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A former California Highway Patrol officer who forwarded nude photos of arrested women to himself and other officers was sentenced Tuesday to three years of probation, according to a Contra Costa County prosecutor.
Sean Harrington, 35, who formerly worked out of the Dublin-area CHP office, pleaded no contest to two counts of unauthorized access to a computer and copying computer data Tuesday morning and was sentenced to the probation and a suspended 180-day jail sentence, prosecutor Barry Grove said.
One of the conditions of his probation is attending a community violence solutions class where he must participate as a speaker, Grove said. If Harrington violates his probation, he would have to serve the jail sentence, the prosecutor added.
“You had a person who was in a position of public trust, we as the public gave him a certain amount of power,” Grove said. “He violated that public trust, he abused his power, and now no longer forevermore is allowed to be a police officer. He will be a convicted felon for the rest of his life.”
Harrington’s attorney Michael Rains said Tuesday he thinks Harrington received a harsher sentence than anyone who wasn’t a law enforcement officer would have, despite potentially facing prison time for the felony charges.
“I think if this would have been a case where it was not a police officer but some other citizen who didn’t have a criminal record, it would have been a misdemeanor case,” Rains said.
He said because of Harrington’s position of authority, prosecutors insisted on felony charges.
Rains said he thinks Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Terri Mockler recognized Harrington took steps to take responsibility for his actions, including swiftly resigning once criminal charges were filed rather than forcing the CHP to take lengthy steps to terminate him.
The judge “wanted him to benefit from education that simply putting him in jail or making him wear an electronic bracelet never would have given him,” Rains said. “I think the judge was thoughtful in the sentence she imposed, and I ultimately appreciate it as his lawyer.”
Harrington was charged with stealing nude photos from the cellphones of two arrested women, but prosecutors said he admitted during interviews of stealing photos four to six times during the last few years.
He surrendered on Nov. 3 of last year after a 23-year-old San Ramon woman reported that about six nude and semi-nude photos had been secretly sent from her phone to an unknown number traced to Harrington.
Investigators obtained search warrants for Harrington and found he had forwarded the photos to himself while the woman was in jail for a DUI arrest in San Ramon.
Investigators also found he had stolen photos from the phone of a 19-year-old DUI suspect arrested in Livermore on Aug. 6 while she was in the hospital.
The DUI charges against both women have since been dropped.
Prosecutors also obtained evidence that Harrington had forwarded the photos to two officers in the CHP’s Dublin area office. Neither of the two officers implicated, Robert Hazelwood and Dion Simmons, are facing charges in the case.
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WHY were the DUI charges dropped against both women?
Were they drunk and DUI…..or not!?!
I think the women did right to make complaint against the policeman about the photos, but why does that absolve them from their own guilt in DUI?
Where are the facts that their cases?
Where is outrage from MAD? (Is it because they are women that they are given a pass?)
I may not always agree with you PSM, but if I recall the 19 year old who initially made the discovery (regarding the nabbed photos) had a very high blood alcohol content. Like double or triple the legal driving limit. It is outrageous that she was let off. I don’t know the particulars of the other woman’s arrest, but stealing photos has nothing to do with the reason they were pulled over. This sends the message that they are free to drive $#!+faced once again on our highways.
I agree. If we can get this kind of agreement bridging the spectrum ‘twixt PSM and Derek, then I think the local prosecutor has some serious ‘splainin’ to do.
How ’bout it, reporters?
I wonder what would happen to anyone else that did the same thing? Probation? It seems it should be deemed even more serious since it was done be a supposedly trustworthy CHP officer. Too many cops getting off for what appear to be serious crimes.