September 13, 2002

Contact: Lynn Kimbrough,

720-913-9025

NO CHARGES FILED IN E-MAIL INCIDENT

The Denver District Attorney’s Office has completed a review of an incident involving an email message sent from the campaign headquarters of Stan Matsunaka.  The matter was referred to the Denver District Attorney from the Colorado Attorney General’s Office last week.

The incident occurred in June when the Communications Director for the Matsunaka campaign, Jeff Bridges, sent an email from the campaign headquarters to a friend – and manipulated the return address to make it appear that the message had been sent by State Senator Marilyn Musgrave.  According to Bridges, he was trying to test a theory about false email return addresses and possible links to a computer virus. 

The results of the investigation into this incident show Bridges did not gain access to Musgrave’s email or computer account and there is no violation of the Computer Crime statute.  There is also no criminal impersonation violation as there is no evidence that Musgrave was subjected to any liability or court proceeding or that there was an intent to defraud or gain a benefit, which are elements of the criminal impersonation statute.  As a result, no criminal charges will be filed and the case is considered closed.

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