Ex-Romney aide, College Republican head, busted on sex offender charges

A former aide to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney who also played a leadership role in Iowa's College Republicans was arrested by Des Moines-area police earlier in the week on outstanding warrants related to his status as a convicted sex offender.

Matthew Joseph Elliott, aged 26, and identified in numerous accounts as Matt Elliott, was arrested on Jan. 21 for outstanding warrants relating to his registered sex offender status, according to the Polk County government website. The Iowa registry of sex offenders also shows that he was convicted of exploiting a minor and given a "low" risk assessment.

The website Truth Caucus and an additional source independently confirmed to RAW STORY that Elliott was the same individual described in a Feb. 2006 account in the Washington Post. He briefly joined the Iowa presidential campaign staff of Governor Mitt Romney before leaving to run for a seat in the Iowa state legislature.

Additionally, Elliott was a leading College Republican in Iowa while attending Drake University, where he served as student body president. Elliott also served as director of the Iowa Republicans' Legislative Majority Fund.

Iowa state records show he was convicted on the sex charges in October 2006, months after leaving the Romney campaign.

West Des Moines police arrested Elliott while they were investigating the death of 7-month-old Alexis Gilbert, according to KCCI8-TV, found dead in her family's home where Elliott was staying. Elliott has been questioned, but not charged in relation to her death, which has been ruled a homicide. Gilbert's mother, Kristina, is 16 years of age, and her family has refused to explain Elliott's relationship to the family, according to the Des Moines Register.

Reached for comment by the the Boston Herald on Friday, Romney's campaign argued that Elliott was never affiliated the campaign, only with Romney's Commonwealth PAC.



