A state trooper acquitted on charges alleging he molested a young girl has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging high-ranking Pennsylvania State Police personnel and Luzerne County Children and Youth Services engaged in a “plot to destroy” him.
Patrick J. Finn, a state police corporal who lives in Harrisburg, was charged with indecent assault and corruption of a minor after allegedly climbing into bed with a 9-year-old girl and fondling her at a home in Wright Twp. early the morning of Dec. 4, 2016.
Defense attorney Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. argued at trial that Finn couldn’t be guilty because he was asleep at the time — a claim substantiated when the victim testified that she believed Finn was sleeping and had mistaken her for his girlfriend.
Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Vough subsequently threw out the case in April 2018, finding prosecutors had not produced “one scintilla of evidence” that Finn was awake during the encounter.
The lawsuit filed in federal court earlier this month targets George Bivens, who at one point was second in command for the entire Pennsylvania State Police organization, as well as Finn’s estranged wife, former PSP press secretary Maria Finn. The complaint brought by the Harrisburg-based law firm Weisberg Cummings asserts that Bivens and Maria Finn began dating while she was still married to Patrick Finn and that together they engaged in a “pattern of making false reports to law enforcement” and “harassing and threatening” Patrick Finn.
That course of conduct included falsely reporting in July 2015 that Patrick Finn was drunk and suicidal — claims that could have resulted in him losing his job as a trooper — as well as reporting the alleged sexual assault, when in fact they knew Patrick Finn had been asleep at the time, the complaint says.
“With actual knowledge that (Patrick Finn) was asleep during this entire incident and that his conduct took place while he was asleep, Maria Finn and Bivens took advantage of the situation to destroy the career, reputation and personal life of (Patrick Finn),” attorneys Larry A. Weisberg and Derrek W. Cummings wrote.
The complaint alleges that Wright Twp. Police Chief Royce Engler and Luzerne County Children and Youth Services caseworker Mallory Liller “conspired” with Bivens and Maria Finn in order to garner favor from Bivens, who at that time was third in the PSP chain of command.
The suit contends that Bivens and Maria Finn withheld the exculpatory evidence of Patrick Finn being asleep, and that when confronted by it at trial both “did everything possible to downplay, avoid and/or lie” about it.
Even after Patrick Finn was acquitted, Bivens and Maria Finn sought to continue harassing him, including by having him placed on restricted duty and medically limited duty without explanation, according to the complaint.
Patrick Finn was also required to meet with a Philadelphia psychiatrist for the purposes of being evaluated as a pedophile — despite being acquitted, the complaint contends.
In addition to the professional retaliation, Patrick Finn also suffered “slanderous remarks” at the hands of Maria Finn, who made statements after the acquittal referring to him as a “pedophile,” according to the lawsuit.
In addition to Bivens, Maria Finn and the Pennsylvania State Police, the suit names as defendants Luzerne County Children and Youth Services, the Wright Twp. Police Department and others.
The complaint asserts numerous grounds for relief, including engaging in a civil conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation and malicious prosecution.
Last week, attorneys from the law firm Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin filed a response on behalf of Wright Twp. police seeking dismissal on grounds the complaint failed to state an appropriate cause of action.
A Pennsylvania State Police spokesman did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
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Pennsylvania state trooper alleges ex, boss concocted ‘plot to destroy’ him
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