HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A county coroner was charged Monday with illegally giving newspaper reporters a password to access the 911 system's confidential Web site. G. Gary Kirchner, 73, was charged with unlawful use of a computer and criminal conspiracy following a state investigation that included a search of six computer hard drives in the newsroom of the Intelligencer Journal of Lancaster.
Prosecutors said five of the paper's reporters appeared before a grand jury after being granted immunity from prosecution for their testimony. At least three of the reporters said Kirchner had provided passwords directly to them.
Kirchner, a physician and Lancaster County's elected coroner for three years, was taken in handcuffs to his arraignment and later released.
``I told the detectives and that (attorney general's office) agent, if my parents were alive they would not know what the hell to say. It's awful,'' said Kirchner, who was reached by telephone. ``I've been doing coroner business as I'm sitting in handcuffs.''
Intelligencer Journal Editor Ray Shaw referred questions to the newspaper's attorneys. Attorney George C. Werner Jr. said the reporters had never agreed, nor been asked, to keep the source of the password confidential. He also said the newspaper's top editors were not aware they were accessing the restricted site.
The security breach became evident after a story about a woman's death appeared in the Intelligencer Journal of Lancaster on Aug. 22, 2005, according to a grand jury report.
The story, which did not include a byline identifying the writer, attributed details about the death to the Lancaster County-Wide Communications Web site. That led reporters from the competing Lancaster New Era, which like the Intelligencer Journal is owned by Lancaster Newspapers Inc., to inquire about getting the same information.
Investigators said they found 57 instances in which the 911 site was accessed from newspaper offices with Kirchner's username and password, and a few dozen unsuccessful attempts after Kirchner's password was canceled.
Those granted permission to use the confidential portions of the 911 center's Web site must agree not to distribute their passwords outside the agency where they work, and users are warned on their computer screens about possible criminal penalties for unauthorized access, the grand jury said.
Bill DeStefano, another attorney for the newspaper, said the reporters had done nothing wrong.
Kirchner could face up to 14 years and a fine of $30,000 if convicted of both charges.
In deciding to identify Kirchner as the source of the password, the newspaper ``came to the conclusion that Kirchner had never asked for, nor did we agree to keep confidential, the fact that he had provided us with the password,'' Werner said.
``So hence, there was no confidentiality or Shield Law issue with respect to how we got the password,'' he said.
Kelly McBride, an ethics expert at the Poynter Institute, said journalists have an obligation to know if what they are doing is legal.
On the newspaper's decision to have the reporters testify, McBride said: ``I can't imagine any ethical argument that would suggest they not testify, because they'd already broken so many of the boundaries of traditional journalism.''
Kirchner said he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury. Asked if he allowed reporters to improperly access the 911 center Web site, he said: ``I don't think so.''