Cop Showed Off Her Pics at the Worst Time: Report

Officer Miguel Deras revealed student's nude photos: report
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 5, 2020 4:50 PM CDT
Cop Showed Off Her Pics at the Worst Time: Report
In this Nov. 10, 2018, file photo, a photograph of University of Utah student and track athlete Lauren McCluskey, who was fatally shot on campus, is projected on the video board before the start of an NCAA college football game between Oregon and Utah in Salt Lake City.   (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

Looks like a cop really did show off Lauren McCluskey's explicit photos to male co-workers—including on the night she was killed, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. A report released Wednesday finds that Miguel Deras, the University of Utah police officer in charge of her sexual-extortion case, needlessly showed her photos to at least three male colleagues and said he can "look at them whenever he wants." Per the Utah Department of Public Safety report—which echoes earlier findings by the university—officers made crass remarks and said Deras was "lucky" to get the case of a "cute girl." On Oct. 22, 2018, the night of McCluskey's murder, Deras showed one of the pics to a sergeant who said, "I wonder what she looked like."

But investigators found no evidence of Deras sharing the photos or downloading them to his personal phone, despite an earlier Tribune report to the contrary. He did, however, open the images on his phone via his work email at least four times. "It is inexcusable for any law enforcement officer to discuss photos or information provided by a victim outside of clear and legitimate law enforcement reasons," says Police Chief Rodney Chatman, per KUTV. The university says it is "pursuing action" against the officers involved, but the fate of Deras—who has relocated to another station—remains unclear. McCluskey, 21, was shot dead by an ex-boyfriend who had been blackmailing her. He then committed suicide. (More sexual exploitation stories.)

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