A New Jersey woman stands accused of staging a violent attack that allegedly involved hiring a body modification artist to cut her, and which had referenced a U.S. federal official, authorities say she worked for at the time.
New Jersey prosecutors alleged in a news release earlier this week that on July 23, Natalie Greene, 26, and a co-conspirator, who has not been named, set up the assault on a walking trail in Egg Harbour Township, New Jersey, then called police and informed officers that three armed men attacked Greene.
When officers arrived at the scene, the news release says they found Greene with her hands and feet tied together with black zip ties, her shirt bound around her head, her face and body slashed, and the words “Trump whore” written across her midriff.
A message saying the federal official she works for “is racist” was also scrawled across her back.
Prosecutors did not name the U.S. federal official in the news release. The BBC reported that the office of New Jersey Republican Rep. Jefferson Van Drew confirmed to the outlet that Greene had been an employee.
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Global News has not independently verified that reporting.
According to the criminal complaint, which includes a transcript of the 911 call, Greene’s alleged co-conspirator claimed that during the alleged attack, the men called Greene by name and referenced her employment.
“They were attacking her. They were like talking about politics and stuff. They were like calling her names,” her co-conspirator said, according to the complaint.
The co-conspirator, who said she was able to escape the grasp of one alleged attacker, also told police the assailants were “more focused” on Greene.
The release states that “Greene was crying and yelling that one of her alleged attackers had a gun.” Authorities said she had also claimed one of her alleged attackers had threatened to shoot her and that at least two of them had held her body down to restrain her movements.
A couple of days later, after undergoing medical treatment for her lacerations, Greene again described the alleged incident to law enforcement officers, including an FBI agent, the New Jersey district attorney’s office said.
It was later determined that Greene had not been attacked but had paid a body modification artist to deliberately cut her on her face, neck, upper chest and shoulder, based on a pattern she had designed.
Police also found black zip ties in Greene’s car on the night of the alleged assault that they said bore a resemblance to the ones used to bind her arms and feet.
The investigators also alleged that, two days before the alleged attack, Greene’s co-conspirator used her phone to search “zip ties near me.”
Greene was charged with conspiring and falsely reporting to law enforcement and faces up to 10 years in prison and a combined fine of $500,000 if she is found guilty on both counts.
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