Former GOP staffer charged with faking politically motivated attack
Authorities charged a former congressional staffer for Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., with staging a fake political attack. Investigators say the fake attack involved writing derogatory political messages and using a scalpel to make cuts on the woman’s body.
Natalie Greene, 26, a former constituent services representative in Van Drew’s office, made her first court appearance Wednesday on charges of conspiracy to convey false statements and hoaxes and making false statements to federal law enforcement in connection with a staged attack.
Greene reported that she had been assaulted at a time of heightened concern over political violence. Weeks earlier, a gunman killed a Minnesota state legislator and her husband and wounded another lawmaker and his wife in what authorities described as politically motivated attacks.
Van Drew’s office released a statement expressing sadness over Greene’s arrest.
“While Natalie is no longer associated with the Congressman’s government office, our thoughts and prayers are with her,” the statement read. “We hope she’s getting the care she needs.”
What was the fake attack?
According to court documents, police received a call in July from a woman who said three men attacked her and an acquaintance as they walked along a nature trail.
“They were attacking her,” the woman, identified in the criminal complaint as a “co-conspirator,” said. “They were like talking about politics and stuff. They were like calling her names.”
Police arrived and discovered Greene with cuts on her face and the right side of her body. Her hands and feet were zip-tied, and her shirt was pulled over her head. Investigators found that someone had written the phrases “TRUMP WHORE” and “IS RACIST,” along with the name of a lawmaker, likely Van Drew, on her body in marker.
Greene told police that the men hit her on the head, held her down, used a sharp object to cut her and wrote the messages on her body.
However, an investigation revealed Greene had hired a body modification artist to use a scalpel to cut parts of her body in a pattern before the alleged attack, according to the documents. Police also found zip ties similar to the ones used on Greene in her car.
Two days before the attack, investigators said, Greene’s alleged co-conspirator used her phone to search “zip ties near me.”
Greene was released on a $200,000 bond and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
In a statement to New York magazine, Greene’s lawyer, Louis M. Barbone, said she is “presumed innocent and reserves all her defenses for presentation in a court of law.”
“At the age of 26,” he added, “my client served her community working full-time to assist the constituents of the Congressman with loyalty and fidelity. She did that while being a full-time student.”
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
