A veteran Los Angeles police detective who investigated sex crimes alleges she became a victim of “revenge porn” perpetrated by a fellow officer who she had been in an extramarital affair with, and that it turned violent and left her vulnerable to extortion when she broke off the relationship.
Detective Ysabel Villegas, who has served for 30 years in the Los Angeles Police Department, went public this week with the seamy allegations against Officer Danny Reedy.
“He released intimate photos of me, extorting me. 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,” Villegas alleged in an application for a permanent restraining order against Reedy.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Blancarte granted Villegas’ restraining order on Tuesday, saying her claims against Reedy were “some of the most serious allegations that I’ve ever had to read in this courtroom.”
Blancarte ordered Reedy not to come within 100 yards of Villegas, surrender his guns and other deadly weapons and refrain from distributing sexually explicit photographs of Villegas.
Reedy did not attend the court hearing, but his attorney, Mike Williams, told Blancarte that the officer is exercising his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination while a criminal investigation against him proceeds.
“We are not admitting anything, nor are we denying anything,” Williams said in court.
Williams refused to answer questions from reporters following the hearing.
Shiara Davila-Morales, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, confirmed to ABC News on Wednesday that “the matter was referred for investigation” to the DA’s office.
During a news conference on Tuesday, Villegas detailed the volatile relationship she had with Reedy and the embarrassment she endured when he allegedly made good on his promise to release explicit photos of her to their co-workers.
“This is the last place or the last thing I ever wanted to do,” she said of having to publicly speak of her relationship with Reedy. “I’m just so sad that it came to this.”
In her application for the restraining order, obtained by ABC Los Angeles station KABC-TV, she claimed she had a five-year extramarital affair with Reedy, who is a senior lead officer in the LAPD’s Central Division.
She said that when Reedy became abusive, she decided to end the affair but he refused to walk away. She alleges that in 2017, he threatened to release explicit photos he had of her if she broke up with him and followed through on the threats when she ended their affair.
“I will post the pictures. I swear,” Reedy allegedly wrote in a text message to Villegas, which she included in the application for the restraining order. “I will ruin u. Trust me. I’ll destroy you so bad.”
Villegas claimed Reedy threatened to share the photos with their colleagues and her husband, former LAPD Assistant Chief Jorge Villegas, who retired from the department in October after sexual misconduct claims were made against him.
Detective Villegas’ attorney, Lisa Bloom, said Reedy allegedly sent the explicit photos to colleagues when Villegas ended their affair.
“We don’t know how many people have seen these explicit photos of her. We do have witnesses that [say] they were being passed around among different LAPD officers, which is highly inappropriate,” Bloom said during Tuesday’s news conference.
California enacted a “revenge porn” law in 2013 making it a misdemeanor to post online or electronically distribute digital images of someone to harass, cause fear or lead to injury.
Reedy has been placed on administrative leave pending the results of an internal and criminal investigation, LAPD spokesman Josh Rubenstein told KABC-TV.
Villegas said she went on medical leave last year for stress and that while on leave was transferred from the LAPD’s elite Robbery Homicide Division. Bloom alleged Villegas’ transfer was in retaliation for her reporting the allegations against Reedy.
Rubenstein said he could not comment on Villegas’ transfer because it’s a personnel matter.
“I love my job. It’s the only job I’ve had where I got so much satisfaction and it’s very sad to leave like this,” Villegas said. “This is not what I wanted to do. I don’t deserve this.”
