Graphic emails between NJ pol and lobbyist spur probe

The release of scores of kinky emails written by a powerful New Jersey Democrat to a lobbyist has sparked an investigation by prosecutors in Sussex County, according to reports.

Joe Cryan, an assemblyman from Union County, was a rising star in the state's Democratic Party. Until 2010, he was majority leader in the state assembly and state party chairman.

The New York Post published an enormous cache of sexually salacious emails allegedly written by Cryan documenting the details of a sado-masochistic affair he had with lobbyist Karen Golding.

The emails, written between 2004 and 2006, spell out Cryan's desires for spanking, bondage, public sex and oral sex from the West Orange woman and recount many of their sexual adventures.

But according to the Star Ledger of Newark, N.J., the communications were under seal by a court order. The only people with access to copies of the emails were prosecutors, Golding, her attorney and Cryan.

According to court documents, the graphic emails were written on state-owned computers in Cryan's Assembly offices and at his second job as an Undersheriff in the Union County Sheriff's office.

The intimate relationship chronicled in the emails was broken off in 2006 when Cryan allegedly began to see another woman. After Golding broke into Cryan's unlocked car and left a note, Cryan summoned 20 law enforcement officers and had her charged with stalking, according to the Post.

At the time of her arrest, Golding claimed to be romantically involved with Cryan. He denied it.

Golding said she would prove the relationship with the emails, a move that was prevented when a judge placed them under seal. Golding, who is currently serving two years probation, lost her job and her house following the arrest.

How the emails came to be made public remained shrouded in mystery.

According to the Post, "the secret correspondence - racy enough to make any Fifty Shades of Grey fan blush - landed on the driveway of a Post reporter."

The paper did not elaborate.