Police leak Rihanna photo to TMZ, but get off the hook?
LEAKING pictures to the press is, obviously, very common indeed. If you get them by hacking an email, you’ll get thrown in prison. But what happens if you’re two police officers? Well, there’s a whole issue of betrayal of trust, misusing a position of power and, generally speaking, acting immorally when you’re supposed to be a moral guardian.
Well, the two cops who allegedly leaked the photo of Rihanna after she was assaulted by Chris Brown will not face criminal charges, officials have said.
Apparently, prosecutors didn’t have enough evidence to show that TMZ paid the accused officers for the image which leaves Rihanna’s lawyer wondering whether the singer will pursue any further legal action or not. Regardless of the outcome, it does leave rather a sour taste in the mouth.
That said, officers Blanca Lopez and Rebecca Reyes are due to appear before disciplinary panels and could well lose their jobs… But we know how the police work. They’ll probably get demoted and hope that everyone forgets about it. Which they will.
An internal report, obtained by the LA Times, showed the LA County District Attorney alleged the image was leaked after a stack of photos of the singer’s injuries was left lying on a desk at the Wilshire police station, and Reyes took a picture of one with her phone.
Prosecutors claim that Reyes then emailed the image from her work email address to her personal email address. Phone records also showed Reyes and Lopez (roomies) made multiple phone calls to Fox Television and TMZ. However, the thing that unstuck everything is that there was no money trail linking the leak to them.
In order to prove that the officers broke the law, prosecutors said in the report that they “must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Reyes and Lopez disclosed the image to TMZ and obtained money in exchange for this disclosure. As such, although both Reyes and Lopez’s actions are suspicious, they are insufficient to support a criminal prosecution,” the report stated.
Murky.
Posted: 2nd, July 2012 | In: Celebrities Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
