CHP officer charged in nude photo scandal

MARTINEZ, Calif. (KABC) -- A former California Highway Patrol officer accused of stealing nude photos from a DUI suspect's phone has been charged with two felonies.

The Contra Costa Times reports Sean Harrington, 35, of Martinez resigned two days before prosecutors filed charges.

The allegations came to light after two women claimed intimate photos of themselves were sent to unfamiliar phone numbers.

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.

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.

Prosecutors charged Harrington with one felony count of theft of computer data for each woman.

Harrington's attorney, Michael Rains, says his client apologizes to the women and his law enforcement colleagues.