LOUISVILLE, Ky. – New court documents provided more details about a former police officer in Louisville, Kentucky, who pleaded guilty to hacking the Snapchat accounts of several women to steal sexually explicit photos.
Bryan Wilson, 36, was able to hack the social media accounts by using technology accessible to him as a Louisville Metro Police officer and even sent the stolen content to one victim’s employer, according to a federal sentencing memorandum filed Tuesday.
Wilson previously pleaded guilty to the cyberstalking charges in June, but details of how he committed the crimes were scant prior to the newly filed document. In it, prosecutors asked for Wilson to receive the lowest end of the sentencing guideline range in exchange for his guilty plea in another federal case in which he violated the civil rights of Louisville pedestrians.
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Between September and October 2020, Wilson was able to obtain information about potential victims by abusing his powers and using the powerful data-combining software, Accurint. He was able to access the software as a law enforcement officer. He would then share the information with a hacker, who would hack into the women’s private Snapchat accounts looking for explicit photos and videos.
If successful in getting explicit materials, Wilson would then threaten the women, saying he would post the photos and videos online and share them with the victim’s friends, family, employer and co-workers unless the victim sent more material to him.
In one exchange, Wilson texted a victim, “I’m curious which picture you’d prefer me to use as the focal point of a collage im making,” the sentencing memorandum stated, adding that the exchange included photos of said collage.
“You cool with me posting em? Im telling you, everyone will LOVE them!” he said in another text.
Then, “I had planned to send your pictures to your parents, brother, grandparents,sisters, friends, facebook, pornhub, employer, etc but I would gladly keep all of this between youand I (and tell you who sent them to me) if you promise to leave me out of the drama and show me a few more pics that way we can both benefit . . .”
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More than the threats, the court document states that Wilson did publish some of the explicit material and sent insulting messages to the victims.
“Wilson caused his victims untold psychological trauma, not only by extorting them and publishing their explicit photographs and videos online, but also by demeaning and insulting them during his text exchanges,” the document states.
In one case, Wilson sent explicit content of a victim to her boss, the document states.
Also in June, Wilson pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the civil rights of Louisville pedestrians through the arbitrary use of force, according to the Department of Justice.
In that case, Wilson and another former officer were found to have thrown drinks from their unmarked squad cars at people in Louisville’s West End.
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Wilson and Curt Flynn, 40, were working as detectives in the Ninth Mobile Division from August 2018 through September 2019 when they threw large beverages, including the container, at civilians who were walking, according to a release from the Department of Justice.
The two – joined by others who were not named in the release – threw the drinks while dressed in LMPD uniforms and driving unmarked police vehicles. When they identified a target, they’d drive their LMPD vehicles closer to the person before throwing the drinks after announcing on the police radio that “someone was thirsty,” or “thirsty fam,” the DOJ release said.
After throwing the beverage, the driver of the LMPD vehicle would flee the scene. On many occasions, people were hit with the beverage, and on at least one occasion a person was knocked down after being hit, according to the DOJ.
The assaults were also recorded either by the detectives or others participating, “sometimes from inside the car from which the beverage was thrown, and sometimes from an LMPD car following closely behind the car from which the beverage was thrown,” the DOJ said.
“Wilson subsequently displayed these videos to other members of the LMPD Ninth Mobile Unit,” according to the DOJ.
The behavior of the officers became public in June 2021, when Shields said the FBI was investigating, calling it “another black eye to the department.”
Jefferson Circuit Judge Jessica Green, who previously served as a councilmember, had said the victims included Black residents who were homeless.
Wilson faces a combined maximum penalty of 15 years in prison in his two cases, while Flynn faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.