Florida Woman Charged Over Secret Recording in Clancy Case

A Florida woman was charged on October 20 with felony unlawful wiretapping in Hingham District Court after an audio recording of Christopher Clancy was posted to Instagram. Shawna Leigh Gramkow, 46, of Sanford, is not in custody and is scheduled to be arraigned on November 20. She wrote on Instagram that the allegations were false and easy to prove.

Clancy told Scituate police on September 4 that a recording he believed was of his voice had appeared on August 30 on an account called “saltylunatics.” Police said a search warrant led them to identify Gramkow as the account’s operator. The recording was mostly unintelligible, but Clancy recognized some remarks as comments about his eldest son, Brian.

Clancy told police he believed he had accidentally answered an unfamiliar call while driving in Scituate on August 6. He did not recall knowingly speaking to anyone or agreeing to be recorded. The video’s opening narration said Patrick Clancy’s phone number had been released at the trial and that his father remained on the call. Massachusetts law requires both parties to consent to an audio recording.

The charge comes amid the case against Lindsay Clancy, who has pleaded not guilty to three first-degree murder counts in the deaths of her children. Her first trial ended in a mistrial in September, and she has argued through counsel that postpartum psychosis made her not criminally responsible. Prosecutors have not said whether they will retry her. Her case is due back in court November 2, where she is awaiting a decision on the next step.