Former Connellsville officer’s attorney wants rape charge dismissed
In this Nov. 9, 2016 file photo, former police officer Ryan Reese, 44, of Connellsville is led away in handcuffs Wednesday after a jury found him guilty on one count of corrupting a minor, and not guilty on the charge of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse involving a teen.
Reese
The attorney for former Connellsville police officer Ryan Reese wants rape and other charges filed against him to be dismissed.
On Monday, Attorney Emily Smarto filed the motion in Fayette County Court to dismiss the charges against Reese, 44, of Connellsville, including rape, three counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, three counts of sexual assault, one count of official oppression and three counts of indecent assault.
Those charges stem from an incident in 2012 when Reese, who was a member of the now-defunct Fayette County Drug Task Force, reportedly arrested a woman buying morphine pills in parking lot of the Uniontown Eat n’ Park.
Reese allegedly told her that she was facing jail time and asked if she wanted to be a confidential informant to make drug purchases for a lighter sentence.
According to court documents, when the woman met with Reese at the drug task-force building a month later asking how she can “help herself out” on her case, he allegedly responded by unzipping his pants and asking her to perform a sex act on him.
The woman testified during a preliminary hearing that Reese was forceful, hurt her throat and prevented her from breathing. The woman said she told him to stop. He then allegedly had sex with her and refused to use a condom.
After meeting him a third time to perform oral sex, she testified she never saw or heard from him again. She was never charged.
The Herald-Standard does not identify alleged victims of sexual crimes.
In her motion, Smarto argued that prosecutors failed to establish a sufficient case to support all the charges.
Smarto also requested the state provide additional discovery information including names and addresses of all eyewitnesses in the case as well as all written or recorded statements of the eyewitnesses that the prosecutors intend to call at trial.
The defense is also seeking grand jury testimony from the alleged victim, along with all records from the commonwealth that are relative to her.
In early November, Reese was found guilty by a Fayette County jury on the charge of corruptions of minors after a three-day trial on charges stemming from an incident where he had sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old heroin addict he arrested for a drug crime in 2013.
A sentencing hearing for Reese in that case is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Jan. 25 at the Fayette County Courthouse.
Reese is free on $75,000 bond, and a judge has ordered him to be placed on electronic home monitoring and to have his firearms removed.
Reese is also awaiting trial on a separate rape case to be tried in the Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas.
Deputy Attorney General Patrick J. Schulte is representing the commonwealth in the cases.
Reese resigned from the drug task force in 2012 and then resigned from the Connellsville police department in 2014, before he was charged.