Va. prosecutor: Mo. ex posted nudes of her online
Sep 25, 2013, 7:46 PM
ST. LOUIS (AP) – A Virginia prosecutor has asked a St. Louis County court for an order of protection against a Missouri lawyer who was once former Gov. Bob Holden’s chief legal counsel, accusing him of harassing her since their relationship ended and of posting nude photos of her on Twitter.
Denise Lunsford, the elected prosecutor for Albemarle County, Va., filed for a restraining order against David Cosgrove on Sept. 12. She asked that Cosgrove be required to stay away from her, stop communicating with her and stop posting her image or name on social media. A hearing about the matter is scheduled for Oct. 3.
In her complaint, Lunsford said she and Cosgrove dated in the late 1980s while attending Washington & Lee School of Law and rekindled the relationship last September. She said when the most recent relationship ended, Cosgrove posted nude photos of her on his Twitter account, which have since been removed. Lunsford, 49, said she was unaware that most of the photos had been taken.
Cosgrove phoned, texted and emailed Lunsford so much after their relationship ended that she had to change her phone number, said her St. Louis County attorney, Susan Roach. He also started posting other disturbing images such as one of a bloodied female figure, Roach said.
“I can’t think of anything too much more unsettling,” Roach said. “I think it’s very disturbing.”
Neither Cosgrove nor his attorney, Michael Downey, responded to phone messages left Wednesday seeking comment. But in his response to the Lunsford’s filing, Cosgrove called the allegations baseless and said he would seek sanctions against her and Roach.
Cosgrove said in his response that Lunsford knew he took the nude and semi-nude photos of her that he posted online, and he accuses Lunsford of abusing the protective order process by trying to use it to punish him and to protect her political ambitions.
Before joining the staff for Holden, a Democrat, Cosgrove was an assistant attorney general in Missouri from 1993 to 1999, then worked for three years as chief consumer protection prosecutor for the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office, according to his law firm’s website.
Lunsford was elected Albemarle County Commonwealth’s attorney in 2007 and re-elected in 2011. The county, which includes Charlottesville, is about 115 miles southwest of Washington, D.C.
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Associated Press writer Michael Felberbaum in Richmond, Va., contributed to this report.
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