Kenneth C. Crowe II reports in the Times Union that sealed records the newspaper obtained show that eight days after Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel E. Abelove lost a re-election campaign in 2018, he emailed copies of sealed records in a criminal case to his private email account. Two years before, a judge cited concerns about the appearance of political motives and removed Abelove as the prosecutor in a case of three men suspected of leaking a 911 call made by the wife of an Abelove political ally. But Abelove defied the court, and sent himself sealed documents from the case, the Times Union reports. State Supreme Court Justice Richard M. Koweek, from Columbia County, later dropped the charges in the case, but put a sealing order that shielded records in the case from public view. Attorney Joseph Ahearn, who represented one of the parties in the case, said that Abelove's action, “violates the terms of the sealing order issued in 2017. I have never seen anyone intentionally violate a sealing order — including a prosecutor, police officers or any other person.” Abelove would not comment to the Times Union about the story. Others who were the target of the original investigation did go on the record: "I am disturbed that a man with no moral scruples now has my personal information including my Social Security number," Shane Hug, a former assistant district attorney, said. Gary Gordon, a former district attorney's investigator, said it displayed Abelove's "malice." Read more about this story in the Times Union.