Infamous Halcovage Video Made Public

The infamous video has surfaced.

Surveillance footage from outside Schuylkill County Courthouse showing Commissioner George Halcovage scaling an embankment aside the public security entrance to the building is now public.

The person who requested the video from Schuylkill County government via a Right to Know request, Ringtown resident Doug Litwhiler, posted the video to his Facebook account on Sunday morning.

Halcovage Video Made Public

Now, what you’re about to see in the video below will be Halcovage emerging from the left side wearing a red shirt and a pair of slacks. That’s him reaching the pinnacle of an embankment next to the Courthouse.

You can see in this photo below of the embankment taken from Laurel Blvd. in Pottsville, that there appeared to be considerably more overgrowth at the time of the video. But we marked an X on the photo we took in late-September to show from where he emerged.

Halcovage, once he reaches the peak, goes between two parked vehicles, behind a black pickup truck outside the Courthouse. He appears to pause for about a second and then eventually makes his way toward the Courthouse entrance.

A passerby appears to notice Halcovage appearing from the brush.

Now, what you’re about to see is video of a video. Litwhiler recorded this video of the actual surveillance footage with his phone.

Here’s the video:

So, what does this video prove and what doesn’t it prove?

It definitely proves that Halcovage took a circuitous route to work that day. His parking spot at the Courthouse is along Laurel Blvd. Commissioners have a secure entrance to the Courthouse all their own. Halcovage’s parking spot is directly in front of that entrance.

Instead of using that entrance, he decided to climb the steep embankment. And this happened in mid-July.

Those who pushed for the release of this video believes it shows Halcovage sneaking up on two of his alleged sexual harassment victims who they say are in one of the parked vehicles. They wonder why, when he emerged onto the scene in this video, he didn’t make a move directly to the Courthouse entrance.

That, of course, can’t be seen in this video. And it’s important to remember that Halcovage denies any wrongdoing he’s accused of committing.

Those people also say it shows Halcovage making a move in a direction opposite the Courthouse’s secured public entrance. Again, it’s hard to see that in the video above.

Litwhiler Reacts to Halcovage Video

We asked Litwhiler, the person who went through the Right to Know process to acquire this video, what he thought of the video he received.

Again, the video above is a phone recording of the original video. Litwhiler says the video on the thumb drive shows a wider perspective. But Sheriff Joe Groody explained to Litwhiler what was happening in the video.

“Groody told myself and (Clerk of Courts) Maria (Casey) and 2 others that also watched the video told us what exactly happened,” Litwhiler says.

He adds, “When I went to get the video it was much clearer and closer up when I watched it (at the Courthouse). They showed the same angle but it was clearer and more zoomed in. You can see the bushes ruffling before he comes up and he can easily walk to the entrance instead of over toward their car. Where he comes up is about 25 yards away from where he could have walked straight up to entrance not all the way over there.”

Litwhiler also says he was limited in what he could request from the County or he likely would have been denied access entirely.

“I could only request 1 angle in my Right To Know or it would have been denied and I wouldn’t have won on appeal, so that’s what I got,” he says.

ALSO READ:

• Schuylkill County Tried Keeping Halcovage Video a Secret with Settlement Offer
• Schuylkill County Will Hand Over Halcovage Video on Friday
• Schuylkill County Faces Deadline on Halcovage Surveillance Video
• State Orders Schuylkill County to Release Halcovage Tape
• Schuylkill County Reopens Halcovage Investigation
• Schuylkill County #MeToo

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