CULPEPER, Va. -- A couple of Culpeper residents are suing police after nude photographs of one of them were passed around the Culpeper Police Department, the Culpeper Star-Exponent reported.
The suit alleges that the sexually explicit photos of Jessie Casella were found by Sgt. Matt Borders on Nathan Newhard's cell phone while Newhard was in custody on DUI and other misdemeanor charges on March 30, 2008.
In the complaint, Borders is accused of showing the pictures to other officers in the building and using his police radio to invite other officers to come to the building to look at the pictures.
Casella and Newhard are seeking unspecified compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages each. The suit names the Culpeper Police Department, Chief Scott Barlow and Borders, who resigned in December.
The complaints allege "deliberate indifference to the plaintiffs' constitutional rights, violations of their privacy, 'outrageous and shocking' conduct, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and failure of Barlow and the department to adequately train, supervise and discipline officers," the Star-Exponent reported.
After word of the incident spread, according to the plaintiffs, it harmed their careers. Newhard, a Culpeper County Public Schools teacher, claimed he was forced to resign.
No court date has been set.
