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A former Republican councilman cuffed last month on drug charges has been arrested again at his Rhode Island home for first-degree child molestation.
Out on bail for a June 15 court appearance, Republican Councilman Matthew Reilly was arrested Thursday at his Rhode Island home before appearing before a court.
He’s now being held without bail on several more sex charges including the first-degree child molestation charge, as well as second-degree child molestation and enticing a person younger than 16 – for crimes that allegedly took place May 3.
They involve an unnamed 12-year-old girl police sources said Reilly met online.
He appeared in court for an arraignment hearing Thursday, donning a hooded sweatshirt and handcuffs before being led away to a Cranston lockup.
He is still facing an unrelated drug charge that saw him resign last month, three days after cops released bodycam video of him high on what they confirmed to be a cocktail of crack and fentanyl, laid out in the driver’s seat of his car.
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Previously out on bail for a June 15 court appearance, ex-Rhode Island Councilman Matthew Reilly appeared in court Thursday after being arrested for several unrelated sex charges – which allege he molested a 12-year-old girl
Reilly, 41, resigned from his seat last month after police released body camera footage showing him high on what cops later confirmed to be crack and fentanyl
‘The arrest warrant resulted from an investigation by Detectives from the Cranston Police Special Victims Unit and the prosecutors from the Office of the Rhode Island Attorney General that began on May 7, 2023,’ Cranston cops wrote in a press release of Reilly’s Thursday arrest.
They added that the month-long investigation was launched after the department a complaint filed by ‘the legal guardian of a twelve-year-old girl’ who they added was ‘unrelated to Reilly’.
The guardian, who was not named, filed the complaint at the Cranston Police Department Headquarters police said in the release.
Court records show the incident in question took place on May 3, and sources told WJAR the allegations involve a young girl Reilly met online.
Prior to resigning, Reilly – who has two young daughter himself – had been in the midst of a messy divorce, during which he a legal battle with his wife over his kids’ custody.
According to multiple sources, at least two attorneys and a family court judge notified the court during those proceedings about Reilly’s drug use, while claiming engaging in sordid trysts with some of this clients.
Text messages produced by his wife’s attorney claimed the then rep was also medicating his own children with drugs like melatonin in order to go to meet with a client for sex late at night, and even conspired to frame his wife of violating a court-mandated no contact order.
The children’s mother added in her own statement: ‘In numerous occasions, I received phone calls from our eldest daughter in the middle of the night upset that she woke up and her father was not home.’
Despite this alleged evidence, no action was taken against Reilly.
Reilly appeared in court for an arraignment hearing Thursday, donning a hooded sweatshirt and handcuffs before being led away to a Cranston lockup
His second arrest comes after a the month-long investigation launched after a complaint filed by ‘the legal guardian of a twelve-year-old girl’ cops confirmed was ‘unrelated to ‘Reilly’
The guardian, who was not named, filed the complaint at the Cranston Police Department Headquarters, seen here
The ex-rep was arrested Thursday at his North Kingston home over the sex charges, for which he has plead not guilty
It was this divorce that would Reilly would later use to deflect responsibility for his recently recorded episode this May, in which he told police he relapsed after 13 years of sobriety
This was after police said they discovered the then councilman pulled over at the side of a road with drug paraphernalia and a ‘white, rock-like substance’ that onsite tests revealed to be crack cocaine and fentanyl
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Moreover, Reilly was asleep when officers came into contact with him, with video showing them attempt to wake Reilly, while he is the midst of what was assumed to be medical episode.
He was charged with possession of Schedule II narcotics – a charge he still faces as of Thursday
It was this divorce that would Reilly would later use to deflect responsibility for his recently recorded episode this May, in which he told police he relapsed after 13 years of sobriety.
This was after police said they discovered the then councilman pulled over at the side of a road with drug paraphernalia and a ‘white, rock-like substance’ that onsite tests revealed to be crack cocaine and fentanyl.
Moreover, Reilly was asleep when officers came into contact with him, with video showing them attempt to wake Reilly, while he is the midst of what was assumed to be medical episode.
He was charged with possession of Schedule II narcotics.
Cranston police have released body cam footage from the incident, showing Reilly completely passed out, while holding a crack pipe containing the aforementioned illegal substances.
Three days later, Reilly was forced to resign. The now viral bodycamera footage showed him high on what cops confirmed to be a cocktail of crack and fentanyl, mouth agape in the backseat of his car.
‘You were literally choking in your sleep. Someone was flagging me down about it,’ one of the officers can be heard saying in the clip after cuffing the Republican rep.
‘I have sleep apnea. I’m sorry,’ Reilly argues – to which the officer responds: ‘Well, you have a crack pipe in your hands.’
The councilman from Cranston, Rhode Island, has since resigned from his position of chairman of the Cranston Republican Party, eventually stepping down from the city council a few days later.
Recently divorced, the disgraced rep has two young daughters of his own, Lena and Gracelyn, whom he recently sought to keep custody of
Prior to resigning, Reilly had been in the midst of a messy divorce, during which hewaged legal war with his wife over his kids’ custody
Text messages produced by his wife’s attorney claimed the then rep was also medicating his own children with drugs like melatonin in order to go to meet with a client for sex late at night, and even conspired to frame his wife of violating a court-mandated no contact order
In an email Thursday evening, Reilly’s attorney said his client had entered a not guilty plea to the molestation charges
He is due back in court on June 15
At the time, Cranston Mayor Ken Hopkins decried Reilly’s behavior, saying she hoped he ‘is able to find a path to recovery and the help that he needs.’
He was charged with one count of drug possession and arraigned with a bail commissioner before being quickly released on bail
He is now being held on the aforementioned sex charges, which Cranston Police Chief Michael J. Winquist on Thursday declined to provide any further details on.
In an email Thursday evening to The Daily Beast, Reilly’s attorney, Michael J. Lepizzera, Jr., wrote his client had 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.
‘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.’
Reilly is due back in court on June 15.
