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.
Also, @hannymaren... no. Just, no. The question is why are these cops illegally searching their phones. And incidentally sharing the pics they find there with others. Oh. And the disgusting "rating". So.....just no.
"Not gonna lie; I kind of keep expecting you to post one day that you threw down on someone who clearly had no idea that today was NOT THEIR DAY." ~dontcallmeshirley
Why do people have all these nude pics everywhere ?
But of course these cops are fucking gross.
They don't have them "everywhere". They have them on their PERSONAL CELL PHONES that they undoubtedly keep in their PERSONAL PURSE or other PERSONAL space.
Why the fuck would you think a cop would access your phone and text the photos to other cops and make it a public record?
This is the same kind of thing that people think was behind the stolen celebrity cell phone pictures. Obviously not cops, but a network of people who had stolen these photos over the course of years and had traded them on the dark web. To get into these groups, you had to bring originals to the table as a kind of offering.
Re: hannymaren's comnent- isn't that what everyone (at least a lot of people) said when all the celeb pics were stolen? I don't remember the same condemnation of victim blaming then.
Re: hannymaren's comnent- isn't that what everyone (at least a lot of people) said when all the celeb pics were stolen? I don't remember the same condemnation of victim blaming then.
That thought didn't even cross my mind. All the questions should be asked of the asshole police.
This is not blaming the victim. At all. I am just curious. I am not at all saying if you have naked pics on your phone they belong to the world. I was just wondering if I should add some more nude selfies to my phone to be cool.
Re: hannymaren's comnent- isn't that what everyone (at least a lot of people) said when all the celeb pics were stolen? I don't remember the same condemnation of victim blaming then.
I don't think I participated in any posts on this board in regards to celeb naked pictures. If I did participate and there were similar comment's to hannymaren's, I would've said the same thing in regards to victim blaming. I don't know why she's acting all shocked that people have naked pictures on their phone. People having been taking naked pictures and making sex tapes for a long time.
Why do people have all these nude pics everywhere ?
But of course these cops are fucking gross.
People have been taking nudes since literally the invention of the camera. Unless the people in these pics are taking them with the intent of "I want the police to trade these images among themselves and rate my body", there is absolutely NOTHING about this practice that makes it acceptable.
Re: hannymaren's comnent- isn't that what everyone (at least a lot of people) said when all the celeb pics were stolen? I don't remember the same condemnation of victim blaming then.
Post by pinkdutchtulips on Oct 26, 2014 13:28:22 GMT -5
gah i hate when where i live makes national headlines !
the cops have no right to take those phones unless there's a reason and a DUI is NO reason to take a cell phone much less violate the privacy of the phone's owner by viewing the contents and 'sharing' them w/ fellow officers. ugh
I think there's a giant misconception that people that take nude photos don't care about privacy. Wrong. They've had their privacy violated. The cop that was scrolling through your phone also passed pictures of your kids in the tub that you sent to your husband, you breastfeeding, that selfie you took in target to see how your butt looks. He could and may well have read your emails or texts, gone through your apps, looked at your browser history. Everyone should be outraged at this! They deserve to be fired.
I'm copying this in case it was overlooked the first time. I want to like it xIcan'tcounthighenough
This is not blaming the victim. At all. I am just curious. I am not at all saying if you have naked pics on your phone they belong to the world. I was just wondering if I should add some more nude selfies to my phone to be cool.
Why do people have all these nude pics everywhere ?
But of course these cops are fucking gross.
And stupid.
They'd find many more female nude photos on the phones of males.
True. But it sounds like the point was to find nudes of the women they were dealing with in person. The internet is chock full of pics of random nude women, why seek out personal pictures unless part of the fun has to do with the real life person in front of them?
I said in my original post that I thought the cops were disgusting. I can't think that people have a right to privacy and also wonder why people have something on their phone? I still think the cops were wrong to look there at all. I can't wonder something? Without it being a blame thing ?
So if the cops had stolen pictures of people's kids and were doing the same thing with them you'd wonder why "all these people have pictures of their kids everywhere?"
It just seems real ^o) that you don't understand why some people have naked pictures on their phone.
To answer your question since you're acting brand new saying you don't know why people have naked pictures, they're usually used as flirting or foreplay to send to someone that they're having sex with, dating, or interested in.
I said in my original post that I thought the cops were disgusting. I can't think that people have a right to privacy and also wonder why people have something on their phone? I still think the cops were wrong to look there at all. I can't wonder something? Without it being a blame thing ?
So if the cops had stolen pictures of people's kids and were doing the same thing with them you'd wonder why "all these people have pictures of their kids everywhere?"
It just seems real that you don't understand why some people have naked pictures on their phone.
To answer your question since you're acting brand new saying you don't know why people have naked pictures, they're usually used as flirting or foreplay to send to someone that they're having sex with, dating, or interested in.
Generally speaking, I enjoy the phrase "acting brand new" so much that I like the post in which it is used.
"Not gonna lie; I kind of keep expecting you to post one day that you threw down on someone who clearly had no idea that today was NOT THEIR DAY." ~dontcallmeshirley