Senator blasts DEA for fake Facebook profile using woman's name, photos

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is calling on the Justice Department to condemn the actions of a Drug Enforcement Administration agent who created a fake Facebook profile using a real woman's name and photos without her consent.

In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy blasted the DEA agent, calling his actions "appalling,” “unethical” and “potentially dangerous.”

"This extraordinary tactic placed this woman and her family at risk," Leahy wrote, "and I expect the Justice Department to reconsider the use of such techniques.”

Earlier this month, the Justice Department launched a review of the case after BuzzFeed reported that the faux Facebook profile was created by DEA agent Timothy Sinnigen, using photos taken from Sondra Arquiett, an upstate New York woman. Facebook subsequently removed the profile.

In August, Arquiett filed a lawsuit against Sinnigen in federal court, arguing that he had violated her privacy. At the time, the DEA said creating fake social media accounts "is not a widespread practice among our federal law enforcement agencies.”

Arquiett was arrested in 2010 for her role in her boyfriend's drug trafficking ring. She pleaded guilty in 2011 and was sentenced to weekend and home confinement, followed by probation, which she completed last March.

During the initial investigation, Leahy noted, she "granted officers access to her cell phone and agreed to cooperate with law enforcement."

"But while she was awaiting trial," Buzzfeed reported, "Sinnigen created a Facebook page using her real name, which was then Sondra Prince. He posted photos from her phone, including one of her posing, legs spread, on the hood of a BMW, and another of her with her son and niece, who were young children."

In a court filing, lawyers for the Justice Department admitted that the woman "did not give express permission for the use of photographs contained on her phone on an undercover Facebook page" but "implicitly consented by granting access to the information stored in her cell phone and by consenting to the use of that information to aid in an ongoing criminal [investigation].”

“This level of consent should in no way be viewed as permission for Federal agents to use the contents of her cell phone to publicly interact with suspected criminals under her name," Leahy wrote in his letter to Holder. "This exploitation put her and the minor children in her photographs at risk without their knowledge.”

He added: “I hope the Justice Department will agree that creating an online profile using an unsuspecting person’s identity to communicate with criminals is unethical, potentially dangerous, and should not be condoned by our nation’s law enforcement agencies.”