Ex-Officer Released After 18 Months in Prison in Fellow Officer's Death

Kenneth Reda of Acworth, the former Cobb police sergeant convicted in connection with the drowning death of a fellow officer, is being released from prison today after serving 18 months of his sentence, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

On Jan. 28, 2011, for lying to the law enforcement, second-degree homicide by vessel, and violation of office by a public officer in the death of his best friend Brent Stephens on Lake Allatoona.

Authorities believe Reda’s boat , when he, Stephens and Reda's mistress Shelley Powell were returning home from dinner at a lakeside restaurant.

The group had been drinking, according to trial testimony. Stephens fell overboard and drowned. The autopsy report suggests Stephens' head was hit by a blunt object, possibly part of the pylon.

Reda said he was afraid his wife would find out he was having an affair with Powell. So when Stephens, a fellow Cobb County SWAT team member and a married father of two, went overboard on Lake Allatoona, Reda didn't call 911 for more than an hour, according to his testimony in court last January.

He took Powell, his co-defendant, back to shore and then . He said he’d been on the boat alone with Stephens. He also said that Stephens might have jumped overboard as a prank and could be on shore already.

Stephens’ body was found the next afternoon in the water.

Reda's parole will continue until January, 2015.

Read previous reports on this case.

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