A clerk specialist in the Lancaster County Prothonotary’s Office charged with improperly using his position to access and share the personal information of a subject of a federal law enforcement investigation will have his case proceed to county court after waiving his preliminary hearing earlier this month. 

Lucas Keener, of the 400 block of West Marion Street in Lancaster city, waived his preliminary hearing before Judge Andrew LeFever on May 8 on a single misdemeanor count of obstructing the administration of law or other governmental function.

Keener, 31, is accused of abusing his position as a county employee the afternoon of Jan. 16 by accessing the personal information of an Iranian national (initials “M.M.”) who had recently entered the United States illegally. Keener then improperly shared that information with a local watchdog group without authorization in order to obstruct a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) investigation. 

Two uniformed CBP agents entered the Lancaster County Courthouse shortly before 3 p.m. to obtain publicly filed information about M.M., who has a pending criminal case in Lancaster County, as part of their investigation. The agents’ interaction in the Clerk of Courts office lasted about 20 minutes after which they immediately exited the courthouse.

Moments after the agents departed Keener is alleged to have entered the Clerk of Courts office where he began asking an employee about the information CBP was gathering. The employee, who is familiar with Keener due to his employment with the county and official interactions with the Clerk of Courts office and believing his question to be related to county business, allowed him to approach her desk where he was able to see M.M.’s name, last-known residence and other identifying information. As he was viewing the screen Keener opened a messaging app on his phone and began typing M.M.’s information. 

When asked by the employee, who was concerned Keener was distributing M.M.’s information to an unknown and unauthorized recipient, Keener said he was alerting a watchdog group about the investigation and “keeping the community safe.” Keener further stated that people should not be deported and that he distrusts law enforcement in general, referring to them as “Gestapo.” Keener’s actions and statements greatly concerned the Clerk of Courts employee, who reported the incident to their immediate supervisor, who in turn contacted the Office of the District Attorney.

In a later interview with detectives Keener admitted to having seen the CBP agents entering the Clerk of Courts’ office and to alerting the watchdog group, of which he is a member, of their presence. Keener also admitted to having forwarded M.M.’s personal information on the Signal app, and that he was then directed to another group that requested more details about CBP’s activities.

When asked by detectives if he believes he used his position at the Prothonotary’s Office to access M.M.’s information Keener responded, “yeah, I think so.”

After leaving the Clerk of Courts’ office Keener returned to his workstation and continued looking for information about M.M., he said. Keener told detectives he found court documents and M.M.’s assigned attorney and provided this information to the watchdog group, which then asked him to alert M.M.’s attorney to CBP’s presence.

Keener is currently free on his own recognizance.

Lancaster County Det. Stanley Roache filed the charges.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Fetterman will prosecute the case.

All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.