Des Moines, IOWA — Today, Friday, January 20, 2012, Zachary Edwards, age 29, from Des Moines, Iowa, was arrested and criminally charged with Identity Theft, an Aggravated Misdemeanor (Iowa  Code 715A.8(2)).  Edwards turned himself in to Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) agents this afternoon at the Polk County Jail.  He was then booked into the jail with a set bail of $2,000, cash or surety.

According to the Criminal Complaint, on June 24, 2011, Edwards fraudulently used, or attempted to use, the identity of Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz and/or Secretary Schultz’s brother, Thomas Schultz, with the intent to obtain a benefit, in an alleged scheme to falsely implicate Secretary Schultz in perceived illegal or unethical behavior while in office.

Read the full press release here.

Edwards was the 2008 Iowa New Media Director for Barack Obama’s campaign.  The Iowa Republican reported earlier that he is also the Director of New Media for Link Strategies, but the website has apparently since scrubbed all mention of Zach Edwards. However, you can see an earlier snapshot of the page through WayBackMachine.

Link Strategies is a Democrat-affiliated political campaign management, research and communications firm in Iowa, which has worked on projects and campaigns for clients like the SEIU and other labor unions, California Governor Jerry Brown’s independent expenditure committee, Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, and many others.

The founder of Link Strategies, Jeff Link, is very actively engaged in the Democrat party’s strategies, having served as “media consultant to the Obama for President Campaign, coordinating branding, all paid media and polling in 25 states, including seven battleground states (VA, NC, FL, CO, NM, NV, MT),”  according to his own bio (link to preserved snapshot from 1/10/2012).  He served as Senator Tom Harkin’s chief of staff from 1997 to 1999 and directed Sen. Harkin’s 2008 reelection campaign.

There has been nothing released to date by officials to indicate that Link Strategies was involved with or aware of Edwards’ activity.

The Iowa Republican also reports:

Since his surprise victory over incumbent Michael Mauro in November 2010, Secretary of State Schultz has been a target of the Iowa Democratic Party. Interestingly, on June 24, the same day as Zach Edwards alleged crime, Under the Golden Dome, a blog connected to Iowa Democrats, launched a three-part series of articles critical of Matt Schultz. They were based on documents obtained through an open records request from “a tipster.” The blog alleged that a batch of emails from Schultz’s office “raise some serious questions about his ability to remain independent and ensure election integrity”.

Just 15 days earlier, on June 9, the Iowa Democratic Party filed an ethics complaint against Schultz, claiming the Secretary of State of used public resources to campaign against presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman. The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board dismissed the complaint on July 19.

This is still a developing story, and we will continue to research much further and report on any additional findings or new developments.

I feel the duty to point out that this is very similar to other tactics from some of the left we’ve been observing over the last several months. While I haven’t personally observed anyone having gone so far as to steal one’s identity, I have witnessed similar efforts in which the individuals have gone to great lengths to publish false accusations, including crimes, that are clearly intended to cause a great level of distress for their targets (and that’s putting it mildly). We will report more on this particular tactic in the very near future.

There is an obligation for Rep. Weiner to enable the delineation of what happened and how it happened so that we can enhance our cyber security. At the very least, he should have informed the House Information Resources division of this breach for investigation.

We need to recognize the seriousness of online crimes. Identity theft is the fastest growing type of fraud in our nation, and the Federal Trade Commission estimates that identity theft costs consumers $50 billion a year. Yet, this goes far beyond a crime against consumers.

Our nation is reliant upon a digital infrastructure that supports our economy, national security, and public safety. It is clear that this digital infrastructure is not completely secure.

The Government Accounting Office reports that cyber intrusions are growing dramatically, with the number of security incidents reported by federal agencies increasing more than 400 percent from 2006 to 2009.

International terrorist groups use the Internet for recruiting, spreading their radical messages, and for training. This brings up the concern of cyber attacks against critical systems.

In January, Deputy Defense Secretary pointed out that more than 100 foreign intelligence agencies have tried to breach our defense computer networks. In 2008, a foreign intelligence succeeded in getting an infected flash drive into a classified Defense Department computer network in the Middle East.

As Chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, I sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Napolitano on May 18, 2011. The Chairman and Ranking Democrat of the Energy and Commerce Committee and the subcommittees joined me in signing this letter seeking information on protecting power sources, water supplies, telecommunications systems, and chemical facilities.

Every American faces these threats to our privacy, our economy, and our national security, and we should all make every effort to bring these instances to light so that we can better enhance our cyber security. That includes members of Congress such as Rep. Weiner.

Ross said that by executing a search warrant at ACORN headquarters in Nevada the authorities were able to substantiate charges and have a very solid case against ACORN. They believe they can prove that it’s not just a few bad apples it went much higher up in the organization. Ross believes that ACORN and the regional director should be held accountable for the criminal activity that took place in the state.

Ross told FOX News that they found prisoners on the ACORN payroll:

Ross Miller: Obviously we believed that it went much higher on the food chain. That ACORN had a quota system in place and they were paying individuals this black jack. That encourages voter registration fraud and that is why it is important that we go after them and charge them criminally and try to obtain a conviction. They constantly say we have a bad apple. We have a bad a bad employee like most people do. Clearly that’s not the case. This is an organization that came to Nevada and hired people that were still in prison convicted of identity theft that were on work release programs for canvassing voters.

Eric Shawn: Wait a minute… Hired people that were still in prison?

Ross Miller: Correct. There’s a transitional housing facility, Casa Grande, down there. ACORN approached them. They hired individuals that were still in prison. Some of them were convicted of serious offenses, identity theft. A violation of state law that these inmates should not have had contact with people’s personal information. Those were the individuals that were our canvassing people.

This is not the first time we’ve seen convicts used for canvassing. In 2004 another federally funded far left organization America Coming Together was fined $775,000 in civil penalties after the election. ACT hired dozens of felons some convicted of sex offenses, assault and burglary – to conduct door-to-door voter registration drives in Missouri and other swing states. Seven of the ACT employees lived at Missouri halfway houses and at least four were later returned to prison.