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SCRANTON — More than a year after a Luzerne County judge tossed the case against a state trooper in a child molestation case, the one-time defendant has filed a suit against numerous parties, including his former boss and his ex-wife, saying they conspired to ruin his life.

Patrick Finn, a corporal who lives in Harrisburg, made headlines throughout 2017 and early 2018 after he was accused of crawling into bed with a 9-year-old girl, touching her buttocks and her chest, making inappropriate comments and saying he wanted to have sex while visiting Finn’s parents in Mountain Top.

Finn’s defense, led by Peter Paul Olszewski, was that Finn made the inappropriate comments while he was sleep-talking, totally unaware that he was even doing it. During her testimony at trial April 2018, the girl repeatedly said Finn was asleep and had to be shaken awake.

Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Vough threw out the case before it even got a chance to go to the jury, suggesting the prosecution had not provided “one scintilla of evidence that Mr. Finn was awake.”

Now, Finn is suggesting in a suit that state police Maj. George Bivens, along with his ex-wife Maria Finn, had conspired to bring the case to trial in order to “destroy” him.

Court records show the case was originally filed in Luzerne County Court in late October, but was moved into the federal system in early November at the request of Wright Township Police, who are named as a defendant. Finn alleges the police department stripped him of his constitutional rights, which puts the case in the purview of the federal legal system.

The suit, prepared by Larry A. Weisberg, Derrek W. Cummings, Steve T. Mahan Jr. and Stephen P. Gunther of the Harrisburg-based law firm Weisberg Cummings, accuses Bivens, who was once a high-ranking official of the Pennsylvania State Police, and Maria Finn, a former press secretary for PSP, of ignoring that Patrick Finn was asleep during the incident in an attempt to bring him down.

Bivens and Maria Finn, who later became a couple themselves after her separation from Patrick Finn, allegedly conspired numerous times to falsely report things to police in order to damage Patrick Finn’s “professional career and his personal life,” including reporting he was intoxicated and suicidal in July 2015, when he claims he was not.

Further, Patrick Finn claims the pair reported the incident to police, despite knowing that he was asleep during the apparent contact with the girl, allegedly purposely omitting facts from their report to police. He also claims they falsely claimed he was drunk during the incident. Patrick Finn claims this set in motion a series of events that was purposely constructed to destroy his life.

“At this point, Maria Finn and Bivens knew that their plot to destroy (Patrick Finn) could not be stopped as (Patrick Finn) was fully unaware of the nightmare that was about to be unleashed on him,” the suit says.

Patrick Finn makes numerous claims in his suit, including that he was denied due process, prosecuted maliciously and had his fourth, fifth and 15th amendment rights violated.

The Wright Township Police department, their chief, Royce Engler, the Pennsylvania State Police, Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis, First Assistant District Attorney Sam Sanguedocle and Assistant District Attorney Angela Sperrazza are all named as defendants.

A representative from the state police declined to comment.

State Police Trooper Patrick Finn is suing state police Maj. George Bivens and his ex-wife Maria Finn, among others, accusing them of conspiring to ruin his life.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_TTL041918Finn1.jpg.optimal.jpgState Police Trooper Patrick Finn is suing state police Maj. George Bivens and his ex-wife Maria Finn, among others, accusing them of conspiring to ruin his life. Aimee Dilger | Times Leader

By Patrick Kernan

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Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan