A bitter separation and parenting battle involving the astronaut Anne McClain led to an unconventional accusation past calendar year: Ms. McClain’s ex-spouse accused her of improperly accessing her lender account from the Intercontinental Space Station.
But immediately after a prolonged investigation, federal prosecutors said on Monday that the former spouse, Summer Worden, had lied to investigators about some suitable facts, and that a federal grand jury experienced indicted Ms. Worden on expenses that could outcome in up to five yrs in jail.
The indictment, returned in February but unsealed this week, alleges that Ms. Worden opened the financial institution account earlier than she experienced told investigators, and that she experienced not improved her login qualifications until eventually months later on than she experienced claimed.
The situation represented an unparalleled allegation of a criminal offense in house, which gurus say could turn out to be fewer unusual as living and doing the job in house gets to be much more program. The present-day scenario raises thoughts, for illustration, about no matter whether documents of Ms. McClain’s internet usage from area could be subpoenaed in court docket to enable help in Ms. Worden’s defense.
Both equally women of all ages have adorned pasts. Ms. Worden is a former Air Power intelligence officer. Ms. McClain is a West Place graduate who turned a commissioned Army officer and flew a lot more than 800 beat hours in the Iraq war prior to becoming a member of NASA in 2013.
Ms. McClain remains a lieutenant colonel in the Military and could be in line to be the 1st lady to walk on the moon.
The indictment, unsealed in Texas, charges Ms. Worden with two counts of generating fake statements to NASA’s Office of Inspector Basic and to the Federal Trade Fee. Ms. Worden experienced created grievances to equally businesses accusing Ms. McClain of identification theft.
Ms. Worden submitted for divorce in the months after opening a individual bank account in April 2018 and then accused Ms. McClain of accessing it in January 2019, when Ms. McClain was on the Global Room Station.
Ms. McClain has reported by way of a law firm that she continued to use the account immediately after the divorce filing, which include from the house station, as she experienced accomplished throughout the relationship. She reported she was continuing to make sure the family’s funds were in order — with Ms. Worden’s whole expertise — even though they were divided. She said Ms. Worden experienced under no circumstances instructed her that the account was off restrictions.
Federal prosecutors explained they concluded that Ms. Worden had under no circumstances revoked access.
Ms. Worden stated on Monday night that she was shocked by the indictment. She reported that when she mistakenly gave investigators the wrong day of her lender account’s opening, she later delivered them the suitable details.
She mentioned it experienced been her intent to transform her password when she made the new account, but she was not confident if she experienced accomplished so.
“I did not misrepresent nearly anything,” Ms. Worden claimed.
Both way, Ms. Worden said, she did not imagine it was ideal for Ms. McClain to proceed to test accessing her funds amid a parenting dispute and divorce fight.
Substantially of the couple’s conflict revolved about Ms. Worden’s son, who was born about a year ahead of the ladies achieved. Ms. Worden had not permitted Ms. McClain to adopt the kid, even following their 2014 marriage, but Ms. McClain petitioned a community courtroom in 2018 for shared parenting rights and “the unique appropriate to designate the principal residence of the child” if the parties could not arrive at a mutual agreement, in accordance to records.