A Utah cop who showed explicit photos of a woman being sexploited by ex days before she was murdered has been fired, The New York Post reports.
University of Utah police officer Miguel Deras kept explicit photos of student Lauren McCluskey, 21, who went to campus police in October 2018 about her ex, Melvin Rowland, who was blackmailing her.
Deras bragged to colleagues about being able to look at the photos “whenever he wants,” and showed the photos to at least three of his male colleagues, according to the Post.
Nine days after McCluskey reported the case, she was shot dead outside an on-campus dormitory by Rowland, who later was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a church.
In a statement issued on Friday, Logan City police chief Gary Jensen said that “Deras’ employment with the Logan City Police Department has ended effective immediately.”
“After a thorough internal review of the recently completed Department of Public Safety investigation… the investigation concluded Deras mishandled sensitive evidence pertaining to the Lauren McCluskey extortion and subsequent homicide case while he was employed with the University of Utah Police Department,” Jensen’s statement read.
“The conclusions drawn in the DPS report are inconsistent with the high expectations and standards placed upon our officers by the community and our department,” Jensen said.
“Our continuing efforts to hold sacred the public’s trust and our duty to serve and protect has resulted in today’s decision,” Jensen concluded.
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