Alvin Greene charged over pornographic pictures

Democratic nominee for South Carolina's upcoming senate election indicted on criminal charges of showing pornographic pictures to a teenage college student

Alvin M. Greene
Alvin Greene nominee for South Carolina's senate election has been indicted over pornographic pictures. Photograph: Mary Ann Chastain/AP

An unemployed military veteran who stunned the US political establishment by winning a Democratic primary to contest a South Carolina senate seat has been indicted on criminal charges of showing pornographic pictures to a teenage college student.

Alvin Greene, a little-known figure who has been described as America's least likely prospective senator, is accused of approaching a young woman in a computer lab at his alma mater, the University of South Carolina. According to a grand jury indictment handed down today, he allegedly showed her obscene pictures and suggested going to her dormitory room.

If convicted, Greene could face up to five years in jail. The charges are a further blow to the credibility of a candidate who was initially overlooked as a no-hoper by Democratic party bosses before springing an out-of-the-blue shock by comfortably beating a former judge, Vic Rawl, to take the party's nomination for this November's mid-term senate race in South Carolina.

Greene declined to comment on the charges, which came a day after he addressed a meeting of South Carolina's executive committee of Democrats with a speech appealing for support that reportedly lasted just 23 seconds.

The 32-year-old, who did no discernible campaigning in advance of his primary win, had no phone, no computer and no record of running for political office before his sudden rise to prominence.

He has been criticised for a lack of a coherent message and for a smattering of eccentric policy proposals.

In an interview with the Guardian last month, he suggested that the state's economy could be boosted through a job creation scheme to make action models of himself in his army uniform: "They can make toys of me and my vehicle, especially for the holidays and Christmas for the kids. That's something that would create jobs."

Greene's opponent in the senate battle will be Republican incumbent Jim DeMint, who is among the most conservative voices in the upper house. Greene, who has raised less than $1,000 in campaign funds, declined to comment to Associated Press reporters on his indictment, which is for twin charges of procuring obscenity and of communicating obscene materials to a person without consent.


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