An ex-Rhode Island Republican councilman found passed out in his car while holding a crack pipe has been busted again — this time on molestation charges involving a 12-year-old girl.
Matthew Reilly resigned in disgrace from the Cranston City Council when cops discovered him last month lying back in his car seat — blacked out and mouth agape — after someone reported he was “literally choking.”
Reilly was charged with drug possession and later resigned from his council seat.
On Thursday, Reilly was back in legal trouble from an arrest in North Kingston for alleged child molestation, the Providence Journal reported, citing Cranston Police Chief Michael Winquist.
Reilly was charged with first- and second-degree child molestation sexual assault, and enticement of a person under the age of 16, police said.
The bust was the culmination of a month-long investigation sparked by a complaint filed by the legal guardian of a 12-year-old girl, according to the newspaper.
Reilly was arrested with possession of a controlled substance on May 15 – about a week into the probe involving the child. The alleged crimes involving the girl took place May 3, the Journal reported, citing court records.
District Court Judge Joseph Ippolito ordered Reilly held without bail, and that he undergo a competency hearing, Winquist told the outlet.
Reilly’s lawyer, Michael Lepizzera Jr. told The Daily Beast his client 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 to the outlet.
“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,” he wrote.
Last month, Reilly told the officer who shook him awake in his car that he has sleep apnea.
“Well, you have a crack pipe in your hands,” the cop tells him, video footage shows.
Reilly initially denied having narcotics in his vehicle, telling police he smoked “earlier” and was heading to work at Family Court.
When cops found crack cocaine in the console, he admitted to having relapsed after 13 years of sobriety, in part because of a “really bad divorce.”
In the footage, police were seen testing the crack found in Reilly’s residue-coated vehicle, which contained fentanyl.
He was charged with unlawful possession of crack cocaine/fentanyl, a misdemeanor, and released ahead of his June 15 arraignment.
