Children's bureau caseworker accused of providing privileged information to relative in child welfare probe

Paul Peirce, Tribune-Review, Greensburg, Pa.
·2 min read

Oct. 19—A Westmoreland County Children's Bureau caseworker is charged with illegally accessing privileged information from the state's anonymous child abuse hotline and providing the identity of a tipster to one of her relatives in Indiana County.

County Detective Ray Dupilka on Tuesday obtained an arrest warrant for the worker Rebecca D. Walker, 39, of Aultman, Indiana County.

Walker is accused of accessing a privileged ChildLine record in August that alleged an Indiana County couple had smoked marijuana in the presence of an infant child. A state human services official in Harrisburg reported Walker to authorities on Aug. 30, according to court documents.

The report Walker accessed was part of an investigation in Indiana, according to court papers.

"Walker had no authority or reason to review the case as all the individuals involved and the allegations occurred in Indiana County," the state official told Dupilka.

The report referenced a relative of Walker and she is accused of telling the relative the identity of the person who made the ChildLine report, officials told Dupilka.

One of the suspects in the investigation admitted that "had Walker not looked up the information for (the couple), they would have had no way to identifying the referral source on their complaint," Dupilka said.

Walker is charged with two felony counts of unlawful use of a computer and single counts of unauthorized release of information and unlawfully accessing state information for an unauthorized use.

Walker, who did not have an attorney listed in court documents, could not be reached for comment.

Westmoreland County Children's Bureau officials referred inquiries on Walker's employment status to the county department of human resources. An employee in that office said no information on Walker could be released because it "is an ongoing investigation."

Paul Peirce is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paul at 724-850-2860, ppeirce@triblive.com or via Twitter .