Student faces felony counts after streaming meeting at representative’s office

SALISBURY, Md. – Salisbury University student Jake Burdett is facing charges after live streaming a meeting with a congressional staffer for Maryland congressman Andy Harris without permission. Now the 20-year old is facing two felony counts, for an illegal recording and distributing the video taken during a rally for legalized marijuana.

We went to Salisbury University to get the pulse of the Gulls community.

Xavier Jones, an SU student, says he feels there was nothing to be gained from the streaming illegally.

“I really just don’t see the point in putting it out there on a live stream.”

Other students we spoke with say they understood where Burdett was coming from, trying to get that information from the closed meeting out to the public.

“Since he’s speaking for the people, pretty much, we deserve to know what they’re talking about,” said Salisbury student, Mateo Cortez.

Cortez went on to say charging the community activist with felonies is going over the top.

“I feel like they should’ve just asked him to delete it. It wouldn’t have been the best thing, but they’re taking it out of proportion. I don’t think it was that serious to have filed charges. Because that can mess up his whole life.”

Most agreed that the decision to betray lawmakers trust can only hurt the activist and potentially the cause in the future.

We reached out to to office of Representative Harris, but were told they cannot comment during an investigation.

We also have not heard back from the state prosecutor’s office on the state of the investigation.