California Highway Patrol officers accused of stealing nude photos from female arrestees

[Teh One Who Knocks]

FOX News


http://i.imgur.com/TAW7UYs.jpg

At least three California Highway Patrol officers have been accused of accessing nude pictures of arrested women taken off their cellphones, according to a sworn search warrant that was reported over the weekend.

The Contra Costa Times reported that a CHP officer in the San Francisco Bay Area has confessed to stealing nude pictures of a suspected drunken driver from her phone, as she was being processed at a jail in Martinez.

The officer, 35-year-old Sean Harrington, told prosecutors that sending copies of compromising photos of arrestees was a common "game'' that he learned in the CHP Los Angeles office. According to court documents, Harrington, a five-year veteran, added that he had done the same thing a "half dozen times in the last several years."

None of the officers has been charged in connection with the allegations, but prosecutors told the Contra Costa Times that the investigation could compromise any case where the officers appear as witnesses. The DUI case that led to the investigation into Harrington has already been dismissed.

Records about the sent photos were somehow deleted from the woman's phone, but copies were retained on the woman's Apple iCloud account, and she later found them on her synced iPad.

An affidavit sworn by an investigator for the Contra Costa County District Attorney's office identified a second CHP officer who received photos from Harrington as Robert Hazlewood. The document claims the two officers then sent comments back and forth, commenting on her "rocking'' body.

In another case, court documents also describe texts between the two officers, that included photos of a 19-year-old woman suspected of drunken driving sent from Harrington to Hazelwood. The photos showed the DUI suspect in a bikini, and the affidavit said Hazelwood texted back a question: "No [expletive] nudes?''

Harrington confessed to the investigator that he had stolen six photos and sent one to Hazelwood.

"The callousness and depravity with which these officers communicated about my client is dehumanizing, horribly offensive and degrading to all women," Rick Madsen, an attorney for the unidentified woman, told the paper. "It's going to lead to another level of mistrust and skepticism to the motive of law enforcement in general."

CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow said that the allegations "anger and disgust me. We expect the highest levels of integrity and moral strength from everyone in the California Highway Patrol, and there is no place in our organization for such behavior."

[PorkChopSandwiches]

:wank:

[FBD]

:hand: they're just doing their duties and looking for evidence....RIGHT? ;)

not that any of you have a story of "hey that chick is hot, let's go pull her over" THAT doesnt happen RIGHT?

:lol:

[FBD]

www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_26793089/warrant-chp-officer-says-stealing-nude-photos-from

MARTINEZ -- The California Highway Patrol officer accused of stealing nude photos from a DUI suspect's phone told investigators that he and his fellow officers have been trading such images for years, in a practice that stretches from its Los Angeles office to his own Dublin station, according to court documents obtained by this newspaper Friday.

CHP Officer Sean Harrington, 35, of Martinez, also confessed to stealing explicit photos from the cellphone of a second Contra Costa County DUI suspect in August and forwarding those images to at least two CHP colleagues. The five-year CHP veteran called it a "game" among officers, according to an Oct. 14 search warrant affidavit.

Harrington told investigators he had done the same thing to female arrestees a "half dozen times in the last several years," according to the court records, which included leering text messages between Harrington and his Dublin CHP colleague, Officer Robert Hazelwood.

Contra Costa County prosecutors are investigating and say the conduct of the officers -- none of whom has been charged so far -- could compromise any criminal cases in which they are witnesses. CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow said in a statement that his agency too has "active and open investigations" and cited a similar case several years ago in Los Angeles involving a pair of officers.

"The allegations anger and disgust me," Farrow said. "We expect the highest levels of integrity and moral strength from everyone in the California Highway Patrol, and there is no place in our organization for such behavior."

Rick Madsen, the Danville attorney for the 23-year-old San Ramon woman who was the first to report Harrington, said the implications of the case are "far-reaching and very damaging."

"The callousness and depravity with which these officers communicated about my client is dehumanizing, horribly offensive and degrading to all women," he said. "It's going to lead to another level of mistrust and skepticism to the motive of law enforcement in general."

The San Ramon woman's DUI case has already been dismissed because of the investigation into Harrington's conduct, and the CHP confirmed that one of its officers, a 5-year veteran, has been placed on "administrative duties" and is not on patrol, although they did not mention Harrington by name. Deputy district attorney Barry Grove said he expects a decision about charges against officers in the CHP probe to be made next week.

In the search warrant affidavit, senior Contra Costa district attorney inspector Darryl Holcombe wrote that he found probable cause to show both CHP officers Harrington and Hazelwood and others engaged in a "scheme to unlawfully access the cell phone of female arrestees by intentionally gaining access to their cell phone and without their knowledge, stealing and retaining nude or partially clothed photographs of them." That behavior constitutes felony computer theft, the affidavit said.

As this newspaper first reported earlier this week, the investigation began with a single incident: Harrington's conduct during the Aug. 29 arrest of the San Ramon woman. The woman discovered that photos had been stolen from her phone five days after her release, when she noticed on her iPad that the photos had been sent to an unknown number. A record of the messages had been deleted from her iPhone, but the phone had been synced to the iPad.

In his investigation, Holcombe compared video surveillance and time-stamped text messages from the woman's phone and determined Harrington was in possession of the woman's phone at the moment the photos were forwarded. The woman -- who registered a blood-alcohol level of 0.29 percent, more than three times the legal limit -- was being processed in the Martinez County Jail when the photos were stolen, according to court records.

During questioning, Harrington admitted to stealing five photographs from the woman and said he forwarded at least one to Hazelwood, according to court records.

Reached by phone by this newspaper on Friday, Hazelwood declined to comment. Messages to the other two officers were not returned.

"Harrington said he first learned of this scheme when he was working in the Los Angeles office," Holcombe wrote in the affidavit. "Harrington said when he was assigned to the Dublin office, he learned from other officers that they would access the cell phones of female arrestees and look for nude photographs of them. Harrington said if photographs were located, the officers would then text the photographs to other sworn members of the office, and, to non-CHP individuals. Harrington described this scheme as a game."

The new court documents describe a second incident involving a 19-year-old woman who was in a DUI crash in Livermore on Aug. 7. On Harrington's phone, Holcombe located two photos of that DUI suspect in a bikini accompanied by a text message from the day of the arrest from Harrington to Hazelwood: "Taken from the phone of my 10-15x while she's in X-rays. Enjoy buddy!!!"

A "10-15x" is CHP code for a woman in custody. The woman may have been at a hospital to have X-rays taken after the crash.

Hazelwood replies: "No f------ nudes?"

A short time later, the affidavit says, Harrington sent another Dublin CHP officer, Dion Simmons, the bikini photos with the same message indicating they were of a female arrestee. Simmons texted back "Nice" and "Hahahaaaa" and Harrington replies: "Just rerun a favor down the road buddy. :)"

Holcombe also detailed Aug. 29 text messages between Harrington and Hazelwood discussing the photos of the first woman in various states of undress.

Hazelwood asked to see her "dl," possibly referring to her driver's license photo, and Harrington texted back: "When we get back to office. And we'll have MDF (county jail) mug shot too."

The pair continued the text back-and-forth, commenting on her "rocking" body and breasts.

[FBD]

to protect and perve


base pay for a California Highway Patrol officer starts at $67,764 a year, with 5 percent annual increases until reaching $84,036.



more than 5,000 California troopers made at least $100,000 in 2011



Connie and Vincent Lambres, who were husband-and-wife highway patrol sergeants in Sacramento County, collected $745,947 in overtime.



The kicker...pension of 3% at 50 for each year served.



oh and they have a union bargaining for every benefit.



What overtime/pension/job guarantee/sicktime cashout/low educational requirements/"company" car do you get?

[Muddy]

:Oh Lance: Why man.. WHYYYY? :lol: