LANCASTER – Attorney General Tom Corbett announced that agents from the Attorney General’s Public Corruption Unit have filed criminal charges against Lancaster County Coroner George Gary Kirchner, M.D., accused of compromising the security of the Lancaster County 9-1-1 computer system and conspiring to provide newspaper reporters with illegal access to confidential information.
Corbett said that Kirchner, 73, of 610 Millcross Road, Lancaster, was charged today following an extensive grand jury investigation by the Attorney General’s Office concerning unauthorized access to confidential information stored on a 9-1-1 system website operated by the Lancaster Countywide Communications system.
Corbett said the case was referred to the Office of Attorney General by Lancaster County District Attorney Donald Totaro on Sept. 1, 2005, because of a potential conflict of interest.
“Publicizing confidential law enforcement information can compromise official investigations and jeopardize the safety of witnesses or citizens who file complaints,” Corbett said. “Dr. Kirchner breached the security of the 9-1-1 website and violated the public trust in order to help a small group of reporters gain an edge over competing media outlets.”
According to the grand jury, Kirchner conspired to provide reporters from the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal newspaper with unauthorized access to confidential information on the Lancaster 9-1-1 website. The grand jury also found that in 2005, confidential information from the secure section of the 9-1-1website was included in articles published by the Intelligencer Journal.
Corbett explained that in a previous Lancaster County incident, a person who called 9-1-1 to report drug activity in his neighborhood was severely beaten when his name was obtained during unauthorized access to the secure section of the 9-1-1 website. Additionally, he noted that the Lancaster County District Attorney’s office has prosecuted several civilians and emergency responders for unauthorized access to the 9-1-1 system or sharing access to the system with unauthorized individuals.
Corbett said that the Lancaster 9-1-1 website includes a public section, with general information about emergency calls, along with two secure sections, intended for use only by police officers, fire and emergency services personnel and the coroner. The secure sections of the website include confidential information about emergency calls and alleged crimes, intended only for law enforcement and other authorized personnel.
According to the grand jury, the confidential sections of the 9-1-1 website are protected by special user names and passwords which are issued to authorized personnel. Warnings are clearly displayed before entering those sections of the website, explaining that individuals are entering a secure government computer system and that unauthorized access may result in criminal prosecution.
Corbett said that Lancaster County officials became aware of possible intrusions into the secure sections of the 9-1-1 website on August 22, 2005, when an article in the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal included detailed information about a suspicious death. The newspaper article attributed the information to the “Lancaster County-Wide Communications Website,” even though the public portion of the website did not include any of the detailed information contained in the article.
The following day, on Aug. 23, 2005, the Intelligencer Journal published an article by reporter Brett Lovelace which contained additional details about the suspicious death. The grand jury found that the information included in the article was attributed to Lancaster County Coroner Gary Kirchner, though much of that information originated from a Lancaster detective assigned to the case who did not speak with Lovelace.
According to the grand jury, an examination of access information for the 9-1-1 website showed that computers located at Lancaster Newspapers, 8 West King St., Lancaster, had gained entry to the secure section of the website six times on Aug. 21, 2005, the day prior to the publication of confidential information in the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal. On all six occasions, entry to the secure section of the 9-1-1 website was gained by using a password and user name issued to Gary Kirchner.
Corbett said a further review showed 57 instances where computers from Lancaster Newspapers had accessed the secure section of the county 9-1-1 website using Kirchner’s password and user name. Additionally, there were 33 unsuccessful attempts to access the secure section of the 9-1-1 website from Lancaster Newspapers using Kirchner’s password and user name shortly after Kirchner’s account was terminated on Aug. 22, 2005.
The grand jury found that a forensic analysis of four Lancaster Newspapers computer hard drives obtained as part of the investigation identified at least 48 incidents of unauthorized access to the 9-1-1 website during 2004 and 2005 involving Intelligencer Journal staff reporters Brett Lovelace, Paula Holzman and Carrie Caldwell Cassidy.
Additionally, Corbett said a computer forensics analysis revealed a September 2005 email exchange between Kirchner and Intelligencer Journal reporters Brett Lovelace and P.J. Reilly, discussing access to the secure section of the 9-1-1 website. The email was intended to be sent to Kirchner’s home computer, but instead was sent to the Lancaster Countywide Communications Center.
On Sept. 6, 2005, Reilly wrote to Kirchner stating, “Gary, what we need is your ‘used (sic) ID’ and your password to access the coroner’s section of the site. Apparently, they have been changed. Can we have that new information? I will make sure it is kept confidential.”
On Sept. 27, 2005, Lovelace wrote, “I really need for you to get the problem fixed with the countywide communications website. As of now, neither of us can log in.” Later, Lovelace added, “I want to be able to log into the coroner page which lists the calls. It’s the same page you had access to.”
On that same day, Kirchner replied to Lovelace, acknowledging that his old user name and password no longer provided access to the secure 9-1-1 website and stating, “Understand they wished to track and restrict access. There was a form we needed to download and submit for new passwords. The form was submitted.”
Corbett said that several reporters from the Intelligencer Journal newspaper were subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury about illegal intrusions into secure sections of the 9-1-1 website, including Brett Lovelace, P.J. Reilly, Paula Holzman, Carrie Caldwell Cassidy and Madelyn Pennino. All five reporters asserted their Fifth Amendment right to refuse to provide evidence which would tend to incriminate them, but each later testified after being granted immunity from prosecution for crimes supported by evidence arising from their testimony.
The grand jury later found that portions of the testimony offered by some reporters were not credible. According to the grand jury, Lovelace was not credible when he denied knowing that he was not authorized to access secure sections of the county 9-1-1 website. The grand jury also determined that there was proof Lovelace had used an alternate computer to access the secure 9-1-1 site, something he denied under oath.
“We allege that Dr. Kirchner knowingly frustrated the security efforts surrounding the 9-1-1 website, disregarded the confidential and sensitive nature of the information included on that website and abused his authority by distributing his user name and password to reporters from the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal,” Corbett said.
“In addition to the breach of public trust by Dr. Kirchner, the grand jury found that employees of the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal violated the security of the 9-1-1 website simply to gain a tactical advantage over a competing newspaper,” Corbett said. “Contrary to the assertions of Lancaster Newspapers in repeated legal challenges that the grand jury was seeking newspaper source information, it is clear that the evidence sought was solely forensic in nature, establishing the direct illegal use of computers at Lancaster Newspapers by its reporters to access known restricted websites.”
Kirchner is charged with one count of unlawful use of a computer and other computer crimes and one count of criminal conspiracy to commit unlawful use of a computer, both third degree felonies punishable by up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.
Corbett said the criminal charges were filed today before Columbia Magisterial District Judge Robert A. Herman, Jr. Kirchner will be ordered to appear for a preliminary hearing before Manheim Magisterial District Judge John C. Winters.
Kirchner will be prosecuted in Lancaster County by Senior Deputy Attorney General Jonelle Harter Eshbach of the Attorney General’s Public Corruption Unit.