Top Pennsylvania state officials sent sexually explicit photos, videos and messages to each other from their work email accounts, it’s claimed.
Top environmental regulator E. Christopher Abruzzo, Gov. Tom Corbett’s former spokesman Kevin Harley and State Police Comissioner Frank Noonan are among those implicated in the alleged scandal.
Noonan’s agency is heading up the manhunt for Pennsylvania cop killer Eric Frein, and the 42-year vet and former FBI agent has been the lead spokesman in the case.
Noonan received 338 lewd emails, the Patriot-News reported.
It’s claimed they sent and/or received the inappropriate messages between 2008 and 2012, according to documents made public Thursday by the state Attorney General’s Office.
The allegations came to light following a court battle and public record requests from The Inquirer and other news organizations.
Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane’s office also named five other officials, who allegedly sent pornographic material over state-owned computers during work hours.
They were Patrick Blessington, Glen Parno, Chris Carusone, Richard A. Sheetz, and retired FBI agent Randy Feathers.
None of the eight men named have responded to requests for comment.
Kane’s office said they were releasing the emails in the name of “transparency” and as a warning to other state employees that the bawdy behavior wouldn’t be tolerated, the Patriot-News reported.
Some 22 other officials are believed to have sent or received similar emails, but they have not yet been named.
“The images described in these news accounts are unacceptable and have no place in the work environment,” said Jay Pagni, Corbett’s spokesman.
“It is [the governor’s] expectation of those who work for him that they perform with the utmost professionalism and are guided by high ethical standards beyond reproach,” Pagni added.
The emails included pictures and video clips of men and women engaging in oral, anal and full penetrative sex.
A list showing how many explicit emails each of the men sent and received over the four-year span revealed that, of the group, Noonan was the only one to receive emails but not send any.
Reuters reports that the emails were discovered during Kane’s probe into whether there was political interference in the investigation into former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky.
Sandusky, convicted in 2012 of molesting 10 boys over a 15-year period, is serving a prison sentence of 30 to 60 years.
The emails were recovered during a review, which found inexplicable delays in bringing a case, but no evidence of political interference.
There is no indication that Republican Corbett, who served as attorney general until early 2011, was aware of the explicit exchanges.
With News Wire Services
