Ex-GOP staffer had herself zip-tied, cut up and painted in hoax to frame liberals: feds

A former congressional staffer for Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) is accused of paying people to write a vulgar anti-Trump message on her stomach, so she could manufacture a hoax that she was attack by liberals, NJ.com reported on Wednesday.

"Natalie Greene, 26, of Ocean City, was charged with conspiracy to convey false statements and hoaxes and one count of making false statements," reported Matthew Enuco. "Greene was a constituent services representative for the Republican House member who serves New Jersey’s 2nd District."

According to the report, Greene and an accomplice "called emergency services on July 23 reporting she had been attacked by three men while walking on a trail in the Egg Harbor Nature Preserve ... The co-conspirator told authorities that the men called Greene by her name and referenced her employment with Van Drew, officials said. Officers located Greene lying in a wooded area with her shirt pulled over her head and her hands and feet zip tied, officials said."

Greene was covered in knife cuts, as well as the message "TRUMP W--RE" written on her stomach and "VAN DREW IS RACIST" written on her back. She initially told police this was all done to her at gunpoint.

However, "An investigation discovered that Greene paid a body modification artist — specializing in scarification — to make the lacerations using a scalpel on her face, neck, chest and shoulders in a pattern she had provided beforehand, officials said." Per the report, law enforcement searched Greene's car and found zip ties matching the ones she was bound in, and upon searching her co-conspirator's phone, found they made an internet search for "zip ties near me."

Hate crime hoaxes often backfire in spectacular fashion. In 2017, a Trump supporter and rejected Jewish convert in Upstate New York spray-painted swastikas on his own house to make himself look like a hate crime victim, but was swiftly found out by police.