Investigation

Los Angeles Police Officer in Revenge Porn Case Charged With Extortion, Domestic Violence

Danny Reedy, a Los Angeles police officer, was accused of revenge porn against his former girlfriend, who is also a LAPD officer

Matt Halla

Prosecutors have filed extortion, domestic violence, and several other charges against a former LAPD officer — who was accused of sexually assaulting and attempting to extort his one-time girlfriend, herself an LAPD detective and the wife of former LAPD assistant chief Jorge Villegas.

Danny Reedy, who has not been arrested, was named in a criminal complaint filed for warrant Monday in LA Superior Court.

Reedy and the LAPD were also sued by the former girlfriend, Ysabel Villegas, who held a news conference last year and claimed that the department had failed to intervene and stop the alleged harassment — or adequately investigate her complaints.

According to court records Villegas ended a multiyear relationship with Reedy in August 2018 after she alleges she'd endured physical and emotional abuse. Reedy, she claimed, had repeatedly threatened to distribute images that showed the female detective in extremely intimate moments.

Villegas said her colleagues began notifying her in recent months they had seen the images and watched as other officers exchanged them.

"He released intimate photos of me," Villegas said in a statement attached to an application for a restraining order. "He was extorting and harassing me, and then released the photos in November because I broke up with him in August. It was revenge to ruin my reputation and embarrass me in front of our peers."

"This is just so utterly disrespectful and demeaning to her, as it would be to anyone," the detective's attorney Lisa Bloom told NBC4 last year. "This is really an appalling case that has repercussions not only for Mr. Reedy but for the department itself."

In a sworn affidavit Villegas also accused Reedy of showing up at her home and threatening her husband. Reedy, she said, once threatened to send the intimate photos directly to her son. Images that the female detective said were captured from text-message exchanges between her and Reedy were also filed with the court.

"You finally crossed the line," one screen image showed. "Now face the consequences."

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