A former Republican congressional candidate in California is in a world of trouble after admitting to sending threatening letters to herself and lying about it. Now, federal authorities are wondering if she also lied about being beaten and assaulted in her garage in 1994. If she did, she may have cost an innocent man nearly two decades of his life.
On Thursday, former Stanislaus County clerk-recorder Karen Mathews Davis was arraigned on charges of lying to federal investigators. She claimed to have received two letters making graphic threats against her life while she running for the GOP nomination in California’s 9th district in 2014. She received one in December 2013, and another in February 2014. However, earlier this year, she admitted that she’d actually written the letters herself.
KCRA-TV in Sacramento obtained a copy of the criminal complaint. Read it here. It looks like Davis made the whole thing up so she could get a concealed-carry permit. She told Treasury Department investigators that her grandson, the nephew of a neighbor, and a member of her church could have sent the letters. She also named as a suspect Roger Steiner, who was arrested in 1994 for beating, cutting, and sodomizing Davis in Davis’ garage. He was accused of being part of a mob of anti-tax extremists that stormed her house. He was convicted in 1997 and sentenced to 22 years in prison. He was living in a Fresno halfway house at the time the letters were written, and was released last year.
When investigators interviewed Steiner at the halfway house in 2013, he denied writing any threatening letters to Davis. Agents couldn’t find any evidence that Steiner had anything to do with the letters. In February, they asked Davis to take a polygraph. She flunked, and admitted writing the letters herself and sent them to herself.
Now here’s where this story could really get hideous–as if it wasn’t already hideous. The connection with Steiner set off alarm bells with prosecutors, given the similarities between this story and her claims about the 1994 attack. Bill Portanova, a former state and federal prosecutor, told KTXL in Sacramento that this situation is “a prosecutor’s worst nightmare”–the possibility that an innocent man lost 18 years of his life after being falsely accused.
For now, Davis faces charges that could cost her up to five years in federal prison. However, Portanova says that if it turns out the 1994 incident was also a hoax, Davis could face “many years” behind bars. Specifically, if it turns out that she lied under oath during the 1997 trial, she could be racked up for perjury, which carries a maximum of five years. She could also face an additional five years if she lied to investigators during the course of the 1994 investigation. Add it up, and if it turns out that the 1994 attack was a hoax, it could cost her up to 15 years in federal prison.
Davis could also get hit pretty hard in the wallet as well. She recently wrote a book about the 1994 attack, “The Terrorist in My Garage.” If it turns out that the attack was a hoax, she could at the very least face a lawsuit from publisher Sager Group. The book was available for the Kindle, but as of Saturday morning that edition is no longer available. Plus, it goes without saying that Steiner could potentially take Davis for every penny she has if it is found that she framed him.
Many of you know that my ex-wife falsely accused me of forcing a girl to watch X-rated movies and threatening to beat her up if she told anyone about it. Since then, any instance where innocent people could potentially have their lives ruined by false charges has been very personal for me. For that reason, I hope that Davis has the library thrown at her for her false accusations about those threatening letters. And if it turns out that she indeed sent an innocent man to prison, no expense should be spared to ensure that she stays behind bars for as long as legally possible.
