Ex-Male Stripper To Eric Greitens: I Also Did Crime You’re Accused Of. Pardon Me.
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens addresses the crowd at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery, where he and Vice President Mike Pence were on hand to help clean it up after anti-Semitic vandalism. Image by Michael Thomas/Getty Images
By Ari Feldman February 27, 2018
Eric Greitens is the embattled governor of Missouri, fighting charges that he surreptitiously recorded a woman he was having an affair with without her consent. Now an ex-male stripper accused of the same crime is requesting a pardon from Greitens, the Washington Post reported.
The ex-male stripper is Paul Henfried, who was convicted nearly two decades ago for making secret film recordings of his clients. Henfried, known at the time by his stage name Geno, is now a lawyer in California.
Henfried’s attorney said that they are asking for a pardon because Greitens is using a similar argument to their own in fighting the felony charges. Greitens was indicted last week for taking a photo of a woman in a sexually explicit position without her consent.
The governor has argued that that the woman had no expectation of privacy when he took the photo. Henfried’s lawyer has argued that the law against nonconsensual recordings is aimed at “peeping toms,” not people who have a consensual relationship prior to the recording.
“As I have said before, I made a personal mistake before I was Governor,” Greitens said in a statement released on Facebook last week. “I did not commit a crime.”
Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
