A Police Officer Sent Himself Nudes He Stole From a Woman's Phone

Today in absolutely deplorable behavior from men in positions of authority: a police officer has admitted to sending himself nudes he found on a woman’s phone while she was receiving medical attention after a car accident.

Former Minnesota state trooper Albert Kuehne has pleaded guilty to stealing the woman’s photos after pulling her over after a single-car crash in March of 2020, Vice reports. Kuehne demanded the woman hand over her phone, and while she received care from paramedics, the former officer went through her photos without her consent, and took the liberty of sending himself a few “nude or partially nude” images he found there, per a criminal complaint.

Kuehne apparently thought he had covered his tracks by deleting the messages he sent himself from the woman’s phone. Unfortunately for him, however, the woman had her phone’s iMessage linked to her laptop at home, where her boyfriend noticed a series of suspicious messages going out to an unknown number. Hero boyfriend called the phone number, and the person on the opposite end of that call — which, frankly, I would love to have heard — identified himself as Kuehne. Naturally, the couple lawyered up and reported the incident, and an investigation by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension found records from the phone, laptop and video from Kuehne’s cruiser confirming the man did, in fact, do this very gross and completely unnecessary thing. He was arrested in July and reportedly fired from the state patrol a few months later, though I can’t imagine why that decision would’ve taken so long, especially since a rep for the force claimed in a statement that troopers are “held to a high standard,” one with which Kuehne’s “reprehensible” conduct is clearly “inconsistent.”

Maybe it’s because, as Jezebel pointed out, this egregious behavior isn’t unheard of in the police force. Back in 2014, a California Highway Patrol officer also got caught stealing nudes from a female detainee’s phone, which he sent to himself as well as fellow officers in what he called a “game,” asking his “buddy” to return the favor “down the road.”

In a word: Yuck! What a terrible time to be alive!

Anyway, back to Kuehne. He originally faced two counts of felony stalking with bias, but after a plea deal will be sentenced on one misdemeanor charge of nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images.

Remember, we’re living in an age in which it easier than ever before to look at photos of naked women. There are lots of ways to get nudes, most of which are fairly easy, and all of which are easier, less embarrassing and less illegal than stealing them. You could, for example, literally just go on the internet. You could even ask a woman to send you nudes. I truly cannot begin to imagine what might possess someone to steal a stranger’s nudes from their phone, but there’s absolutely no reason to, so, please just don’t?