Andrew Bradshaw, the mayor of Cambridge, Maryland, is facing up to $250,000 in fines and 100 years in prison after being arrested and charged with 50 counts of distributing revenge porn.
Court documents filed in the Dorchester County Circuit Court Monday morning, and reviewed by CNN, allege that Bradshaw created multiple accounts on the public internet forum Reddit to post nude photographs of a person he previously had an intimate relationship with, identified in the document as Victim 1.
Bradshaw, a Republican, is alleged to have posted photos of the victim captioned with “racial slurs and sexually explicit language,” according to The New York Times.
The complaint, provided by the state prosecutor’s office, alleges that a victim contacted law enforcement in May and said she saw nude photographs of herself on Reddit, which she said were posted without her consent, according to People Magazine.
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Investigators determined that the Reddit posts were sent from an IP address that provided internet service to Bradshaw’s home, according to charging documents, My Eastern Shore MD reported.
In a news release from the state prosecutor’s office, authorities said the mayor’s alleged conduct violated Maryland’s Revenge Porn Statute, which prohibits “the nonconsensual distribution of a private visual representation of another which exposes their intimate body parts or displays them engaged in sexual activity, with the intent to harm, harass, intimidate, threaten or coerce the person depicted.”
“Using someone’s private images without their consent is a serious breach of trust and invasion of privacy, and the power and breadth of the internet makes such a violation even more egregious,” State Prosecutor Charlton Howard said in a news release. “Our office is committed to protecting victims from those who abuse their positions of power and trust.”
Bradshaw was arrested on Monday and had his first court appearance on the charges. He faces facing up to $250,000 in fines and 100 years in prison, The New York Times reported.
