A New Jersey woman has been charged with conspiracy and making false statements after she faked being the victim of a brutal attack, by zip-tying herself, paying an artist to scar her face and body with cuts and writing “TRUMP WHORE” on her stomach in a fabricated plot, the acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey said Wednesday.
Natalie Greene, 26, a former staff member for U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), allegedly told a concocted story to FBI agents, saying she was attacked on July 23 around 10 p.m. by three men who called her names while she was walking with a friend on a nature trail in Egg Harbor Township. Two of the men restrained her on the ground, she said, binding her ankles together with zip ties as they struck her in the head and cut her with a sharp object all over her body.
Another message, scrawled in capital letters on Greene’s back, said, “(Federal Official 1) IS RACIST,” though the complaint redacts the official’s name.
Greene claimed one of the men had a gun and threatened to shoot her if she didn’t stay quiet. Her friend claimed one of the men held her down, too, but she escaped and then called 911, after which responding cops found Greene tied up around 10:36 p.m.
“They were attacking her. They were, like, talking about politics and stuff. They were, like, calling her names,” the friend told a 911 operator, according to court documents.
New Jersey officers took Greene to local hospital to receive medical treatment and treat the cuts on her face, chest and shoulder.
Officers started to become suspicious of the incident when they searched Greene’s Maserati car, in which she drove to the nature reserve with her friend. Officers found two black zip ties similar to the ones used in the alleged incident and a roll of duct tape.
Greene also told officers that she worked for a federal official and that there were some threats at work “but nothing personal to her.”
“There’s so many. I mean. Yeah, racist um,” Greene told a law enforcement officer, according to court documents. “‘Windmills belong on your grave.’ Like stupid, I mean like there, they have a bunch of little things on there that they’ll write on there. We have them all, you can look at all of them. But um. Yeah we keep em just. We keep all of our hate mail. We recently got like, a letter with like powder in it and stuff. A couple of the politicians got like.”
Detectives obtained a search warrant for Greene’s phone that showed a Reddit profile, in which she was active in communities for body modification and scarification. Detectives also reviewed her travel history, which had directions to a body-modification artist in Pennsylvania.
Calls and a series of Instagram messages were tracked by cops between Greene and the body-modification artist, and they found a waiver form from the artist on July 23. Greene paid $500 for body work and signed a consent form around 2:31 p.m. that day, a little under eight hours before she was found cut up and tied up on the nature trail.
Detectives concluded the body modifications made by the artist matched the same lacerations Greene sported when cops located her.
Prosecutors and the FBI also worked to gain access to a cellular tower, obtaining the location data from Greene and the friend’s phone, as well as gaining a search warrant for the friend’s phone. Two days before the incident, on July 21, the friend conducted a Google search of “zip ties near me,” and 40 minutes later went into a Dollar General store around 6 p.m. in Ventnor, N.J. It was unclear from video surveillance obtained by officers if the friend actually purchased the zip ties there.
Greene was a constituent advocate director and worked with Van Drew’s office in 2021, according to Legistorm.
“We are deeply saddened by today’s news, and while Natalie is no longer associated with the Congressman’s government office, our thoughts and prayers are with her,” a spokesperson for Van Drew told the NJ advance media.
If convicted of conspiracy and false statements, Greene, who lives in Ocean City, N.J., could face a maximum imprisonment of up to five years, a $250,000 fine and a three-year term of supervised release.
She was released on $200,000 unsecured bond after her court appearance in New Jersey Federal Court.
