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Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Cops Posted Woman's Nude Photos
By Vic Vela
Journal Northern Bureau
SANTA FE — Nude photographs of an alleged domestic violence victim were taken from the woman's home four years ago by Santa Fe police and displayed inside police headquarters for their own "sexual gratification," according to attorneys for the woman.
The 28-year-old woman reported to police in 2006 that her husband had beaten her after she found what she believed to be child pornography on a computer at the couple's home, according to a tort claim notice filed against the city in 2008 by Santa Fe attorneys Mark Donatelli and John Day.
After the husband was arrested, police confiscated computers, as well as nude photos of the woman that did not depict child porn. Several months later, the woman was told that police were "publicly displaying nude photos of her around the department premises in a lewd and lascivious manner for the officers' own sexual gratification," according to the document.
"If you're a woman who is a crime victim, you ought to be concerned," Day told the Journal on Monday. "Women who are crime victims shouldn't have to be revictimized by the lewd displays of their personal photos."
Police Chief Aric Wheeler, who was not chief at the time of the alleged police wrongdoing, would not comment on the matter but did say it was under investigation.
Wheeler would not say which officers were allegedly involved.
Day said he will wait to make his next move — possibly a lawsuit — until the internal affairs investigation is complete.
According to the tort claim notice:
The woman confronted her husband over a child porn Web site she came across on the couple's computer while paying bills. They began to argue and the man "began to physically attack and batter her."
When police arrived, the woman told officers about the porn. After they arrested her husband on a domestic violence charge, they obtained a search warrant for computers in the house. Along with the computers, officers confiscated nude pictures of the woman that had been taken by her husband.
The child porn case was handed off to the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office, which found "inconclusive" evidence of child porn.
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