Oct. 4 (UPI) — An intern for Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, has been arrested for posting personal information of Republican senators on the Internet, Capitol Police said Wednesday.
Jackson Cosko, 27, faces charges of making public restricted personal information; witness tampering; threats in interstate communications; unauthorized access of a government computer; identity theft; second-degree burglary; and unlawful entry.
Cosko is accused of posting the home addresses and personal phone numbers to several Republican senators’ Wikipedia pages, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee of Utah, Roll Call reported.
The Wikipedia entries were automatically picked up by a @congressedits, a bot Twitter account that tweets when Wikipedia page edits are made from IP addresses that correspond to Capitol Hill buildings.
The edits appear to have been made during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for Christine Blasey Ford’s sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
That account has since been suspended from Twitter for publicizing that personal information.
Jackson Lee’s chief of staff, Glenn Rushing, told the Houston Chronicle Cosko was an intern in the congresswoman’s Washington office for just the past month.
“He is no longer with us,” Rushing said.
Cosko has previously held positions with former Sen. Barbara Boxer of California and Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H.
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