Councilman Claims Email Account Was Hacked

City councilman Shawn Juris has filed a police report alleging that someone used his business email account to threaten the publisher of the .

The email, allegedly sent to a Lakewood Observer board member, calls for the publisher to be removed from his position, adding that he would use the “full force and power of my position to make this clear.”

The board member posted the email on the Observation Deck — the Observer’s online forum. 

A flurry of comments followed.

However, Juris claims that he didn’t send the email, noting that his account had been “manipulated.”

He filed the police report later in the day.

As of Thursday afternoon, the report was not available.

“The police are investigating,” Juris, who represents Ward 3, told Lakewood Patch.

Mayor Michael Summers said the is taking the report seriously.

“The first question is ‘was there a crime committed?’” he said. “Was there an identity theft or the impersonating of a public official? Right now, they’re trying to figure out the facts and whether a crime has occurred.”

According to the city’s codified ordinances, those charges are classified as first-degree misdemeanors.

“There’s something to be learned from all of this,” Summers said. “I am not sure what it is. I am certainly willing to give Councilman Juris the benefit of the doubt. I think he deserves that. Calling for his head is uncalled for.”