Mark Sanford Facing Trespassing Charges From Ex-Wife

Mark Sanford has responded to the charges. See his response here.

DOCUMENTS: Read the family court filings.

UPDATE: Comments from Jenny Sanford added.

The attorney for Mark Sanford's ex-wife Jenny Sanford told the Associated Press that he was confronted by her at her Lowcountry residence on Feb. 3. A complaint was filed the next day.

Mark Sanford will be required to appear in court on May 9, two days after the election that he hopes will return him to public office. 

The documents the AP acquired indicate that Jenny Sanford said her former husband was using his cellphone as a flashlight as he left. The couple's divorce settlement says neither may enter the other's home without permission.

Reached by The State, Jenny Sanford declined comment on the incident in question, but said: “We have had a number of matters (in their divorce), and we have to deal with them in private.”

Asked about those other issues, Jenny Sanford: “Direct those questions to my ex-husband.”

Jenny Sanford told the AP, “I am doing my best not to get in the way of his race. I want him to sink or swim on his own. For the sake of my children I’m trying my best not to get in the way, but he makes things difficult for me when he does things like trespassing.”

In the complaint filed by Jenny Sanford’s lawyer, Deena Smith McRackan, it was stated that Mark Sanford has “entered into a pattern of entering onto plaintiff’s property. Plaintiff has informed defendant on a number of occasions that this behavior is in violation of the court’s order and has demanded that it not occur again.”

According to the AP, McRackan sent a letter to Mark Sanford in February 2011 telling him not to trespass on Jenny Sanford’s property.

The AP also reported that Jenny Sanford had filed a complaint against her ex-husband for failing to pay $5,000 for one of their four sons’ college education costs. Jenny Sanford that matter has been resolved, according to the AP. 

Mark Sanford's spokesman had no comment to media outlets.

A spokesperson for Sanford's opponent in the First Congressional District Race, Elizabeth Colbert Busch, told Patch her campaign had no comment.