In an exclusive investigation, the Advocate has obtained emails from a whistleblower from inside the Columbus Police Department that outline the arrest of Stormy Daniels earlier this month may have been pre-planned days before she ever arrived in town.
Columbus Police arrested the adult entertainer — who claims to have had an affair with then-private citizen Donald Trump in 2006 — on July 12. Police said that Daniels violated an Ohio law by “touching” club-goers, who were actually undercover VICE officers. The charges were dismissed 12 hours later after Daniels hired Columbus defense attorney Chase Mallory. Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein said the elements were not met in the charges and that is why the cases were tossed out. Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs apologized and called it a “mistake.”
Within hours of her arrest, Daniels’ personal attorney Michael Avenatti called it a political hit-job and vowed to investigate.
A whistleblower from the City of Columbus contacted the Advocate with numerous emails between several high-ranking Columbus police detectives and VICE officers.
Inside the emails are news clippings discussing Daniels’ planned appearance in Columbus, pictures of Daniels with President Donald Trump, videos of her dancing, and even a map to the club where she would be performing, all sent days before she would pull into town on her tour bus.
The bulk of the emails that the whistleblower provided are from the email account of Detective Shana Keckley. Keckley was one of the lead-arresting officers the night that the “sting” operation went down.
“It is clear that Keckley and her fellow officers were there because of Stormy and only because of Stormy,” the whistleblower told the Advocate in an interview.