Pennsylvania Justice Identified In Pornographic Email Scandal

There is a growing scandal over pornographic emails that has now snared a State Supreme Court Justice. There has been an ongoing investigation over pornographic emails being shared by employees at the attorney general’s office. That investigation has led to the disclosure of 54 emails sent from Justice Seamus McCaffery’s personal Comcast email address to an employee at the State Attorney General’s Office. In those emails were a reported 8 pornographic images and videos.

The scandal was itself the outgrowth of the Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal where there were allegations of improper decisions by officials. That investigation uncovered the pornographic material. and expanded to include aides close to Governor Tom Corbett.

Emails from eight former staffers at the attorney general’s office where produced under media requests. The eight men worked under Corbett during his tenure as attorney general and some continued with him after he became governor.

Corbett now finds himself at the center of a new scandal. Two of the men, Christopher Abruzzo, Environmental Protection Secretary under Corbett, and Glenn Parno, a lawyer with the Department of Environmental Protection, have resigned.

McCaffery allegedly forwarded emails with titles like ‘tan lines XXX’ depicting nude centerfolds, though only eight messages were found with lewd content. Two had off-color jokes.

Since pornography itself is legal (so long as it is not child pornography), this type of violation is generally not something that justifies removal as opposed to an admonishment in the use of any public office or equipment for personal purposes. However, most public employees do use their emails for some personal or non-business messaging or texts. A few years ago, then Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit became embroiled in such a scandal, though he was able to weather the storm and continued on the bench.

McCaffery was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland and came to this country at age 5. He is a former Marine and a former Philadelphia police officer. After serving as an officer for 20 years and retiring as a Sergeant, he became a lawyer. He is a graduate of La Salle University and law school at Temple University. He is also a retired as a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.

Source: Daily Mail