CHP controversy over nude photos is isolated

MARTINEZ, Calif. (KABC) -- A California Highway Patrol officer accused of stealing nude photos from a DUI suspect's phone told investigators he first learned of the scheme while working for the agency in Los Angeles. Authorities have since said the controversy is isolated to an East Bay CHP office.

CHP Officer Sean Harrington, 35, of Martinez confessed to stealing nude photos from the phone of a woman he pulled over for driving under the influence on a freeway in Dublin.

The 23-year-old woman was pulled over by Harrington in August on Interstate 680 and taken into custody for a suspected DUI and then transported to the main jail in Martinez. It's there that Rick Madsen, the attorney for the young woman, alleges Harrington transmitted nude photos of the woman from her phone to his.

The Contra Costa Times reports Harrington told prosecutors he had allegedly took photos from about a "half dozen" female arrestees in the past several years as part of an ongoing game between officers -- a game that he claimed he learned while working at the CHP office in L.A. On Saturday, Chief Avery Browne of the CHP's Golden Gate Division told the newspaper that the case appeared to be isolated.

"There's not truth that it stretches from Los Angeles to Dublin," he said.

The DUI charges against the woman have been dropped. The District Attorney's office says it will decide on charges against Harrington this week.