Watergate figure Charles Colson has died at 80

By the CNN Wire Staff (CNN) — Chuck Colson, a Watergate-era "hatchet man" for President Richard Nixon who became an influential evangelical leader after serving time in prison, died Saturday afternoon, according to his website. He was 80.

Charles Colson, the man known as the “evil genius” behind former President Richard Nixon's administration and a key figure in the Watergate scandal, died Saturday at age 80, according to the Associated Press. Colson

Colson was one of the few men to go to prison for the Watergate Scandal which engulfed the presidency of Richard M. Nixon. He was one of the "Watergate seven" and described by journalist David Plotz as the "evil genius" in

Colson became a born-again Christian in prison and even founded a worldwide prison fellowship ministry.

By JESSICA GRESKO AP WASHINGTON — He was described as the "evil genius" of the Nixon administration, and spent the better part of a year in prison for a Watergate-related conviction. His proclamations following his release that he was a new man,