Friday, April 03, 2009

Correction Officer Steven Lenhart Charged with Harassment

The Delaware Department of Correction says a correctional officer charged with sending harassing e-mails to the governor has been placed on leave with pay.

Department spokesman John Painter says 50-year-old Steven R. Lenhart of Dover was placed on leave Friday pending the outcome of the investigation of the charges.

Painter says Lenhart has been with the department since 1981.

Delaware State Police say Lenhart was arrested Thursday and charged with 10 misdemeanor counts of harassment. He was released on $10,000 secured bail and ordered to have no contact with the governer.

Police say the governor's office alerted troopers on March 22 that "alarming e-mails" were sent to the cost-saving suggestion public mailbox located on www.delaware.gov.

Police say that after getting the Internet protocol address from the e-mail, subscriber information was obtained from Comcast.

On March 28, several more e-mails were sent to the same public mailbox in which additional threats were made, according to police.

On Thursday, detectives armed with a search warrant raided Lenhart's home and seized his computer. Lenhart was then taken into custody.

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