The mayor of Cambridge, Maryland was arrested this week on 50 counts of distributing explicit images of a former romantic partner without the person’s consent on the social media site Reddit, Maryland State Prosecutor Charlton T. Howard III announced.
Andrew Bradshaw faces a $5,000 fine and two years in prison for each count he’s received, which would total a possible maximum of $250,000 and 100 years in prison if convicted. Bradshaw allegedly used a variety of different usernames to post nude photos of the victim with their birth date and real name included to Reddit forums along with racist captions.
Investigators were able to pinpoint where the images were posted by tracking the IP address back to Bradshaw’s home. In a news release, State Prosecutor Howard said that their office is committed to protecting victims from people in positions of power who would do things like this.
“Using someone’s private images without their consent is a serious breach of trust and invasion of privacy, and the power and breadth of the internet makes such a violation even more egregious,” Howard said. “Our office is committed to protecting victims from those who abuse their positions of power and trust.”
Cambridge’s acting city manager, David Deutsch, also said that the commissioners will meet with the city attorney about the case to see if anything else further needs to be done. They currently plan to move forward with city business as usual.
“Government operations are still moving forward,” Deutsch said. “The legal issues surrounding the mayor is a personal matter and doesn’t involve city business.”
