TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - A New Jersey state trooper has been arrested on charges that she received child pornography from a fellow trooper and failed to report it, authorities said.
Andrea Knox is accused of exchanging texts with trooper Jeffrey Reitz, who was indicted last December on several child porn charges stemming from a separate case in which he is accused of exchanging texts with another woman, according to authorities.
Knox, 35, of Mount Holly, was arrested Tuesday and charged with official misconduct and possessing child porn, according to the state Attorney General’s office. She was released the same day following a court appearance and could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted on both counts. Reitz, of Williamstown, was also arrested again Tuesday on a distribution of child porn charge, authorities said.
Both troopers are currently suspended from the force. Knox is assigned to the state police’s Moorestown station. Knox’s attorney was not immediately available for comment Wednesday, while Reitz’s attorney declined to comment. He has previously said Reitz maintains his innocence regarding the child porn allegations.
An investigation into Reitz’s iCloud account showed sexually explicit text messages and images exchanged with Knox, authorities said. The two had conversations in April 2018 about a girl, and Knox asked what sex acts Reitz would want to perform on the girl, authorities said.
The next day, Reitz sent Knox photos that showed naked girls, authorities said.
Reitz initially was arrested in April 2019 on charges he had an email exchange in December 2014 with a woman who suggested that he should sexually assault a prepubescent girl. Reitz asked for a photo of the girl, and the woman sent him a sexually explicit picture of her, authorities said.
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