This is a breaking story and will be updated.
By NANCY WEST, InDepthNH.org
BRENTWOOD – Ports and Harbors Director Geno Marconi, 74, of Stratham filed a notice Thursday that he intends to plead guilty to one class A misdemeanor Driver Privacy Act Violation in Rockingham County Superior Court.
The plea hearing will be Friday at 10 a.m. in Rockingham County Superior Court in Bentwood.
Under the fully negotiated plea, Marconi would be sentenced to serve 30 days in the House of Corrections, all suspended, pay a $2,000 fine and must resign from his position prior to the plea.
Marconi’s filing came three weeks after his wife, state Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi pleaded no contest, but was found guilty of one class B misdemeanor for meeting with then-Gov. Chris Sununu about the investigation into her husband.
The well-known Seacoast couple received a great deal of public support during the last year after they were both indicted.
Rep. Jack Flanagan, R-Brookline, a friend of the Marconis, has been critical of the criminal cases.
“Geno has been harassed by the attorney general’s office for doing his job. Processes that have been in place for the over 23 years of service Geno has given to NH. The AG has manipulated state law versus federal law on sharing driver’s license information. Even if it was to the commission you answer to!! The information is still on the PDA website. State employees should be careful,” Flanagan said.
The charge he plans to plead guilty to says Marconi knowingly used information from a department record for any use other than the use authorized by the Department of Safety by providing confidential motor vehicle records pertaining to Neil Levesque, vice chairman of the Pease Development Authority, to Bradley Cook, who was then chairman of the Division of Ports and Harbors Advisory Council.
The PDA oversees the Division of Ports and Harbors. Court records show that Levesque and Marconi had long been at odds with each other. Levesque is also the executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College.
Bradley Cook was indicted for the class B felony of perjury and two counts of class A misdemeanor False Swearing. Those charges are still pending.
Geno Marconi had been charged with two felonies and four misdemeanors. The other charges will be dismissed, accord to the plea document.
Marconi’s attorney Richard Samdperil wasn’t immediately available for comment.
Marconi’s wife, state Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi, 69, pleaded no contest, but was found guilty of a new charge Criminal Solicitation (Misuse of Position). She faced no jail time, was fined $1,200 and has resumed hearing cases on the state Supreme Court.
The Attorney General’s Office dropped the original seven criminal charges against Hantz Marconi at her sentencing hearing Oct. 7 in Merrimack County Superior Court.
That new charge says Hantz Marconi met with then-Gov. Chris Sununu in the summer of 2024 and secured a government privilege she wasn’t entitled to regarding a criminal investigation into her husband, Ports and Harbors Director Geno Marconi.