Woman Wins $9M Payout After Her Intimate Photos are Posted Online
A woman has been awarded almost $9 million in damages after her friend’s boyfriend stole her nude photos and posted the images online.
On Monday, a U.S. District judge found 33-year-old Tyler J. Jones liable for violating federal and state laws prohibiting the nonconsensual distribution of intimate images, as well as for intentional infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy. The judge awarded $8.7 million in damages to a woman from Gloucester City, New Jersey, identified only as J.D.
In the lawsuit, which was obtained by The Independent, J.D. says she was first introduced to Jones, who is originally from Philadelphia, by her friend in mid-April 2022, who was dating him at the time.
Jones had asked to borrow the woman’s phone and “without her knowledge, located her intimate content, photographed it with his phone, and returned the phone.”
When he returned home, Jones posted the stolen photographs online and “continued to do so on a near-nightly basis for more than a year.” He then “routinely” posted the images to sites like 4Chan, Discord, and Telegram using a disguised Instagram account.
The woman didn’t find out until over a year later, when a friend told her in late 2023 that an unknown Instagram account was offering to share her nude photos. J.D. then discovered hundreds of posts that included identifying details, such as her name. The woman filed a police report with the Glassboro Police Department in New Jersey in December 2023 and contacted an attorney.
‘Significant Harm’
In a ruling on July 14, U.S. District Judge Edward S. Kiel found that Jones had caused J.D. “significant harm” and awarded her a total of $8,737,644, including $5 million in punitive damages, designed to punish the defendant for especially harmful, malicious, or reckless behavior and to deter others from doing the same.
“Our client made herself unignorable and she pursued every avenue for justice even when police in New Jersey wrote it off as a stolen phone case,” the woman’s attorney Cali Madia tells the N.J. Enquirer, noting that no criminal charges were filed in New Jersey.
“It’s unfortunate, but one of the many hurdles our clients face in their fight for justice is often police departments that are not aware of the applicable laws or not prepared or able to collect the digital evidence.”
According to the N.J. Enquirer, the case has also led to criminal charges against Jones in Pennsylvania. On July 8, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office announced that Jones had been charged with dozens of offenses, including felony counts of unlawful use of a computer and unlawful duplication, as well as misdemeanor invasion of privacy and unlawful dissemination. According to the attorney general’s office, Jones accessed the phones of five victims, or their partners, and sent himself nude photos, which he then posted online. He was arraigned on July 8 and held on $350,000 bail.
In May, PetaPixel reported on a case involving a hospital employee who said his ex-girlfriend shared his nude selfie without consent. However, he was told the photo isn’t protected by privacy laws because he took it while at work.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
