N.J. rep’s ex-aide faked brutal attack, wrote ‘TRUMP WHORE’ on her stomach: prosecutors

A New Jersey woman was charged with conspiracy and making false statements after she pretended to be the victim of a brutal attack, zipping herself up, paying an artist to slash her face and body and writing “TRUMP WHORE” on her stomach in a fabricated plot, New Jersey’s acting U.S. attorney said Wednesday.

Natalie Greene, 26, a former staffer for U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), allegedly told a concocted story to FBI agents, claiming she was attacked on July 23 around 10 p.m. by three men who insulted her while she was walking with a friend on a nature trail in Egg Harbor Township. Two of the men held her on the ground, she said, tying her ankles with zip ties as they hit her in the head and cut her with a sharp object all over her body.

Another message, scrawled in all caps on Greene’s back, read: “(Federal Official 1) IS RACIST,” although the complaint redacts the official’s name.

Greene claimed one of the men had a gun and threatened to shoot her if she didn’t stay quiet. Her friend said one of the men also restrained her, but she escaped and then called 911, after which officers found Greene tied up around 10:36 p.m.

“They were attacking him. They were talking about politics and other things. They were insulting him,” the friend told a 911 operator, according to court documents.

New Jersey officers took Greene to a local hospital to receive medical treatment and treat cuts to her face, chest and shoulder.

Officers became suspicious of the incident when they searched Greene’s Maserati car, in which she was traveling to the nature reserve with her friend. Officers found two black zip ties similar to those used in the alleged incident and a roll of duct tape.

Greene also told officers that she worked for a federal official and that there had been some threats at work “but nothing personal to her.”

“There’s so many. I mean. Yeah, racist, uh,” Greene told a law enforcement officer, according to court documents. “Windmills belong in your grave. » How stupid, I mean like there, they have a bunch of little things about it that they’re going to write about. We have them all, you can view them all. But uh. Yeah, we just keep them. We keep all our hate mail. We recently received a letter with powder and all that. Some politicians wanted to do it.

Detectives obtained a search warrant for Greene’s phone that showed a Reddit profile, in which she was active in the body modification and scarification communities. Detectives also looked into his travel history, which contained directions to a body modification artist in Pennsylvania.

Calls and a series of Instagram messages were followed by police between Greene and the body modification artist, and they found a waiver form from the artist on July 23. Greene paid $500 for body work and signed a consent form around 2:31 p.m. that day, just under eight hours before she was found cut up and tied up on the nature trail.

Detectives concluded that the body modifications made by the artist matched the same lacerations Greene was sporting when cops located her.

Prosecutors and the FBI also worked to gain access to a cell tower, obtaining location data for Greene and his friend’s phone, as well as a search warrant for his friend’s phone. Two days before the incident, on July 21, the friend did a Google search for “zip ties near me” and 40 minutes later went to a Dollar General store around 6 p.m. in Ventnor, New Jersey. Video surveillance obtained by officers made it unclear whether the friend had actually purchased the ties there.

Greene was director of Constituent Defenders and worked with Van Drew’s office in 2021, according to Legistorm.

“We are deeply saddened by today’s news and, although Natalie is no longer associated with the Congressman’s government office, our thoughts and prayers are with her,” a spokesperson for Van Drew told New Jersey Advanced Media.

If convicted of conspiracy and making false statements, Greene, who lives in Ocean City, New Jersey, could face up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

She was released on $200,000 unsecured bond after her appearance in New Jersey Federal Court.