HARRISBURG — Attorney General Dave Sunday announced that a former Schuylkill County police officer who used his access to secured law enforcement resources to stalk his ex-wife will be tried on more than 20 felonies.
The Office of Attorney General presented testimony at a preliminary hearing this week in Schuylkill County regarding Douglas Litwhiler’s repeated use of the JNET system, following his termination as an East Union police officer. JNET is a secure information database used by law enforcement across the Commonwealth.
A district judge ordered Litwhiler be held for court on 21 felony counts of unlawful use of a computer, misdemeanor stalking and official oppression, and summary offenses.
Litwhiler, 40, of Columbia County, is free on $25,000 bail.
“The privacy and protection of sensitive law enforcement information is taken very seriously, and this defendant abused his access to track people in his personal life,” Attorney General Sunday said.
The Office of Attorney General filed charges in April, alleging that, after he was terminated from the department, Litwhiler used his JNET access to run searches on his ex-wife, her boyfriend, and a contractor that was building his ex-wife’s new home. In all, 21 searches were performed.
Litwhiler is also charged with stalking a man his ex-wife was dating last year. After searching for the man’s information on JNET, Litwhiler then began driving past the man’s house at all hours, and followed him out in public on multiple occasions.
Senior Deputy Attorney General Katherine McDermott is prosecuting the case. Criminal charges, and any discussion thereof, are merely allegations and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
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