Utah cop showed off explicit photos of sextortion victim who was later murdered
A Utah cop kept explicit photos of a terrified college track
star who was being sextorted by her ex — and showed them off to a colleague
just days before the young athlete was murdered, according to his force and a
damning report Sunday.
University of Utah student Lauren McCluskey, 21, went to
campus cops in October 2018 because she was so scared of her blackmailer —
twisted ex Melvin Rowland, 37, a registered sex offender — she had already paid
an initial $1,000 demand, the Salt Lake Tribune said.
Officer Miguel Deras then saved the explicit images onto his
personal phone, showing at least one male colleague — and bragging about being
able to ogle them at any time, according to the Tribune’s investigation.
Just nine days after she reported the case, McCluskey was
shot dead by Rowland — who then killed himself the same day.
“The people who were supposed to be helping and protecting
Lauren were actually exploiting her,” the murdered student’s outraged mother,
Jill McCluskey, told the paper.
“I wish that Deras had used his time to arrest the man who
was committing crimes against Lauren.”
McCluskey’s parents had last year already filed a $56
million lawsuit over the police handling of the case. An independent review
found Deras did little to investigate the case even when the victims reported
attempts to lure her out of her dorm, the paper said.
“This latest revelation makes me wonder when we’ll hit
bottom,” her father, Matt McCluskey, told the Tribune.
One of Deras’ colleagues confirmed to campus police that
Deras had shown him an image, the force admitted to the Tribune, which said it
also spoke to another officer who had overheard the initial conversations.
Deras — who later resigned and now works for Logan police,
85 miles away — did not respond to several requests for comment, the paper
said.
While confirming the claim, university police insisted it
was not reported at the time — and only came to light when the Tribune started
making requests for records.
“He was long gone before we had any inkling that that
incident with the photo being shown had occurred,” Lt. Jason Hinojosa told the
paper.
The officer who saw the image was not disciplined because he
had not asked to see it, Hinojosa said. Data later downloaded from Deras’ phone
was either corrupted or from after the McCluskey investigation, the paper said.
Maj. Scott Stephenson, who oversees all police training in
the state under the Utah Department of Public Safety, said it could be grounds
for action against Deras’ police certification.
“It’s very alarming to me,” Stephenson told the Tribune,
suggesting it might be a “policy violation” for having not been reported
earlier.
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