The culprit is a Playboy model in her 20s, blessed with good looks and fake breasts and popular on social media.
The victim is a woman in her 70s, cursed with old age and sagging breasts who never expected her naked photo to go viral on social media.
But Playboy model Dani Mathers thought it would be funny to photograph the woman as she showered inside an L.A. Fitness locker room back in July, posting the photo on Snapchat with the caption, “If I can’t unsee this then you can’t either.”
Now Mathers may face criminal charges.
After all, photography is a crime when the person being photographed has an expectation of privacy.
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According to TMZ:
The LAPD has finally tracked down the woman Playboy Playmate Dani Mathers body shamed and they’ll ask prosecutors to nail her.
We’ve learned the woman — in her 70’s — wants Mathers to feel the full force of the law for taking a pic of her while she was changing clothes in the locker room of an LA Fitness. The woman is more than willing to testify and cooperate in any way she can to bring Mathers to justice.
As for the likely charge … we’re told it’s Dissemination of Private Images, a misdemeanor punishable by 6 months in jail. The L.A. City Attorney is reviewing the case and will make a decision soon.
After she was met with scorn and indignation on the internet, Mathers deleted the image and posted a video to her 75,000 followers, claiming that she never intended to post the photo publicly, that she was only having a blonde moment.
She claimed it was part of a private conversation with a close friend that accidentally went public.
She insisted that she was not as shallow and mean-spirited as she came across by posting that photo. Or that she at least tries to keep that part of herself to her close friends and family.
But the backlash against the real-life Barbie resulted in a lifetime ban from L.A. Fitness as well as a suspension from her radio gig at KLOS 95.5 where she was part of the “Heidi and Frank” show.
It was a hard fall for the native Californian who was named 2015 Playmate of the Year, which came with $100,000 in cash and a year lease to a mini Cooper convertible.
And it only got worse when the Los Angeles Police Department announced it was searching for the woman in the photo as part of an investigation into Mathers.
While posting a photo of a person who has an expectation of privacy is generally a civil matter, it became a criminal matter in 2014 when California amended is disorderly conduct law to include the following:
Existing law provides that any person who photographs or records by any means the image of the intimate body part or parts of another identifiable person, under circumstances where the parties agree or understand that the image shall remain private, and the person subsequently distributes the image taken, with the intent to cause serious emotional distress, and the depicted person suffers serious emotional distress, is guilty of disorderly conduct.
This bill would instead provide that a person who intentionally distributes an image, as described, of the intimate body part or parts, as defined, of another identifiable person, or an image of the person depicted engaging in specified sexual acts, under circumstances in which the persons agree or understand that the image remain private, the person distributing the image knows or should know that distribution of the image will cause serious emotional distress, and the person depicted suffers that distress, is guilty of disorderly conduct. The bill would also provide that it is not a violation of this provision to distribute the image under certain circumstances, including where the distribution is made in the course of reporting an unlawful activity. The bill makes other technical and clarifying changes.
If convicted, Mathers faces a maximum of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
However, California’s civil law also makes it clear that Mathers violated the woman’s right to privacy, so that could turn out to be much more costly. Especially considering a Florida jury awarded Hulk Hogan $140 million after Gawker posted a video of him having sex with his friend’s wife.
A victim in California of the unwanted publication of intimate images online can bring a cause of action based on the California constitutional right of privacy. The plaintiff in such a case would have a privacy interest in preventing the dissemination of private, intimate images. To win his/her case, a plaintiff must prove three things: (1) that s/he had a reasonable expectation that her intimate images would not be disseminated publicly; (2) that his/her privacy interest is one that society recognizes; and (3) that dissemination of the images is considered to be an “egregious breach of social norms.”3 A defendant can defeat a California constitutional privacy claim if s/he shows that s/he had an important, legitimate interest in dissemination. For victims where dissemination is likely done with the intent to harass, it is unlikely that a defendant will meet this burden because a defendant must prove that his/her conduct serves a legitimate purpose beyond merely harassing the plaintiff. One California case suggests that individuals forfeit their right to privacy in photographs when they post those photographs online, even if such posting is subject to privacy controls that would typically limit access to a small number of individuals.4
But Mathers, 29, has lawyered up with Tom Mesereau, who successfully defended singer Michael Jackson against child molestation charges in 2005.
“Dani Mathers never tried to hurt anyone at any time and certainly never tried to break the law,” Mesereau told the Wrap.
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