Published 6:18 pm, Friday, October 24, 2014
California Highway Patrol officers have been sharing explicit photos of female suspects for years as part of a 'game,' an officer implicated in the scandal told investigators, court records show.
CHP Officer Sean Harrington, 35, of Martinez, acknowledged to Contra Costa County prosecutors that he had forwarded photos from the cell phone of a woman he had arrested in a DUI case, sent them to his own phone and had shared them with at least two other CHP officers, according to a search warrant filed in Superior Court.
Harrington said he had done the same thing to at least six other female arrestees in the past several years, authorities said. After taking arrestees' photos, officers would share pictures with one another and exchange comments about each woman's looks, Harrington told district attorney inspectors. Harrington said he first learned of the practice while working for the CHP in Los Angeles, investigators said.
'Harrington described this scheme as a game,' Darryl Holcombe, a senior inspector wrote in a search warrant affidavit.
One alleged victim was a 19-year-old woman, identified in court records only as Jane Doe 2, who had been involved in a DUI crash in Livermore on Aug. 7. The woman had two photos of her in a bikini taken from her phone as she was undergoing X-rays after being in a crash, investigators said.
'Taken from the phone of my 10-15x while she's in X-rays,' Harrington allegedly texted fellow Dublin CHP Officer Robert Hazelwood. In police parlance, '10-15x' refers to a female arrestee. Hazelwood in turn responded, 'No f- nudes?' the affidavit says.
Holcombe wrote in the affidavit that he believed Harrington, Hazelwood and others unlawfully accessed a computer system and stole computer data. Prosecutors are to decide next week whether anyone will face criminal charges.
Harrington has not responded to a request for comment. A woman who answered Hazelwood's phone Friday said he would not discuss the case.
The case originated from the Aug. 29 arrest of a 23-year-old woman in a San Ramon DUI case. After being released from jail, the woman, identified in court papers only as Jane Doe 1, realized from using her iPad that six photos of her in various stages of undress had been forwarded from her iPhone while she was in custody, investigators said.
Harrington also exchanged text messages with Hazelwood less than a half-hour after Harrington allegedly stole six photos from a woman identified as Jane Doe 1, the affidavit says.
'Nudes are always better with the face,' Hazelwood allegedly wrote. Harrington responded with a crude comment about her face, and Hazelwood allegedly wrote, 'Let's see the dl,' referring to the woman's driver's license photo.
Harrington then responded, 'When we get back to the office. And we'll have the MDF mug shot, too,' court records said. Harrington is referring to the Martinez Detention Facility where he had taken Jane Doe 1.
Hazelwood commented that Jane Doe's 'body is rocking though,' authorities said.
Prosecutors opted not to charge the woman in her DUI case because of Harrington's alleged conduct, court records show.
Harrington has had his peace officer powers revoked and is on desk duty, authorities said. CHP Sgt. Diana McDermott said she did not know of any other Bay Area CHP officers who had been similarly removed from patrol duty.
Jane Doe 1's attorney Rick Madsen said Friday, 'This is the worst-case scenario come true.' He said of his client's photos, 'Once they're out there, they're out there for good. The trauma that has been inflicted by these officers could be lifelong. It's almost akin to a chronic disease - you don't know when it's going to manifest itself again and take over your life again, and so the anxiety that's associated with it is incalculable.'
This isn't the first time that the CHP has been embroiled in controversy over photos, although in a much different context.
In Orange County, grisly photos of an 18-year-old woman who died in 2006 while crashing her father's Porsche were leaked by CHP dispatchers and ended up online. Her family settled a lawsuit against the CHP for $2.4 million.
Henry K. Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @henryklee
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