A Nebraska state senator called for a criminal investigation after one of her colleagues said he would resign after admitting that he took photos of a female legislative aide without her knowledge.
Democratic state Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha sent a letter urging the state attorney general and Nebraska State Patrol to investigate the conduct of Republican Sen. Mike Groene to determine if he committed any crimes, according to the Omaha World-Herald.
Groene told The Associated Press Friday that he planned to resign this week to avoid putting his family through a public ordeal. The conservative from North Platte who often disagreed with his Democratic colleagues in the Legislature also said he would withdraw from the race for the University of Nebraska Board of Regents and leave politics.
Nebraska Senator Announced His Resignation
Groene announced he would resign after an online news outlet, Nebraska Sunrise News, reported that one of his staffers had filed a complaint after she discovered the photos on Groene’s laptop, which he had given her to complete a project.
The staffer who was photographed, Kristina Konecko, told the World-Herald that one detail in the initial stories about her complaint was incorrect. She said that she didn’t find any evidence that the photos had been sent to anyone else.
But Konecko did say that some of the photos were close-ups of parts of her body with sexually suggestive captions.
The Associated Press does not typically name victims of sexual harassment, but did so in this case because the newspaper said it published Konecko’s name at her request.
Groene said he took photos of the staffer, but he described them as harmless images of staffers, visitors and family members in his office. He also denied that any of them were sexual in nature or that focused on particular body parts.
