*Two former congressional staff members have been charged with cyberstalking a U.S. House member and her husband.
According to news reports, Juan R. McCullum was charged with two counts of cyberstalking and Dorene Browne-Louis was charged two counts of obstruction of justice. Both are accused of circulating nude images and video of Del. Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. Virgin Islands and her husband.
According to ESSENCE, McCullum and Brown-Louis worked for Plaskett at the House member’s legislative office in Washington from 2015 to 2016. McCullum as a legislative counsel and Browne-Lewis as a scheduler. Court documents reveal that McCullum stole the nude images last March after offering to take the delegate’s malfunctioning iPhone to a local Apple store to be repaired. Not only did he share the images and videos with his colleague Browne-Louis, he also created fake email and social media accounts to post the nude content.
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Authorities allege that McCullum was not given permission to take, copy, or distribute any of the contents of the iPhone. Some of the nudes surfaced on the Internet in July 2016 shortly before a primary election, per Washington Post.
Browne-Louis further implicated himself by deleting text messages from McCullum and making misleading statements to law enforcement and a federal grand jury.
Plaskett confirmed she was the victim by releasing a statement.
“Last year my privacy was invaded which was followed by an organized smear campaign and defamatory press reports concerning both me and my family.”
She said that her family “continue to be saddened by the damage we suffered as a result of those egregious acts.”
McCullum and Brown-Louis are now facing five and twenty years respectively, as well as possible fines.
