'Sextortion' lawsuit against Louisville police ends in settlement. Here are the details

Louisville Metro Government has agreed to pay $118,000 to settle a lawsuit over a former Louisville police officer who used police data-combing technology to help hack a local teacher and then sexually extort her, a settlement agreement obtained by The Courier Journal shows.

The settlement comes after an unnamed woman sued ex-LMPD officer Bryan Wilson in June, along with two past Louisville Metro Police chiefs and his former supervisor. She accused Wilson of stealing private, sexually explicit images from her, extorting her to gain more images and harassing her to the point she contemplated suicide.

Wilson is currently in federal prison in Ohio serving a 30-month sentence for his role in hacking and sexually extorting a number of women, as well as his participation in ‘Slushygate,’ the scandal in which LMPD officers in unmarked police cars targeted pedestrians with drinks while filming their exploits.

Wilson, 37, pleaded guilty to those federal charges related to the violation of civil rights of Louisville pedestrians and cyberstalking last year. His sentence was 10 times longer than that of another LMPD officer who was involved only in Slushygate and was sentenced on the same day.

Sara Collins, an attorney for the woman — identified only as Jane Doe in court documents — said her client was “very pleased” with the settlement.

“This was not about money for her. She felt that herself and the many victims of Bryan Wilson — his many sextortion victims — were not adequately represented in the federal criminal court adjudication,” she said. “The amount of time he got in prison compared to the acts that he committed against so many women was woefully unjust, and she brought this suit to stand up for herself, to stand up for other women who have gone through similar circumstances and to raise awareness about the crime of sextortion.”

Collins added that the settlement of the case likely saved her client years of “really painful litigation.”

The settlement agreement was signed in September, and the case was dismissed in federal court last month. The Courier Journal obtained a copy of the settlement from the Jefferson County Attorney's Office after filing an open records request.

According to the lawsuit, Wilson “unlawfully obtained access into Jane Doe’s private Snapchat account, seeking to obtain sexually explicit photographs and videos” beginning in July 2020 while he was an LMPD officer and used his access to powerful data-combing software to gain information about her and other victims.

LMPD has previously said Wilson resigned from the force in July 2020, but he retained access to Accurint, the name of the software. The U.S. Department of Justice said Wilson's hacking and extortion scheme continued through at least October 2020.

According to the lawsuit, on July 21, 2020, the woman received a text message from Wilson, who presented himself as "a member of the Snapchat Support Team" and was able to get her to give him her password. Wilson then allegedly used the password to access her account.

The lawsuit alleged he then sent the woman sexually explicit images of herself he had taken from her private Snapchat, saying they had been posted online. He then told her he would leave her alone if she sent him more sexually explicit images.

Wilson later threatened to send photos and video of the woman to her friends, family, the principal of the school where she taught, the Jefferson County Public Schools board and the school district's superintendent. Worried about her job amid Wilson's threats, the woman told her school's principal about the situation.

The lawsuit and federal prosecutors said Wilson sent a sexually explicit video of the woman to one of her friends.

The officer repeatedly called the woman “disgusting, derogatory, vulgar, abusive names” the lawsuit said.

“Jane Doe eventually became so emotionally drained, distraught, and depressed by the continued harassment and lack of help that she contemplated suicide,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit alleges the woman called LMPD's sex crimes unit more than 10 times over the course of a month, but did not receive a response.

The woman was unaware of Wilson's identity, the lawsuit said, until June 2022, nearly two years after he first contacted her.

During Wilson’s sentencing last year, the woman gave an emotional witness impact statement where she described the harassment and her thoughts of killing herself.

“What would have happened if he had not been caught? Would I be here?” she asked.

The lawsuit further alleged LMPD “maintains a disturbing internal culture where pervasive patterns of sexual misconduct and predatory behaviors of officers have been repeatedly excused, ignored, concealed or fostered.”

In making that point, the lawsuit pointed to LMPD's Explorer Scout sex abuse scandal — as well as how LMPD kept Wilson on the force even after a previous internal probes found sexual misconduct, including the posting of sexually explicit, in-uniform photos of himself and another officer online.

LMPD declined to comment on the settlement and did not respond to questions about allegations made in the lawsuit regarding the department's handling of sexual misconduct investigations.

In an emailed statement, an LMPD spokesperson said "a review was performed, and procedures have been put in place to ensure all access [to Accurint] is suspended once a member separates from LMPD, or at any other time deemed appropriate by the Chief of Police or her designee."

Reach reporter Josh Wood at jwood@courier-journal.com or on Twitter at @JWoodJourno

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville to pay $118K to settle LMPD hacking, 'sextortion' lawsuit