The investigator working the 2018 criminal case against former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens (R) pled guilty to tampering with evidence on Wednesday.
One day before jury selection was set to begin in the case, William Tisaby, a former FBI agent, pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of evidence tampering. Tisaby was facing six felony counts of perjury and one count of evidence tampering. Tisaby was sentenced to one-year probation.
Tisaby was at the forefront of the scandal that led to Greitens’ resignation as Missouri governor. After Greitens was accused of having an affair and blackmailing the woman with compromising photos, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner hired Tisaby to investigate the allegations. Gardner chose not to have the St. Louis Police Department handle the investigation because she claimed the department refused to take on the matter.
Tisaby testified under oath that he did not take any notes or ask any “substantive questions” during a meeting with Greitens’ accuser.
As local news reported:
The indictment against Tisaby, who lives in Trussville, Alabama, accused him of lying during a deposition in preparation for Greitens’ trial and concealing notes taken during an interview with the former governor’s accuser. The indictment says Tisaby lied under oath “about matters which could substantially affect, or did substantially affect, the course or outcome of the Greitens case.”
The indictment alleged that Tisaby denied taking notes during his interview of the hairdresser, although a recording of the interview that he initially said was unwatchable because of an equipment malfunction showed him doing so. The indictment also said that Tisaby claimed he didn’t receive notes from the prosecutor’s office before he interviewed the woman, although a document uncovered during the grand jury proceedings shows that Gardner had provided Tisaby her notes.
Tisaby also testified that Gardner did not ask him for help in locating the photo Grietens allegedly took of his accuser.
Tisaby admitted to concealing and suppressing documents from Greitens’ case during the plea hearing on Wednesday.
Even though Greitens admitted to the affair, he maintained that he never took the alleged photo and was the victim of a political witch hunt. Gardner, a Democrat, dropped a felony invasion of privacy charge in May 2018 after a judge ruled she would have to testify under oath as part of the case.
Greitens is hopeful for a return to political office. He is currently the frontrunner in Missouri’s U.S. Senate Republican primary.
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