2018 state auditor candidate arrested

MONTGOMERY - Attorney General Steve Marshall announced the arrest of Elliott Owen Lipinsky, a candidate for 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 opponents in the primary.  He surrendered to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office on April 3 and was released on bond.
Lipinsky, 32, of Pike Road, was formerly a deputy district attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit, assigned to Wilcox County.
Attorney General 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 illegally viewing confidential information of Stanley Cooke, an opponent of Lipinsky 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 unsuccessfully trying to view confidential information of Jim Zeigler, another of Lipinsky’s opponents in the auditor’s race and the current State Auditor.
No further information about the investigation or about Lipinsky’s alleged crimes may be released at this time.
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.  
     *An indictment is merely an accusation. Defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.