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   From: nowomr@protonmail.com   
      
   June 8, 2023   
   Accused Crack-Smoking Councilman Now Charged With Child Molestation   
      
   The grim saga of a former Rhode Island city councilman who resigned last   
   month after cops discovered him passed out in his parked SUV with two   
   crack pipes beside him has taken an even darker turn.   
      
   Matthew Reilly, a 41-year-old Republican who represented Cranston’s Ward   
   6, was arrested Thursday morning on charges of first-degree child   
   molestation/sexual assault, second-degree child molestation/sexual   
   assault, and enticement of a person under 16, police said.   
      
   The bust comes just three weeks after Reilly was brought up on drug   
   possession charges for a May 15 incident in which a passerby thought they   
   spotted the first-term councilman, lawyer, and youth soccer coach choking   
   in a parking lot. Responding officers found an unconscious Reilly behind   
   the wheel, amid drug paraphernalia, a lighter, and a “white, rock-like   
   substance,” police said at the time. He was booked and released, pending a   
   June 15 court hearing, and resigned two days later.   
      
   On Thursday, Reilly’s legal situation became exponentially worse, as   
   detectives from the Cranston PD, investigators from the Rhode Island   
   Attorney General’s Special Victims Unit, and North Kingstown police took   
   him back into custody. According to The Providence Journal, which first   
   reported on Reilly’s latest troubles, the molestation investigation began   
   about a week before the councilman’s recent drug arrest, following a   
   complaint to police by the legal guardian of a 12-year-old girl. At a   
   court appearance, a judge ordered Reilly held without bail.   
      
   Cranston Police Chief Michael J. Winquist declined to provide any further   
   details on the case, according to the Journal.   
      
   Reilly’s attorney, Michael J. Lepizzera, Jr., told The Daily Beast on   
   Thursday evening that Reilly entered a not guilty plea to the molestation   
   charges.   
      
   “With these types of charges, I can see the general public and even close   
   friends instantaneously turning their back on Mr. Reilly and drawing knee   
   jerk conclusions,” Lepizzera said in an email. “I simply ask everyone to   
   refrain from public ridicule and gossip and allow the legal process to   
   unfold in the ordinary course. While we may not have a perfect system of   
   justice in this country (as nothing is perfect), my 30 years as a lawyer   
   allows me to state that we have as near perfect judicial system as could   
   exist and we should trust in the system to be the final adjudicator of the   
   facts, the law, and any legal outcome.”   
      
   In bodycam video from Reilly’s previous drug arrest, he at first denied   
   having any drugs on him, then admitted having purchased $100 worth of   
   crack the day before.   
      
   “It was a relapse,” Reilly told officers, noting that he was going through   
   a “really bad divorce.” “I’ve been clean for 13 years.”   
      
   Reilly has been open about his struggles with addiction, speaking publicly   
   for the first time at a 2021 recovery event at Cranston City Hall.   
      
   “This is something I’ve kept private for a long time,” Reilly said, going   
   on to describe how he had at one point “lost everything” to drugs.   
      
   But a stint in rehab in 2010 put him on the right path, Reilly told the   
   audience, saying he hoped to use his visibility as a politician to inform   
   others about the benefits of sobriety.   
      
   “With the tools that you’re given through recovery, you’re capable of   
   achieving greater things than you could have ever, prior to your   
   addiction,” Reilly said. “Today, I have a career that I love helping   
   people everyday in all different situations, and I wouldn’t give it up for   
   the world. And I’ve also been given this great gift, to be a community   
   leader and have my ideas heard.”   
      
   Last year, amid ugly divorce proceedings, Reilly’s estranged wife   
   submitted filings in court that included text messages purporting to show   
   him dosing their children with sleep medication so he could leave the   
   house and have late-night sex with a law client. The filings, which were   
   uncovered by GoLocalProv, also alleged Reilly conspired with his client-   
   cum-sex-partner to falsely accuse his ex-wife of violating a no-contact   
   order.   
      
   Reilly’s law license was suspended following his May arrest, and a special   
   master was appointed so as not to abandon his existing clients. He was   
   evicted from his law office on May 17, the same day he resigned.   
      
   "Dear Clerk: I hereby submit my resignation as the Ward Six City   
   Councilperson, effective immediately," the letter read. “Very truly yours,   
   Matthew R. Reilly.”   
      
      
   https://www.thedailybeast.com/accused-crack-smoking-councilman-matthew-   
   reilly-now-charged-with-child-molestation   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)