PITTSBURGH — A judge on Wednesday scolded a fired police officer on house arrest for appearing with his attorneys at a news conference to proclaim his innocence on charges that he tried to extort sexual favors from women while on duty and tried to rape one of them last month.
The officer, Adam Skweres, apologized to Allegheny County Judge Edward Borkowski, who ruled that the officer can remain on house arrest until his trial but will no longer be allowed to leave his home to meet with his attorneys.
Borkowski accused the attorneys of trying to taint the jury pool by lauding Skweres' military record at the news conference on Monday. The judge said, "The only thing missing was an Air Force or military flyover."
Borkowski said he considered holding the attorneys in contempt of court but decided not to when he learned that county probation officials — who are overseeing Skweres while he's on house arrest — gave him permission to go to their law offices for the news conference.
The judge accused the attorneys — both of whom regularly represent people accused in high-profile criminal cases in the Pittsburgh area — of using Skweres as a "pawn" to satisfy their "insatiable" appetite for media exposure.
"It's an affront to this court that the court does not take lightly," Borkowski said. "It's befuddling that you would let this happen."
James Ecker, one of the defense attorneys, said Wednesday that he and Skweres' other lawyer, Philip DiLucente, "have nothing more to say."
DiLucente said at the news conference that the attorneys called it because police Chief Nate Harper had tried the case in the media and more or less held out Skweres as guilty until proven innocent.
The 34-year-old Skweres is charged with bribery, official oppression, coercion and indecent assault in the first three encounters that date to 2008 in which prosecutors say he offered the women legal assistance in exchange for sex acts. Prosecutors say Skweres told one woman that he'd write a favorable letter in her child custody case if she had sex with him and told another woman he could influence her boyfriend's case in exchange for sex.
Skweres was charged with attempted rape, indecent assault and other crimes for an encounter in another woman's home on Feb. 11.
DiLucente has previously said the allegations are "out of character," noting Skweres is a five-year veteran officer who served 12 years in the Army Reserves, including a one-year tour in Iraq.
Since then, city civil service records have surfaced showing Skweres was not found "psychologically suited" for police work when he first applied for a job in 2006. He appealed that finding, and after a second psychologist cleared him, he was hired in February 2007.