Republican Senate Candidate Charged with False Child Trafficking Allegations
A Republican US Senate candidate in Maryland has been arrested on charges of making a false allegation of child trafficking.
Ryan Dark White, 54, was booked into the Harford County Detention Center after his arrest Friday, the county sheriff said in a statement. White is running under the alias Jon McGreevey in Tuesday's Republican primary to challenge the Democratic senator.Chris Van Hollen, who also has a feature race ahead of him.
The Harford County Sheriff's Office said White, an employee at an adult bookstore in Edgewood, Maryland, falsely reported in April that a 10- to 12-year-old girl was trafficked by a man in the bookstore and engaged in sexual activity was forced to deal with male customers. . The sheriff's office identified both the man and girl and said investigators found no evidence to support White's claims.
“It is a shame that a candidate for public office would invent such a story and use it to further his own political agenda,” said Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey R. Gahler.Gahler also denounced an unnamed political candidate who was not charged in the investigation.
"It's even scarier that someone else running for a law enforcement position would not accept such an obvious misrepresentation in order to gain political traction," Gahler said.
The Baltimore Sun reported that White appeared alongside Andy Kuhl, a Republican nominee for Baltimore County sheriff.
Kuhl's campaign website warns of a multi-state child trafficking operation, saying: “Jon McGreevey and I have gone undercover to expose these disgusting and heinous crimes against children. We must bring these criminals to justice.”
White previously said he began working at the bookstore as part of an undercover operation to expose drug networks and claims drugs were being stockpiled there.
"They started exploiting children," White said in a June 9 video on Kuhl's campaign website, according to CBS. "There's also a child trafficking ring running there."
Gahler denounced his office's waste of resources investigating the hoax.
"I am extremely grateful that this young woman is safe, but extremely disappointed that anyone would attempt to discredit and disparage the work of the dedicated men and women of the Harford County Sheriff's Office and Children's Advocacy Center," said Gahler."The fear-mongering and antagonism was a waste of time and energy on the part of our employees, whose time would have been better spent protecting the citizens of Harford County than investigating lies."
,
White is among 10 candidates standing in the Republican primaries to run for Senate.
blogpay
