LOL, Wienermobile
Louis N. Magazzu has resigned as Cumberland County Freeholder amid a mounting scandal involving a political website posting embarrassing photos and emails from a cyber-affair Magazzu admits to having while married.
“To spare those I love further pain, and to hopefully begin the process of healing, I hereby resign, as Freeholder and from all other affiliated positions, effective immediately, so that I may privately, through counseling and the grace of God confront my personal responsibilities,” Magazzu wrote in his resignation letter issued at 3 p.m. Tuesday.
Center City resident Carl B. Johnson posted the images and emails on his website, magazzuwatch.com, after receiving them from the woman earlier this year.
Magazzu had been trying to force Johnson to remove the images from his site.
Johnson had received a three-page letter last week on behalf of Magazzu, a longtime Cumberland County freeholder who recently stepped down as chairman of the county’s Democratic Party.
Rocco C. Cipparone Jr., a criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor hired by Magazzu, states “posting and disseminating” of the photos and messages should stop immediately. He warned Johnson he may face criminal charges and civil liability.
Magazzu, also an attorney, acknowledges taking the nude pictures of himself with a cell phone. He told The Daily Journal he forwarded the photos, along with others in which he is fully clothed, to an unidentified woman. The explicit shots were sent at her request after he sent other pictures in which he is fully dressed, Magazzu said.
Magazzu said the two never met in person, and only shared the pictures and flirting exchanges by email. He is in the process of divorcing his wife, an action that started before Johnson obtained and published the photos.
At some point, Magazzu told The Daily Journal last month, he realized his actions with the woman were seriously wrong, sought counseling and ended the contacts.
“Unfortunately, in my personal life, I did not always demonstrate the wisdom and balance that I expected from myself, and that the people of Cumberland County deserve and have every right to expect,” Magazzu wrote Tuesday.
“As a consequence, a woman who I have never met personally, but have corresponded with on the internet for several years, has recently shared some photographs which she requested and that were intended only for her eyes,” he said in his resignation letter. “I did not know that she was working with an avowed political enemy to distribute these pictures. I have retained counsel to determine what laws may have been broken by the unauthorized distribution of those pictures. No government services or equipment were used by me when taking the pictures or transmitting them to the woman in question.”