West York officer suspended, accused of recording conversation
A West York Police officer has been suspended without pay after telling her supervisor about a wiretap she made, West York Police Chief Justin Seibel said.
The officer, Bridgette Wilson, is charged with interception or use of wire and electronic communications. She was arraigned and released on her own recognizance.
Pennsylvania law states recordings of communications cannot be made without the consent of the other party. It is a third-degree felony.
On Jan. 5, Wilson approached Seibel and played an audio recording she said she made of a conversation between herself and another person. Seibel advised her to keep the recording in a safe place, according to court documents. Seibel said he then began an investigation.
Wilson has been a police officer with the West York department since 2008. Prior to that, she had been a police officer with three other departments in central Pennsylvania, Seibel said.
In February, Seibel talked with Wilson's attorney, Ronald Gross, who acknowledged he also had heard the recording, according to charging documents.
Officers obtained a search warrant for Wilson's Chevrolet Trailblazer and recovered an RCA digital voice recorder containing the recorded conversation from the center console on Friday, charging documents state.
Seibel listened to the recording to confirm it was the same one he had heard in January. He talked to the other individual on the tape, who said she had not given consent to be recorded, charging documents state.
Prior to West York, Wilson was employed at Susquehanna Township Police Department in Dauphin County and the Lancaster City Police Department and as a sheriff's deputy in York County.
District Judge Walter Groom will hear the preliminary hearing, for which a date has not yet been set.
-- Reach Amanda Dolasinski at 505-
5434 or adolasinski@yorkdispatch.com.
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