Florida Representative Caught Sending Creepy Texts to Colleague

Florida Representative Richard Steinberg is currently under investigation for sending very, very awkward (and yet strangely TAME, if you discount the whole creepsville, anonymous, I-know-your-child's-name aspect of it) text messages to a longtime colleague, female prosecutor Marlene Fernandez-Karavetsos. Steinberg, 39, cleverly employed '90s technology (Yahoo) and a '90s screen name (itsjustme24680) to mask his cell phone number so he could send rather boring missives to Ms. Fernandez-Karavetsos, 37, a married woman and new mother whom he'd known professionally for 15 years (15 years! Just pick up the phone! Or maybe not!) Among Steinberg's attempts at shooting the shit: "Sexxxy mama?" Good one.

Some excerpts of the exchanges, which occurred over a space of three months in the fall of yesteryear:

Steinberg: Sexxxy mama?

Fernandez-Karavetsos: How do I know you?

Fernandez-Karavetsos: Leave me alone.

Steinberg: Is that anyway [SIC] to treat a friend? LOL.

Yes, LOL.

Steinberg also asked Fernandez-Karavetsos things like, "How's motherhood?" (she'd just had a child) and "Getting any sleep?" He also referred to her son BY NAME, the psycho. When Fernandez-Karavetsos pressed Steinberg to identify himself, he wrote back, "Considering we're both married parents, probably best I not answer that at this point."

OOH, SO SCANDALOUS, SO SEXY.

Being a total fool, Steinberg made it really easy for the authorities to track his Yahoo account to his Miami house. The Yahoo account was registered under the name Mr. Just Me, and Steinberg apparently thought that if he wrote something like Just My House in the address box, no one would ever know. 

Anyway, he's now admitting to everything:

I acknowledge and take full responsibility for sending inappropriate and unsolicited messages to Mrs. Marlene Fernandez-Karavetsos, whom I have known for more than 15 years. I deeply regret and wholeheartedly apologize for the disrespect that I have shown her, her husband and my constituents. Most importantly, words cannot express how sorry I am to my wife, for the disrespect I have shown her, and my entire family.

Yeah, good thinking with the whole "most importantly" bit. Fernandez-Karavetsos (who is married to a federal prosecutor! How wonderful!) declined to comment. [Tampa Bay Times]