I got caught in a sting and they forced me to take photos nude. My case worked in my favor, but I'm still very irritated that those photos are out there. Are they allowed to do that?? And are they allowed to KEEP them??? And is there anyway I can get that arrest expunged?? When I pursue a different career when I'm done with school I of course do not want that on my record, even as an arrest.

There are so many particulars to this that only someone very familiar with the laws in your jurisdiction can even begin to take a stab at all these issues.

(still not a lawyer)

When you were caught in the sting did you have an attorney?

If you had an attorney did you tell him/her that you were 'forced ... to take photos nude.'

There is no way that forcing someone to take nude photos is legal.  There is still a record kept of 'expunged' records.  There is no way everything is erased.

I would take the questions up with an attorney in your area.

acquitted, many states do have expungement procedures for both arrest records and court records, though not investigative files. If you search this board for "expungement" back a year or so you will find a wealth of discussion about the California procedure.

If you pled or were convicted, that's another story.


If they forced you to take photos nude, unless there was some genuine LE reason for this, I would be thinking "civil lawsuit."

If you had an attorney, he/she would have advised you on the matter of the police taking nude photographs. If somehow there was no attorney representing you in the resolution of your case then you need to consult with an attorney ASAP.  

Also could you explain what you meant when you said they took nude photos. Did you mean LE seized nude photos of you that were in your possession? Did LE actually take nude photos of you? Where were these photos taken, e.g. a motel, your residence, a police facility, etc.? How many photos were taken and did they order you to disrobe, and in what poses were you in when they took the photos.  All this information is necessary in order to assess the photo incident.

-- Modified on 7/25/2009 11:50:33 AM

what county & state Ashley?

Were you forced to stand against the wall to take the nude picture ?

Or were you already nude & they barged into room & you were nude & they snapped picture was it a poloroid?

Were the nude pictures entered into evidence and mentioned in the LE report?

It was in L.A. county. I always keep my clothes and purse on top of eachother right next to me and when they came in they took them and forced me in the bathroom and made me stand against the wall naked. And took pics of me. I tried covering my face and they forced my hands down.

It was in a hotel room (his outcall location). I do nude massage and I always keep my stuff either on the end of the bed or RIGHT next to me when I do it. After they came in they took my clothes and purse so I couldnt get to it and they forced me against the wall in the bathroom and made me take pics. They took about 5 or 6 pics, 1 of them they made me take with my clothes on. And I was surrounded by them they were tellin me to shut up and they were calling me names and crap. I didn't have an attorney I had a public defender. They did not mention the photos in the police report and they did not even have it as evidence at first but tried to use them at last minute when it went to trial. But my pd made it where they weren't allowed to use them since they never mentioned them in the beginning. She wasn't very helpful about the photos. I was aquitted but I'm still upset about the arrest of course so I guess it's not completely in my favor. The whole thing was just stupid.

Oh, and it wasn't a polaroid it was with a DIGITAL camera. That's why I'm irritated. I don't want them KEEPNG nude pics of me anyone can sieze or steal that camera and do who knows what. It just bothers me.

nude picture,

What does that prove?

Can you imagine how uncomfortable the DA, Judge, Jury would be passing around a nude picture of the accused lady taken by LE...
That is Soooooo creepy & inappropriate.

Clearly It was for humiliation purposes only. This is outrageous.

So sorry Ashley, thank goodness you were found NOT guilty.

The fact that you were up against the wall,
5-6 pictures which were not mentioned on LE's report  and the tacky comments are  consistent to a neighboring county (OC) nitemare/experience.

You can check the County PD office for a new leaf project or clean slate program to expunge the arrest records.

or you can hire a private attorney.

I would highly recommend you follow up ASAP, to lesson the possibility of your "arrest info" being sold to internet databases.

Despite LE"s crass & heinous behavior, my guess is they have moved on & will do the same mean thing to another poor women.

The good news you will most likely not have to worry about those nude pictures anymore.

I personally would find the arrest records & mugshot much more humiliating than a nude picture of a pretty lady.

I was crying so it wasn't that pretty Thanks for your help cathyb. I heard about oc too. I've been kind of sluggish lately due to all this I'm very paranoid.

If this happened in Los Angeles County and it happened the way you said it happened, you have a good case for a civil lawsuit.  Police photograph crime scenes; the take mug shots for booking photographs and they photograph items for evidence including areas of the body to memorialize bruises and injuries so there will be a piece of visible evidence long after the visible injuries and bruises have healed.  They also photograph the bodies of murder/manslaughter victims to record visible injuries, especially injuries that might be the proximate cause of death.  

However, what you described doesn't fall into any of those categories.  It sounds like they might have photographed you without a legitimate reason and might have violated the law in doing so.  If you were nude when the police arrested you they really don't need a photograph of you nude to prove you were nude.  All they have to do is testify in court that you were nude when you were arrested.  

The best course of action for you would be to discuss this incident with an attorney who specializes in police abuse lawsuits.  If the attorney opines you might have a cause of action, the attorney will usually advise you to initiate a complaint against the arresting officers with the concerned police department. Police Departments in California are required by law to investigate allegations of misconduct against their sworn personnel.  Most police departments conduct very thorough investigations when it comes to personnel complaints.  The completed investigation is discoverable by a plaintiff in a civil lawsuit.  

The plaintiff's attorney uses the personnel complaint investigation rather than hiring a private investigator. There are some outstanding private investigators but they don't have access to the same information that police department investigators do. Police departments can and do compel their officers to cooperate with their investigators.  They are ordered to be interviewed and those interviews are recorded and in some cases transcribed.  A private investigator does not have to authority to order a police officer to be interviewed.  That is just one example of why an internal affairs investigation is the best piece of evidence the plaintiff can have other than direct evidence or an actual non police witness.  Police officers can be compelled to testify in a deposition but that comes later.  

Juries in civil rights cases involving police abuse are usually sympathetic to the plaintiff.  Most people support the police but don't have much tolerance when the police break the law, especially when they inflict personal injury on a citizen.

If you don't know any good civil rights attorneys, you can Google "Civil Rights Attorneys in California."  Read as much information you can get on attorneys who specialize in these types of cases and choose about five or six.  I say about five or six because you might have to call several before you find one who can handle your case.  A good attorney won't take on more cases than he/she can handle properly. Civil rights lawsuits are handled on a contingency basis so you won't have to pay the attorney up front.  He/she will take about a third of the settlement or 40% if it goes to trial.  If the case is filed in federal court the defendant, which would be the concerned municipal governement, is required to pay the attorney's fees on top of your settlement.  Of course, all this is if you win or reach a settlement without going to court.  

Good luck on your quest for justice.

Balboa gave helpful advice, hence, I would not waste any time .

In California. there is a very short statute of limitations on civil cases against public entities.
It may be as short as 6 months.

Years ago, when I was fighting my illegal arrest including nude pics against the wall not entered into evidence( old post).
I filed a civil claim 1 week before the statute of limitations ,but had to drop because the DA was being harder on me & my crim case was drug out for so long, at that point my priority was to clear my name.  You are in a much better position by having that behind you.  The fact you were  found NOT guilty will work in your favor.

There was a case of a Trans gender women in San Fransisco that had a long criminal record . LE strip searched & humiliated her ,She won an award of $750,000.

Good luck to you Ashley

Ok. Balboa thanks so much for all the info I really appreciate it.

Thanks for your help cathy

Some good news, It sounds like you would qualify for the absolute best expungement allowed by law.

Which basically rewrites history & it would be like that horrible day never happened.
However, there are strict time constraints . I believe  A private attorney is best & worth the money to handle it. I doubt you would have to appear in court.

Although unfair even a NOT guilty can haunt you.  You want this to go away 100% & fast. Before anymore nasty internet data bases get the info & it spreads.

Very important to get going on the expungement to clean up any mess left over and protect your name & future

As far as civil, you may very well have a case.  That is a very personal choice. You will have to find a specialist attorney to handle , Then determine if you want to pursue.

best of everything Ashley

ashley, report this to the FBI right away , they love cases like this , it is Illeagal under the color of law in the fedrael stautes. the will nail them to the wall, the hate the locals away.do that 1st , then get a lawyer, I never get a lawyer in these cases, I go right to the feds. oh and they don,t care about your work, I know becuse this happened to me . The fbi has a fairly good rep on civil rights Issues.

Discuss your case with an attorney who specializes in police abuse lawsuits before you file a complaint against the police. Your attorney will prepare you for the interview and be with you when you are interviewed by the investigator.  

As I mentioned earlier, the investigation conducted by the police department is discoverable by the plaintiff and that investigation is the best tool you could possibly have in pursuing a lawsuit. The fee for a good private investigator is about $125.00 an hour and a PI won't be able to interview the officers. The officers are required to cooperate with their own department's investigators but they are not required to cooperate with the FBI. They simply won't be interviewed by the FBI period.  Without the officer's interviews the investigation has little value. Also, the investigation the FBI conducts in not discoverable because the FBI is a federal agency and not bound by state law with regards to discovery in a civil lawsuit if the FBI is not a party to the lawsuit.

If the police agency that arrested you was LAPD that poses another problem with regards to the FBI. The FBI loses more agents to the LAPD than all other law enforcement agencies combined because of the difference in salary and benefits. Going from the FBI to LAPD is about a 20%-30% raise. If one of the officers in question was a former FBI agent, then there is the possibility the FBI agent who handles your complaint might not want to be too "intrusive." I am not personally aware of the FBI compromising an investigation because of personal reasons but anything is possible.

If the FBI feels photographing you was not a criminal violation of your civil rights then they won't investigate your complaint.  The FBI investigation could drag on longer than the statue of limitation for filing a lawsuit and you would end up losing the opportunity to sue the police.  You can't sue the FBI for malpractice for dragging their feet on an investigation.

Generally the FBI pays more than most law enforcement agencies through out the country.  California is the exception.  A patrol officer in San Francisco has a base pay of $100,000.00 a year plus overtime.  That is about $20,000.00 a year more than the agent in charge of the FBI's San Francisco field office. The same is true for LAPD, LA County Sheriff's Department and most of the other police departments in Southern California.  

When I worked for a criminal defense law firm in Ventura California we always advised our clients to file a personal complaint with the officer's department. We also referred them to attorneys who specialize in police abuse law suits.  

Again, good luck on your quest for justice.

-- Modified on 7/27/2009 9:00:36 PM

Discuss your case with an attorney who specializes in police abuse lawsuits before you file a complaint against the police. Your attorney will prepare you for the interview and be with you when you are interviewed by the investigator.  

As I mentioned earlier, the investigation conducted by the police department is discoverable by the plaintiff and that investigation is the best tool you could possibly have in pursuing a lawsuit. The fee for a good private investigator is about $125.00 an hour and a PI won't be able to interview the officers. The officers are required to cooperate with their own department's investigators but they are not required to cooperate with the FBI. They simply won't be interviewed by the FBI period.  Without the officer's interviews the investigation has little value. Also, the investigation the FBI conducts in not discoverable because the FBI is a federal agency and not bound by state law with regards to discovery in a civil lawsuit if the FBI is not a party to the lawsuit.

If the police agency that arrested you was LAPD that poses another problem with regards to the FBI. The FBI loses more agents to the LAPD than all other law enforcement agencies combined because of the difference in salary and benefits. Going from the FBI to LAPD is about a 20%-30% raise. If one of the officers in question was a former FBI agent, then there is the possibility the FBI agent who handles your complaint might not want to be too "intrusive." I am not personally aware of the FBI compromising an investigation because of personal reasons but anything is possible.

If the FBI feels photographing you was not a criminal violation of your civil rights then they won't investigate your complaint.  The FBI investigation could drag on longer than the statue of limitation for filing a lawsuit and you would end up losing the opportunity to sue the police.  You can't sue the FBI for malpractice for dragging their feet on an investigation.

Generally the FBI pays more than most law enforcement agencies through out the country.  California is the exception.  A patrol officer in San Francisco has a base pay of $100,000.00 a year plus overtime.  That is about $20,000.00 a year more than the agent in charge of the FBI's San Francisco field office. The same is true for LAPD, LA County Sheriff's Department and most of the other police departments in Southern California.  

When I worked for a criminal defense law firm in Ventura California we always advised our clients to file a personal complaint with the officer's department. We also referred them to attorneys who specialize in police abuse law suits.  

Again, good luck on your quest for justice.

Ashley,
you might be confused by now,

so in a nutshell:

#1 expungment (should be rather routine)
#2 consult with civil rights attorney (w/experience suing PD)

Please don't waste time on these issues;

Please keep in mind, civil cases can become quite nasty and you must get your ducks in a row, if you do something without the direction of an attorney it could blow the case or be somehow be used against you.

Ashley,

Best to find a "local expungement attorney" That you can meet in person

They have a way of zipping through without any complications & will save you much time,cost & stress.


Warning of "online record clearing & expungments sites" many are SCAMS.

good luck to you