Miss. blogger accused of exploiting senator’s ill wife by posting image

Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss.

Authorities say a conservative Mississippi blogger went into a nursing home, photographed the bedridden wife of Republican U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran without permission and posted an image online as part of a video.

Rose Cochran, 72, has lived at St. Catherine’s Village since 2000 and has dementia.

Clayton Thomas Kelly, 28, of Pearl, was arrested Friday and charged with a felony, exploitation of a vulnerable adult, Madison police said. Kelly remained in the Madison County Detention Center on Saturday on $100,000 bond. Assistant Police Chief Robert Sanders wouldn’t identify Rose Cochran as the person who was photographed. Cochran attorney Don Clark said an unauthorized photo of Rose Cochran was taken in her nursing-home room, and it was posted briefly online as part of a video.