A Los Angeles Police Captain has sued the city of Los Angeles and the head of the LAPD's Professional Standards Bureau alleging sexual harassment after she said the department failed to take immediate action to stop distribution of a nude photo purporting to the her but was not, according to civil lawsuit obtained by NBC News.
In the 11-page lawsuit filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Captain Lillian Carranza, the plaintiff, first became aware in November of 2018 that a photograph of a nude woman falsely identified as the plaintiff was being passed around by LAPD employees.
The lawsuit, which also alleges physical, mental and emotional injuries, along with humiliation and damage to reputation, does not specify damages sought.
"Plaintiff was shocked and deeply humiliated to learn that a nude, sexually explicit photograph of a woman falsely identified as Plaintiff was circulating amongst LAPD employees," the suit said.
She later learned learned that the photograph in question has been widely shared and reproduced through electronic or other means by on-duty LAPD employees, including but not limited to officers, sergeants, detectives, and lieutenants, while making derogatory comments about her," the suit alleges.
This was in addition to other sexually explicit photographs purportedly depicting another female LAPD employee, later linked to a female detective who sought a restraining order against her former boyfriend.
The suit says the pictures of this other LAPD employee were circulated together with the aforementioned nude picture falsely claimed to be of the plaintiff. The suit says the department failed to take steps to protect her from ongoing harassment, send out any communications condemning the dissemination of the photos or threatening discipline against employees that took part in doing so.
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"The Department did not take any steps to establish or make clear that the female depicted in the photograph being circulated as Plaintiff was not in fact her. Nor did the Department implement any other measures to protect Plaintiff from the ongoing harassment she experienced," the suit said.
"LAPD command staff inquired from Plaintiff as to her well-being or what steps the Department could take to support her. No Department employee even bothered to meet in person with Plaintiff regarding this matter."
