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Former Port Clinton firefighter and EMT asks federal court to order former fire chief to delete ill-gotten intimate photographs

Monday, July 29, 2024

Rebekah Huskey filed a motion for injunctive relief amid the ongoing criminal prosecution of her former boss, former Fire Chief Johnson

Former Port Clinton firefighter and EMT asks federal court to order former fire chief to delete ill-gotten intimate photographs
Former firefighter/EMT Rebekeh Huskey and former Port Clinton fire chief Kent Johnson

Toledo, OH – Former EMT and firefighter Rebekah Huskey asked a federal court today to force her former employer, former Port Clinton Fire Chief Kent Johnson, to delete all copies of her intimate, personal photos she claims Johnson stole from her phone.

Asking the court for a hearing on the photos, Ms. Huskey asked the court to order Johnson to give copies of the photos to his attorneys as part of civil-and-criminal-case discovery and destroy the remainder in his possession, to declare that Johnson wrongfully invaded her privacy, and to ensure Johnson’s compliance with his obligations under the order.

The move is the latest in the ongoing case involving Johnson’s alleged serial sexual assaults and harassment of Ms. Huskey, a former employee he’s known since she was seven. The full details of Huskey’s allegations can be found in her federal civil lawsuit.

In her motion, Ms. Huskey alleges that Johnson stole the photos while pretending to look at Huskey’s I Am Responding app—an app used by first responders—to see if it was working correctly in September 2022. When Johnson ordered Huskey to hand over her phone, she closed all background apps. When Ms. Huskey received her phone back, she alleges, the I Am Responding app was never opened; instead, Ms. Huskey’s photos app was, set to screenshots of crude messages he had sent her.

Earlier this year, the motion alleges, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) agents uncovered that Johnson intruded on and transferred Huskey’s intimate, explicit photos to himself. BCI obtained access to Johnson’s Google Drive (a cloud-based storage system) where Johnson had taken pictures with his own phone of intimate photographs in Ms. Huskey’s camera roll. Huskey identified objects in Johnson’s office shown in the reflection of her phone screen in the pictures, as well as Johnson’s own reflection as he leered at her.

Ms. Huskey was appalled and sickened when BCI agents showed her what they had discovered in Johnson’s Google drive. Ms. Huskey never gave Johnson consent to view, much less transfer her photos and make them accessible to himself. There was no authorization for his use of such photos, which she had taken for her fiancé.

In her motion, Ms. Huskey claims Johnson's alleged theft of her intimate photos

  • violates her constitutional Fourth Amendment rights against warrantless and unreasonable search and seizure by government officials,
  • violates a federal statute (15 U.S.C. § 6851) barring transfer of intimate images,
  • is a wrongful intrusion on her privacy, and
  • is continuing to inflict emotional distress and irreparable harm to her,

all against the public interest.

The motion shows that in June 19, 2024, lead counsel Subodh Chandra emailed Johnson’s counsel, asking them to voluntarily agree to an injunction, transfer the images to Plaintiff’s counsel as part of evidence, and require Johnson to permanently destroy any images in his possession. Chandra had to follow up this request on July 1, 2024, when Johnson through counsel refused.

On July 25, Johnson was criminally indicted by an Ottawa County grand jury on ten counts, including alleged sex crimes, related to alleged his treatment of Huskey. Among the charges related to Johnson’s theft and subsequent refusal to give up photos include unauthorized use of computer, cable, or telecommunications property (Ohio Rev. Code § 2913.04(B)); voyeurism (§ 2907.08); interfering with civil rights (§ 2921.45(A)); and theft (§ 2913.02(A)(1)).

Subodh Chandra, Ms. Huskey’s lead counsel said, “Ms. Huskey is asking the federal court to vindicate her constitutional, federal statutory, and Ohio state-law rights to privacy. She hopes the court will protect her from Kent Johnson having ongoing access to her private images. His refusal to agree to this is deeply troubling and only heightens her fears and humiliation.”

"We have asked the City of Port Clinton to join in this motion, since Johnson allegedly claimed to BCI he seized Ms. Huskey's photos legitimately as fire chief. So far, we have not heard 'yes.'"

“And we welcome contact from anyone who has information on this matter.”

The case is captioned Huskey v. City of Port Clinton and Kent Johnson, N.D. Ohio Case No. 3:23-cv-01910. It is assigned to Judge Jeffrey J. Helmick.

Ms. Huskey's motion can be found here.

Chandra Law is experienced obtaining justice for victims of sex/gender discrimination including sexual harassment, employment discrimination, and employment retaliation. We also secure constitutional rights like those at issue here.

And the firm helped pioneer work in holding individuals and companies accountable for civil liability for criminal acts, securing the two leading Supreme Court of Ohio decisions favorable to crime victims on the topic.

If you think that your civil rights have been violated, you may contact us to discuss your options.

At Chandra Law, your case is our cause.®

Related Practice Areas
Constitutional LawEmployment DiscriminationEmployment RetaliationSexual HarassmentSex/gender Discrimination
Tags
injunctive-reliefinjunctioncarl-koebelkent-johnsoncity-of-port-clintonport-clintonrebekah-huskeysection-1983

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