Lancaster County Attorney’s Office files criminal charges against Nebraska state senator

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – A criminal charge has been filed against a Nebraska state senator, the Lancaster County Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.

State Sen. Dan McKeon of Amherst is being charged with disturbing the peace of another after an incident at the Lincoln Country Club on May 29.

The Nebraska State Patrol said a woman reported that McKeon inappropriately touched her during a party at the country club.

He was initially cited on suspicion of public indecency.

The attorney’s office said prosecutors have reviewed the evidence and worked with investigators to “seek additional evidence” since the citation was issued.

McKeon’s arraignment hearing is scheduled for Wednesday at 9 a.m. in Lancaster County Court.

In November, the Law Office of Perry A. Pirsch issued a statement on behalf of McKeon regarding the allegations.

“Earlier this year, at the end-of-session gathering, Senator McKeon made a single remark – a joke – to a staff member about her planned trip and hoping she and her husband would receive a ‘Hawaiian lei,’ or words to that effect, and he then patted her on the back,” Pirsch said in the statement. “It was meant in jest and nothing about his action was in any way sexually charged or lewd; just a bad pun. Later, when Senator McKeon was told that the staffer had been offended by the comment, he was happy to reach out and apologize with a sincere note. He did so with sincere humility. This was last July. As soon as he understood she was offended, regardless of whether it was reasonable, because that is what his faith and ethics compelled him to do. And that is where it should have ended.”