Former congressional staffer accused of faking politically motivated attack
A former congressional staffer has been accused of fabricating a violent attack against herself at a New Jersey park, according to a criminal complaint.
Natalie Greene, 26, paid a body modification artist to scar her and then claimed she had been assaulted in a politically motivated crime in July, the complaint alleges.
The Ocean City, New Jersey, resident has been charged with one count of conspiracy to convey false statements and hoaxes and one count of making false statements to federal law enforcement, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey said in a statement.
Greene previously worked for Rep. Jeff Van Drew, a New Jersey Republican, his office told NBC.
A spokesperson for Van Drew declined to confirm her employment to ABC News.
Greene's attorney, Louis Barbone, told ABC News she is innocent until proven guilty.
"At the age of 26, 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. Under the law, she is presumed innocent and reserves all of her defenses for presentation in a court of law," Barbone said.
Prosecutors allege that Greene and a co-conspirator called 911 on July 23, saying that they had been attacked by three men with a gun at an Egg Harbor Township state park.
Law enforcement then found Greene in a wooded area bound with zip ties and lacerations on her head and chest, the criminal complaint alleges. A sexual slur referencing Trump and a statement calling her former employer "racist" were written on her stomach, according to photos from the crime scene reviewed by ABC News.
"The investigation revealed that Greene had not, in fact, been attacked by three men at gunpoint on July 23. Instead, Greene had paid a body modification and scarification artist to deliberately cut the lacerations on her face, neck, upper chest, and shoulder, based on a pattern that she had provided beforehand," the U.S. attorney's office said in the statement.
Law enforcement also found zip ties in Greene's car allegedly consistent with the ones used to bind her on the night of the attack and discovered that Greene's co-conspirator searched “zip ties near me,” according to prosecutors.
Greene told an FBI agent after the attack that she had been receiving threatening messages at work, and an investigation of her phone allegedly found messages with the modification/scarification artist in Pennsylvania, who gave law enforcement officers a copy of Greene's receipt for $500 worth of scarification work, according to court documents.
Greene's phone also allegedly revealed a Reddit profile that followed pages for “bodymods” and “scarification,” per court documents.
Greene was released on a $200,000 bond Wednesday after her arraignment, according to the U.S. attorney's office. She faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and up to $500,000 in fines if convicted.
ABC News' Luke Barr contributed to this report.
