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Jeffrey Reitz, 48, of Williamstown, already was under indictment on possession of child pornography charges in connection with texts he’d had with a civilian, authorities said.
During those exchanges, a woman “proposed that Reitz sexually assault a young girl and sent him a sexually explicit photo of the girl,” state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said.
Additional images of child pornography were found in an iCloud account that belonged to Reitz, Grewal said.
Reitz now faces additional charges for engaging in similar messages with another trooper, Andrea V. Knox, 35, of Mount Holly, who also was arrested on Tuesday, the attorney general said.
A check of the same iCloud account revealed that Reitz “engaged in sexually explicit conversations about an underage girl with his fellow trooper Knox,” Grewal said.
On Aug. 27, 2018, Knox “encouraged” Reitz by “asking for details about the sex acts Reitz would like to perform on the girl,” the attorney general said.
The two had another chat the next day, during which Reitz “sent Knox photos of people at a nudist location, including two female children who were both naked with their genitals visible,” he said.
Knox, who is assigned to Troop D Moorestown Station, “failed to report that Reitz shared items of child pornography with her, despite her duty as a police officer to enforce and uphold the laws of the State of New Jersey,” Grewal said.
Knox was processed and released Tuesday on charges of official misconduct and child porn possession and was suspended by the New Jersey State Police pending the outcome of the case.
Reitz already was suspended following last December’s indictment (SEE the indictment here: https://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases19/pr20191219c.html). He was arrested Tuesday on child porn distribution charges.
Knox and Reitz were charged in investigations by the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Cyber Crimes Bureau. Deputy Attorney General Rachael Weeks is prosecuting the cases.
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ALSO SEE: A former Jersey Shore high school sportswriter was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday and charged with convincing an underage girl to send him sexually explicit photos, authorities said.
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