US Mayor Charged With 50 Counts Of Revenge Porn After Allegedly Posting Nude Pictures Of Ex-Girlfriend On Reddit

The mayor of a small town in US' Maryland has been charged with distributing revenge porn after allegedly posting dozens of his ex-girlfriend's nude photos on Reddit without her consent.

Andrew Bradshaw, the mayor of Cambridge, was charged with 50 counts of distributing ¡°revenge porn", according to the state prosecutor's office.

Facebook/Mayor Andrew Bradshaw

The charging documents allege that Bradshaw posted pictures with racist captions on subreddits related to ¡°humiliation, degradation, race, and other topics,¡± such as ¡°DegradeThisPig,¡± ¡°DegradedCaptions,¡± and ¡°needysluts.¡±

The images of the woman, referred to as VICTIM-1 in the criminal complaint, were distributed without her consent, the documents stated per The Washington Post.

Facebook/Mayor Andrew Bradshaw

¡°VICTIM-1 advised that she transmitted the posted photographs only to one other person, Andrew Bradshaw, that the photographs were sent when she and Bradshaw were in an intimate relationship, and that she not provide Bradshaw with consent to re-distribute the photographs,¡± said the complaint, filed in Dorchester County circuit court.

Bradshaw was arrested Monday and made an initial appearance in court, where he was released on his own recognizance.

¡°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 make such a violation even more egregious,¡± State Prosecutor Charlton T. Howard III said in the statement. ¡°Our office is committed to protecting victims from those who abuse their positions of power and trust.¡±

Facebook/Mayor Andrew Bradshaw

If found guilty of the charges, Andrew Bradshaw could face up to two years in jail and fines up to $5,000 for each count, NBC News reported.

Maryland¡¯s revenge porn law prohibits the nonconsensual distribution of a private visual representation of another person that exposes the person's intimate body or displays the person engaged in sexual activity with the intent to harm, harass, intimidate, threaten or coerce the person, the statement said.

Bradshaw posted on subreddit forums on Reddit that were related to sexual activity, humiliation, degradation, race and other topics, prosecutors said. The criminal complaint said each subreddit has its own page, where users can share content by publishing stories, links and posts.

The images were posted in April and May, the criminal complaint alleges.

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