WASHINGTON — Two former staffers who worked for Delegate to Congress Stacey Plaskett who are facing criminal charges for circulating nude images and video of her and her husband appeared in court this week.
Juan R. McCullum, 35, of the District of Columbia was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of cyber stalking for allegedly stealing private photos and Dorene Browne-Louis, 45, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was indicted on two counts of obstruction of justice for allegedly deleting communications with McCullum and lying to a grand jury.
McCullum and Browne-Louis used to be on Delegate Plaskett’s staff in Washington, D.C.
Plaskett is in her second term in the non-voting position. A spokesman declined immediate comment.
According to a court document unsealed in July, in March 2016, McCullum offered to help Plaskett repair a malfunctioning iPhone by taking it to a local Apple store.
Plaskett gave McCullum the password to the phone in order to get it repaired, and the phone contained nude images and video of Plaskett and her husband, the document says. McCullum was not given permission to take, copy or distribute information from the phone, the document says.
In early July 2016, after McCullum left Plaskett’s office, he created an email account with a fictitious name and sent at least 10 emails to politicians, members of the media and others in which he attached one or more of the nude images or video, the document alleges. He also allegedly created a Facebook account and posted several of the nude images and videos and “friended” people Plaskett knew, including politicians competing with her in a primary election.
Browne-Louis, for her part, is not accused of distributing the images, but she allegedly made false and misleading statements to law enforcement officers during an investigation of the images’ distribution, telling officers that she did not know that McCullum was involved in the images’ distribution. She also allegedly provided false, incomplete and misleading testimony before a federal grand jury. Her false and misleading statements allegedly included that she did not know that McCullum “wanted to seek revenge” against Plaskett. The court document did not make clear why McCullum might be seeking revenge.
Attempts to reach McCullum by phone or email were unsuccessful. Telephone and email messages left for an attorney representing Browne-Louis were not immediately returned.
Plaskett is in her second term in the non-voting position. A spokesman declined immediate comment.