Missouri Gov. Greitens, a Duke alum, indicted for invasion of privacy related to affair

Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, Trinity '96, was indicted on a felony charge for invasion of privacy Thursday afternoon.

Greitens was indicted by a St. Louis grand jury and taken into custody after the release of the indictment, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. This development is the latest in the controversy surrounding Greitens' affair with a former hairdresser before he became governor. The grand jurors said that Greitens had taken a scandalous photo of the woman without her consent and transmitted the photo in a way that made it accessible via a computer, making the crime a felony.

Susan Ryan,  St. Louis Circuit Attorney spokesperson, told NBC News that though Greitens was taken into custody, he was later released. Greitens wrote in a statement that he did not commit a crime.

"As I have said before, I made a personal mistake before I was Governor. I did not commit a crime," he wrote. "With today’s disappointing and misguided political decision, my confidence in our prosecutorial system is shaken, but not broken. I know this will be righted soon."

Although Greitens has previously admitted to the affair, he has denied any sort of blackmail or abuse of the woman.  

"As I have stated before, it is essential for residents of the City of St. Louis and our state to have confidence in their leaders," said Kimberly Gardner, St. Louis circuit attorney, in a statement. "They must know that the Office of the Circuit Attorney will hold public officials accountable in the same manner as any other resident of our city."

The grand jury had been investigating allegations of blackmail against Greitens since at least the beginning of February. One piece of evidence in the investigation was an audio recording of the woman and her ex-husband discussing how Greitens had taken a compromising photo of her and threatened to release it if she mentioned the affair to anyone.

During his time at Duke, Greitens was a Angier B. Duke Scholar, and was selected as a Rhodes Scholar and a Truman Scholar. Notable among his roles on campus was his time as chair of the honor council.