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No charges of cyber-stalking will be brought against Paula Broadwell for sending emails characterized as harassing to a Florida woman, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Muldrow in Tampa.
But an investigation by the CIA apparently remains in progress focusing on whether any protocols were violated as Broadwell and CIA Director David Petraeus engaged in an intimate relationship.
In a letter released Tuesday by Broadwell’s Washington-based legal team, Muldrow said, “Our office has determined that no federal charges will be brought in the Middle District of Florida related to alleged acts of cyber-stalking.”
Authorities had earlier said that it was unlikely Broadwell would be prosecuted under federal cyber-stalking statutes. Broadwell has not been notified that she is the subject of any other federal investigation, according to her legal team.
Emails sent to Jill Kelley of Tampa and turned over the FBI in the summer were traced to Broadwell, who had written a biography on Petraeus before they became involved in a personal relationship. Kelly was acquainted with Petraeus through her role as a social liaison at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, where the military’s Central Command and Special Operations Command are based.
Eventually, Broadwell’s electronic trail led to Petraeus, with whom she had shared intimate communications, authorities have said. Broadwell was cooperative with investigators, Muldrow said. She turned over a computer and allowed FBI agents to search her Charlotte home on Nov. 12. Agents carried off boxes of documents, a Dell PC, an iMac, a briefcase and a printer.
“We are pleased with the decision, and are pleased with the professionalism of the Tampa United States Attorney’s Office,” Robert Muse, Broadwell’s attorney, said in a statement Tuesday. Muldrow notified Muse’s office Friday that the cyber-stalking investigation was closed. Broadwell, who lives in Dilworth, has not spoken publicly about her relationship with Petraeus.
Authorities have said that materials taken from Broadwell showed no inappropriate access to national security documents, but the CIA was investigating whether Petraeus used any of the agency’s resources in the course of his six-to-eight-month personal relationship with Broadwell.
