The executive director of the Vermont Republican Party denounced a GOP House candidate who is facing criminal charges under Vermont’s revenge porn law.
Colchester resident Pat Liebrecht, a Republican candidate for a Chittenden County House district, is facing charges under a recently enacted Vermont law that criminalizes so-called revenge porn — the electronic distribution of intimate photographs of someone, often a former partner, as a form of retribution.
Liebrecht, 57, confirmed Wednesday evening that he was cited in August under the law. He said the case involved an ex-girlfriend. He is pleading not guilty to the allegations: “There’s no basis to it,” he said.
Patrick Liebrecht. Courtesy photo
WCAX reported the alleged victim told police Liebrecht shared photos of her, which had been taken consensually, on social media without her permission after they broke up earlier this year.
Liebrecht told the Colchester Sun that the photo in question “was one that could be in a public library in National Geographic.”
Late Wednesday afternoon, Vermont Republican Party Executive Director Jeff Bartley released a statement Wednesday calling the allegations “deeply disturbing and disgusting.”
Bartley noted that the revenge porn law, passed by the Legislature and enacted in 2015, had bipartisan support.
“There is no room in the Vermont Republican Party for anyone who engages in this type of conduct. Furthermore, it’s unacceptable for any person to use their candidacy or support of a political party as a means to intimidate, bully, threaten or harass anyone,” Bartley said.
Liebrecht objected to the statement issued by the party’s executive director, saying it “threw me right under the bus.”
He said he told the party about the criminal case this week, after he was contacted by reporters. But he said he was not given any warning ahead of Bartley’s statement, which he said unfairly adjudicated him in the public arena.
“I was just executed without even having one word,” Liebrecht said.
Liebrecht is continuing his campaign for the House seat, though he has taken down both his campaign website and his Facebook page.
Before its passage into law, the proposal to create criminal penalties for revenge porn prompted intense debate between civil liberties groups and advocates for victims’ rights.
The crime carries a penalty of up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $2,000.
In July, a Bennington County judge dismissed a case brought under the revenge porn law, raising issue about possible First Amendment overreach. At the time, prosecutors involved in that case planned to appeal to the Vermont Supreme Court.
Read the story on VTDigger here: GOP House candidate facing criminal revenge porn charge.
