Walter Nelson Lewis has called himself a lot of things: a classic rock features writer and columnist for Rolling Stone Magazine, the minister plenipotentiary for artistic endeavors to the Bahamas, and allegedly Rep. Jack Kingston. What he hasn’t been called is honest.
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The 26-year-old was charged with a single count (a petty offense under federal law) of unlawful possession of government insignia after an incident that occurred on Nov. 17 when he allegedly identified himself as a member of Congress to U.S. Capitol Police while wearing a congressional lapel pin, according to court documents acquired by The Washington Examiner.
In the wake of that controversy, media reports have called into question the legitimacy of Lewis’ other job titles. The Embassy of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and the human resources department at Rolling Stone both deny any connection to Lewis.
On Tuesday night, Yeas & Nays received an e-mail from someone who claimed to be Josh Eells, a freelance contributing editor at Rolling Stone.
In the e-mail, the sender says he would like to defend Lewis and vouch for him.
“Lewis is not a staff contributor here at the magazine however he has indeed penned 5 published pieces on a freelance basis starting in 2009 up until one on Carlos Santana about three months ago for the website,” he wrote. The writer continues to say that Lewis “is known as an authority on Steve Winwood and southern rock.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Yeas & Nays learned that the e-mail was not sent from the real Eells and was instead sent from a fake, anonymous e-mail provider called Sharpmail. Sharpmail allows users to spoof e-mail addresses to make the message appear to come from any address the user specifies.
Not only had Eells not sent the e-mail, but he told Yeas & Nays during a phone call on Wednesday afternoon that he had no professional or personal knowledge of Lewis.
“I have never heard of the guy until a half an hour ago,” Eells said.
But that wasn’t the only e-mail we received from someone wanting to defend Lewis using a Sharpmail address. A message from someone claiming to be the Honorable Brent Symonette, deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs for the Bahamas, informed us that he wanted to “clear up some confusion from the statement released earlier today from our Embassy in Washington” which stated that Lewis “is no way connected to the Embassy of The Bahamas nor to the Government of The Bahamas.”
The sender writes, “This past June I met a very nice gentleman, W. Nelson Lewis at a Bahamian function in Washington. After we realized we had many things in common and that his family had a significant real estate interest in one of our northern islands (Abaco) I conferred upon him an honorary title ‘Minister Plenipotentiary (Spec. Envoy) for Artistic Endeavors.’ This is strictly an honorary title that has essentially no real incumbent diplomatic privileges and is simply a nod we can give foreigners who are non-officially tied to the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.”
When Yeas & Nays tried to verify that e-mail, Rhoda Jackson, the minister-counsellor at the Embassy of the Bahamas, told Yeas & Nays that it, too, was a phony.
“Please be advised that the e-mail which is purported to have been forwarded by the Hon. Brent Symonette, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, is fraudulent,” Jackson said.
Neither Lewis nor his lawyer would comment on the record.
“I have no comment and Nelson has no comment,” Bruce Deming, Lewis’ lawyer, told Yeas & Nays on Wednesday afternoon. His case in U.S. District Court has been delayed until March.
Yeas & Nays columnist Katy Adams attended Lynn University with Nelson Lewis in Boca Raton, Fla.
