Female police officers 'who leaked photo of Rihanna after beating by singer boyfriend Chris Brown' will not face criminal charges
- Officers Blanca Lopez and Rebecca Reyes may still lose their jobs
- Reyes allegedly took a picture with her phone of Rihanna's photo which was lying on a desk at Wilshire police department in LA then sent to TMZ
Two female police officers, who allegedly leaked a photo of pop star Rihanna's bruised and battered face after she was assaulted by singer Chris Brown, will not face criminal charges, authorities said today.
A three-year investigation by the LA district attorney's office could not find enough evidence to show celebrity news website TMZ paid the accused officers for the photo.
Officers Blanca Lopez and Rebecca Reyes may still be fired. They are slated to appear before disciplinary panels in August.
Pain: A photo of Rihanna's battered and bruised face after she was attacked by boyfriend Chris Brown was allegedly leaked to celebrity site TMZ by two LAPD officers
Brown, who was Rihanna's boyfriend at the time, was arrested on suspicion of beating the Grammy winner on February 8, 2009, leaving her battered and bruised.
The singer, whose full name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty, canceled her Grammy performance that year after the incident.
Share this article
Brown pleaded guilty to attacking Rihanna and was ordered to serve five years on supervised probation and to complete six months of community service including roadside clean-up, graffiti removal and manual labor.
Prosecutors alleged the picture was leaked after a stack of photographs of Rihanna's injuries was left lying on a desk at the Wilshire police station in Los Angeles and Reyes took a picture of the top photo with her phone.
Volatile: Rihanna was dating singer Chris Brown when he attacked her in February 2009, sparking a national conversation about domestic violence
Prosecutors say Reyes later emailed the image from her LAPD email address to her personal account.
Reyes and Lopez were roommates at the time, and phone records showed that they made multiple phone calls to Fox Television and TMZ in February.
The photo shocked fans and prompted a national conversation about domestic violence after it spread through the media.
But despite a search of Reyes' and Lopez's bank accounts, a money trail was not discovered tying the leak to them, prosecutors said.
Leak: Pictures of Rihanna were taken at Wilshire police department in LA where it is believed they were sent to media outlets
In order to prove the officers broke the law, prosecutors said in the report they 'must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Reyes and Lopez disclosed the image of Robyn F. (Rihanna) to TMZ and obtained money in exchange for this disclosure'.
The prosecutors' report noted that other LAPD personnel had access to the photos.
'As such, although both Reyes and Lopez's actions are suspicious, they are insufficient to support a criminal prosecution,' the report said.
Rihanna's attorney Donald Etra said today he does not know at this time whether the singer wants to pursue any further legal action.
'Apparently this was an internal decision by the district attorney. A victim's privacy should be protected,' Etra said.
Most watched News videos
- Anderson Cooper evacuated live on air after Iranian missile warning
- Moments after a 'lion whisperer' is mauled by one of his big cats
- Phone snatcher loses shoe that police then use to catch him
- Tourist tears hole in 18th century painting while posing for selfie
- Rescue teams battling to save tourist who fell into Indonesia volcano
- JK Rowling hails newsreader who corrected 'pregnant people'
- Eerie video shows 'wedding' between Brit and nine-year-old girl
- Joe Scarborough defends Trump's decision to strike Iran
- Dad saves daughter after she fell into water whilst fishing
- Night vision footage of B-2 stealth jets setting off to bomb Iran
- Brutal arrest of illegal migrant father is caught on camera
- BBC newsreader overrules 'pregnant people' line to say 'women'
