Former probation officer’s case bound to court

The Patriot News

July 8, 2008

By Monica von Dobeneck

of The Patriot News

“It’s a silly case, criminalizing what is at worst a moral lapse,” he said.

A former Lebanon County female adult probation officer who had an affair with one of her clients will have to face the Lebanon County Court as the result of a preliminary hearing Tuesday before district justice Marie Dissinger.

Erin Lewis, 26, who now lives in Halethorpe, Md., was charged with tampering with public records and obstructing administration of law, according to court documents.

*Her lawyer, Justin McShane of Harrisburg, called the case “garbage, rotten garbage, an act that is vengeful,” following the two hour hearing.*

*”It’s a silly case, criminalizing what is at worst a moral lapse,” he said.*

Lewis and her former client, Jeffrey Gardner, have since married, he said. Neither testified during the hearing and would not comment.

According to testimony by Sally Barry, chief adult probation officer for the county, Gardner had been assigned by Judge Robert Eby to the Crossroads program, which allows defendants to avoid state prison time by participating in a 22 month in-patient drug and alcohol treatment program followed by 12 months of probation. The probationary period includes at least six months of electronic monitoring and house arrest, Barry said.

According to Barry, Lewis released Gardner from his electronic monitoring on Feb. 12, 11 days early, so the pair could go together to Atlantic City. Barry said Lewis wrote on her case records that Gardner was planning to join his family there, but Gardner told her that was not true. Gardner told her he and Lewis had started an intimate relationship in mid-December that included at least five overnight visits to her home.

Barry said after the hearing that it is not illegal for a probation officer to have an affair with a client, but it is a violation of the department’s code of conduct. She said this is the first time it has happened since she came to the Lebanon County office in 2003.

*McShane said that all the testimony Tuesday was hearsay and the probation department’s policy on early releases is “ambiguous, at best.” He argued that Lewis released Gardner early because he had offered valuable information on the whereabouts of another client her office was seeking.*

*McShane said Lewis has lost her new job with the U.S. government as a result of the charges.*

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