy Kelly skelly@heraldstandard.Com 4 min read
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During an editorial board debate at the Herald-Standard between the two men vying for Fayette County district attorney, both candidates revealed that a former Connellsville police officer is the subject of a grand jury investigation.

Incumbent Jack R. Heneks Jr. and attorney Richard Bower, both seeking the Democratic nod in the May primary, were asked how they thought pending criminal cases in which former Connellsville Police Sgt. Ryan Reese was the prosecuting officer should be handled since Reese resigned from the department in December amid an undisclosed investigation. In 2013, Heneks suspended, and later removed, Reese from the county’s drug task force.

Bower contended Heneks did not fully investigate Reese’s actions when he was suspended from the task force more than one year before he resigned his job as an officer in Connellsville. Bower said if he had been the district attorney at the time, he would not have been afraid to make a tough decision and file charges against Reese if the facts warranted it.

“Had further action been taken, all the things that are going on now with Ryan Reese would have never happened,” Bower said.

Bower also briefly mentioned the current investigation, saying, “There are certain matters before a grand jury that we can’t discuss.”

Bower said there were rumors for years about Reese’s conduct.

Heneks responded by saying, “First of all, I don’t prosecute on innuendo and rumor.”

“Mr. Bower doesn’t know this,” Heneks said, “but Mr. (Steve) Cooper sent a multiple-page report to (Connellsville Police) Chief (James) Capitos after that suspension (from the task force).” Cooper is the captain of the task force, and Capitos is the chief of police in Connellsville and would have overseen Reese in his capacity as an officer for the city.

Heneks said he didn’t have authority over Connellsville police, that Capitos and city authorities are in charge of those matters.

“I can’t go into all the allegations regarding Mr. Reese because, as Mr. Bower alluded to, they’re the subject of a grand jury and they are not for public review at this point,” said Heneks.

He said there was an investigation into Reese’s actions when he was removed from the task force, but since it was a personnel matter, he couldn’t say what led to the removal. He did say that the allegations that led to the former officer’s removal from the task force were different from the allegations leading to the current investigation.

“We did what we needed to do at the time,” Heneks said.

Capitos confirmed on Tuesday that he was provided with information about Reese following his termination from the task force. “But it was not specific as far as a timeline, as far as exactly what happened.”

Capitos noted that since the accusations dealt with Reese’s activity with the county-wide drug task force, he lacked the jurisdiction to pursue any allegations that occurred outside of Connellsville.

Based on the information he received, Capitos said, there was no further action he could have taken. He said removing Reese from the task force was the right thing to do.

As for the current investigation, Capitos said he received a disclosure order from the judge presiding over the state grand jury and was provided very little in the way of details himself. He said there was only enough detail to enable him to take administrative action.

Capitos put Reese on administrative leave on Dec. 18, and Connellsville City Council unanimously accepted his resignation 11 days later.

Reese was a police officer with the city for a little more than 14 years. He was promoted to sergeant in 2011.

Jeffrey A. Johnson, assistant press secretary for the state Attorney General’s office, was unable to comment on the disclosures made by Bower and Heneks about a grand jury investigation.

“Our office does not confirm or deny investigations,” said Johnson.

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