Former Connellsville police officer convicted of corruption of minors
A former Connellsville police officer was acquitted of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, but convicted of corruption of minors today in Fayette County Court.
Ryan Thomas Reese, 44, of Connellsville was charged after a now 18-year-old woman told police she had sexual contact with him because he led her to believe that she would not face charges in a drug case.
The corruption of minors charges, a third-degree felony, was the less serious of the two charges.
During the two-day trial, the woman testified she performed oral sex on Reese in 2014 after she turned 16, and later had sex with him. Police who had Reese under surveillance retrieved a shirt Reese used to clean himself after the sexual encounter. DNA testing matched the fluid to him, according to a report presented at trial.
In brief testimony today, Reese told jurors that the teen did not perform oral sex on him, but acknowledged that he had sex with her.
He also told jurors that he was using the teen as a confidential informant.
The victim had testified Reese busted her and her boyfriend on drug charges in 2013 when he was a member of the county’s now defunct drug task force. She told the panel she intended to work as an informant for Reese, hoping to avoid criminal charges, when the sexual encounters occurred.