An Instagram influencer filed a $30 million lawsuit against the New York Police Department for mistakenly putting her picture on a wanted poster.
Eva Lopez, 31, learned of the error as she was getting off a flight from Florida back in August. According to court papers, a friend of her boyfriend’s had texted them.
At first, she thought it was fake, but her boss convinced her to reach out to the East Village’s 9th Precinct. Lopez reached out to Detective Kevin Dwyer, whose number was on the flier. He let her know they were already aware of the mistake.
The poster had been removed from the department’s social media and website, but it had already made the rounds.
The detective told her that her photo was used on the poster after the victim’s family showed it to police related to a robbery committed by an escort. A man had booked a woman online for a date, and she ended up stealing his roommate’s $13,000 Rolex and Chase credit card.
“On Facebook, the [wanted poster] got shared over thousands of times — 10,000, 20,000 times. Then on Instagram a lot of blog sites that have millions of followers, they posted it as well,” Lopez told the New York Post.
The fashion influencer and bartender proclaimed her innocence to her 865,000 Instagram followers, but it didn’t help. The wanted flier had already made the rounds. According to Lopez, her reputation took a significant hit. Her co-workers even began gossiping about her.
“I just really want people to know that’s not me, in any way, shape, or form. The girl has nothing to do with me,” Lopez said. She has never worked as an escort, doesn’t know the victim, and has never been in trouble before.
“The NYPD should commit to more thorough investigations before haphazardly accusing and identifying innocent people of fantastic lies and brazen crimes,” her lawyer, Mark Shirian, said. He believes the escort might have been using photos from Lopez’s IG.
