A former city official accused of substance abuse is now being charged with child molestation in Cranston, Rhode Island.
Cranston City Councilman Matthew Reilly, a Republican, is facing charges of drug possession but was recently charged regarding the alleged child molestation, Fox News reported Friday.
Cranston City Councilman Matthew Reilly (Cranston Police Department)
In a social media post Thursday, the Cranston Police Department said an arrest had been made and detailed the case:
This morning Cranston Police Detectives responded to the Town of North Kingstown and arrested Matthew Reilly, age 41, of 27 Delwood Street, Cranston, RI, on an arrest warrant for the following charges: First Degree Child Molestation, Second Degree Child Molestation and Enticement of a Person Under the Age of 16. 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, after the legal guardian of a twelve-year-old girl (unrelated to Reilly) filed a complaint at Cranston Police Headquarters. Members of the North Kingstown Police Department assisted Cranston Police Detectives in taking Reilly into custody without incident.
The suspect was taken to police headquarters where authorities photographed him and took his fingerprints:
Colonel Michael J. Winquist, Chief of the Cranston Police Department, announces that Detectives from the Cranston Police…
Posted by Cranston, RI Police Department on Thursday, June 8, 2023
“He was then transported to the Third District Court in Warwick and arraigned before Magistrate Joseph Ippolito, who ordered Reilly held without bail pending a competency hearing,” the agency said, adding the investigation was ongoing.
In May, Reilly was arrested when a citizen alerted police to a man whom the person believed to be experiencing a medical episode while sitting inside his vehicle.
When Reilly was found passed out in the car, a policeman told him he was holding a crack pipe as he lay there:
“You were literally choking in your sleep. Somebody flagged me down about it,” the officer told him, to which he replied, “I have sleep apnea. I’m sorry.”
“And you have a crack pipe in your hand,” the officer added.
An image shows Reilly, wearing sunglasses, with his head leaned back on the car’s seat:
According to WPRI, Reilly claimed there were no drugs inside the car. However, when police conducted a search, they found crack cocaine.
Reilly, who served as chairman of the Cranston Republican Party, later admitted to purchasing $100 worth of crack cocaine the day before the incident occurred, per the Fox article.
Authorities say they found a “white, rock-like substance” in the center console, which eventually tested positive for cocaine and fentanyl.
“Reilly resigned from City Council on May 18 after police released body camera footage of his arrest in the drug case,” WJAR reported Thursday.
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