EDITOR’s NOTE: The matter detailed in this news article was withdrawn, dismissed by the court, and subsequently expunged on January 26, 2021.
Attorney General Steve Marshall on Friday announced the arrest of Elliott Owen Lipinsky, an unsuccessful candidate for the 2018 Republican nomination for state auditor, on three felony charges related to illegally accessing and attempting to access confidential law enforcement records, two of which are related to his primary opponents.
Lipinsky, 32, of Pike Road, surrendered to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday and was released on bond. He was formerly a deputy district attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit, assigned to Wilcox County.
Marshall’s Special Prosecutions Division presented evidence to a Montgomery County grand jury on March 29, resulting in his indictment on that same day. Lipinsky is charged with two counts of computer tampering for improperly using Alabama’s Law Enforcement Tactical System (LETS), a computer system operated by the State of Alabama, and one count of attempted computer tampering.
The computer tampering charges are for allegedly illegally viewing confidential information of Stanley Cooke, an opponent in the auditor’s race, and of Kynesha Adams, also a former deputy district attorney for Wilcox County.
The attempted computer tampering charge is for allegedly unsuccessfully trying to view confidential information of State Auditor Jim Zeigler, who was running for re-election at the time.
Zeigler won the primary without a runoff, garnering 55.6 percent of the vote compared to Cooke’s 32.6 percent and Lipinsky’s 11.8 percent.
No further information about the investigation or about Lipinsky’s alleged crimes may be released at this time, according to the attorney general’s office.
Computer tampering is a class B felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison. Attempted computer tampering is a class C felony punishable by one year and one day to 10 years in prison.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
