US governor charged with felony data tampering
Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, already facing an invasion-of-privacy trial next month in connection with an extramarital affair, was charged separately on Friday with felony computer tampering tied to his political fund-raising.
The new case was brought by the same St Louis prosecutor two days before the statute of limitations deadline for the charge, which stems from Greitens’ alleged theft of a donor list from the military veterans charity he created and ran for several years.
Greitens, a Republican under mounting pressure from Missouri politicians of both parties to resign since the sex scandal broke earlier this year, called the latest case part of a “smear” campaign orchestrated by St Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, a Democrat.
The governor, a former US Navy Seal commando once seen as a rising star in the GOP, vowed to clear his name in court, declaring, “People will know the truth.”
His attorney Ed Dowd called the latest allegation against Greitens “absurd” and said his client was innocent.
“Now he’s being accused of stealing an email list from an organisation he built? Give me a break,” Dowd said in a statement. “Not only did he create this list donor, by donor, friend by friend, but [the charity] still has the list.”
The prosecutor’s office issued a summons for the governor to appear in court, rather than an arrest warrant, allowing Greitens to turn himself in for booking, a spokeswoman for Gardner said.