A Carbon County judge has denied the motion for change of venue and other requests made by a former police chief charged with various sexual assault offenses.

Judge Joseph J. Matika denied the request of Brent Getz, 28, of Lehighton, to have his case heard outside the county or have a jury from another county brought into Carbon to hear the case. Getz’s attorney, Brian Collins, also filed an omnibus pretrial motion in the case with most of the requests contained in that filing denied by Matika.

Getz and Gregory Wagner Jr., 29, also of Lehighton, are charged with rape of a child; conspiracy, rape forcible compulsion; involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child; conspiracy, IDSI forcible compulsion; aggravated indecent assault of a child; conspiracy, aggravated indecent assault without consent; and indecent assault person less than 13 years of age.

Getz is the former police chief of Weissport. Before working in Weissport, Getz worked for Palmerton, Franklin Township, West Penn Township and Tamaqua police departments.

A preliminary hearing for both defendants was held in April 2019, with the charges bound for court. Wagner chose to waive his right to a hearing while Getz had a full hearing before Senior District Judge Edward Lewis.

Collins then filed a motion for “bill of particulars” which was denied by Matika.

He also filed an omnibus pretrial motion.

Concerning the contents of that motion Matika ruled:

The motion to quash return of transcript and/or petition of writ of habeas corpus, was denied.

Motion to sever defendants and trial was denied. However, Matika also ruled, “in the event this Defendant and his alleged co-defendant, Gregory Wagner, do present for a joint trial, upon subsequent motion of counsel, it would be the intent of this Court to permit redaction of any statement of Defendant, Gregory Wagner, in which he does or seems to implicate Defendant, Brent Getz, in the commission of any crimes as charged in the information or other reference to Getz. Further, it would be the intent of this Court, as appropriate to issue a cautionary instruction to the jury.”

Motion to suppress statement, was also denied.

Motion for leave to file additional pretrial motions was granted, “to the extent they are permitted by rule or statute.”

Motion to dismiss statute of limitations denied.

Concerning the change of venue, Matika’s order further stated that Collins could renew that request at the time of jury selection.

Case history

According to the affidavit filed by the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General, Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Norristown, the investigation began in May 2012 after ChildLine, Children and Youth Services, received a complaint that an 11-year-old child reported that when she was left alone with Wagner, he touched her inappropriately, and the child was afraid.

She reported years later that she had been repeatedly raped by Wagner and Getz several times a week, starting when she was 4. At the time of the rapes, Getz and Wagner would both have been teenagers.

Children and Youth Services notified Franklin Township police, who made arrangements for the child to be interviewed by the Children’s Advocacy Center in Scranton.

On May 16, 2012, the victim was interviewed on video by a forensic interviewer, at which time she said that Wagner, on multiple occasions, touched her inappropriately.

She also said that he offered her $5 to have sex with him, which she declined, and that he has also shown her pornography on his laptop.

In 2015, the case was reassigned and charges against Wagner were submitted to the District Court, but they were unable to be filed due to the charges being invalid. Valid charges were never resubmitted.

In August 2018, a Franklin Township police officer revisited the case and interviewed the victim.

Investigation

The investigation into Wagner began in May 2012 when the victim, who was 12 at the time, reported to a substitute teacher that she had been sexually assaulted by Wagner.

Agent Sean McGlinn, of the attorney general’s office, then became involved in the investigation and testified at the preliminary hearing. He said the accuser said she was raped “several times each month” by Getz and Wagner from the time she was 4 years old until just before she turned 12.

McGlinn said he spoke to Getz after his arrest and “stated to me that he could not confess to something he didn’t do.”

When a second agent also spoke to Getz, McGlinn said he said, “Oh my God, I’m going to jail.”

McGlinn said the complainant identified Getz by name. “She told me he worked as a police officer,” he said.

Initially, McGlinn said the victim only named Wagner. The investigation went quiet until August 2012, when another Franklin Township police officer took over the case and interviewed the victim.

The case was transferred to the Attorney General’s Office by the Carbon County District Attorney’s Office because of Getz’s employment with various police departments in Carbon County.

McGlinn said this time the victim gave a written statement that Getz was also with Wagner and that together, they both took part in raping her in his home.

He said that the victim’s statement ended with “Brent Getz told me not to tell anyone.”

McGlinn said the victim explained why she never named Getz as a suspect when she initially came forward in 2012.

McGlinn said the victim told her mother and a counselor at a victim’s center in Jim Thorpe that Getz also sexually assaulted her, but “she was told she should stick with just one perpetrator and not two” because if it was two, people wouldn’t believe her.

McGlinn said he is checking into the counselor’s statement to the victim, adding that the crisis center has since closed.

Getz was scheduled for a pretrial conference with the AG office last week, and Wagner is scheduled for a pretrial conference with the AG on Thursday. Those sessions are held in the courthouse in Jim Thorpe.

Deputy Attorney General Rebecca Anne Elo is prosecuting the case.