Cambridge mayor behind bars after allegedly posting revenge porn to Reddit dozens of times
CAMBRIDGE, Md. – Monday morning, Cambridge residents and leaders were met with an unwelcome, and disturbing surprise. The Maryland Office of the State Prosecutor charged Mayor Andrew Bradshaw with 50 counts of distributing revenge porn.
“We had no prior knowledge that there was going to be any activity,” said Acting City Manager David Deutsch.
Mayor Bradshaw is accused of posting revenge porn to social media dozens of times throughout the months of April and May of 2021. The disturbing posts were laced with sexually explicit captions. Some included racial slurs. The posts were outlined in charging documents, nearly 30 pages long.
“Given the rise of the internet, this practice becomes particularly egregious because you can post a picture and it can be seen by millions of people. It is a tremendous invasion of privacy, and it can have a very, very significant impact on the victims,” said Maryland State Prosecutor Charlton Howard III.
Under Maryland state law, “a person may not intentionally cause serious emotional distress to another by intentionally placing on the Internet a photograph, film, videotape, recording, or any other 9 reproduction of the image of the other person that reveals the identity of the other person 10 with his or her intimate parts exposed or while engaged in an act of sexual contact: knowing that the other person did not consent to the placement of the image on the Internet; and under circumstances in which the other person had a reasonable expectation that the image would be kept private.”
Now, Mayor Bradshaw is sitting behind bars without bond while prosecutors build their case. It’s a new challenge for the office, which typically prosecutes political corruption and election fraud.
“We have talked to several of our colleagues in various offices that have prosecuted cases like this to make sure we are doing things the correct way,” said Howard. “In a crime such as this, targets of interest would be computer media, computer networks, electronic media that contain memory, those kinds of things.”
Back in August, Mayor Bradshaw’s home and office were searched by investigators. Howard says a female victim had come forward, claiming that she and Mayor Bradshaw had been in an intimate relationship. During that relationship, the victim says she had sent the mayor intimate, explicit photos of herself.
Later, Mayor Bradshaw allegedly posted them to social media platform Reddit under multiple different accounts, which he had set up using the victim’s information. “The victim did inform law enforcement when she became aware of the photos appearing,” said Howard.
Mayor Bradshaw is innocent until proven guilty. But, Howard says his office is pursuing the case by any means possible. “It’s not only an abuse of someone’s privacy, they’re also an abuse of power by someone in possession of those documents, images, and messages,” he said.
Meanwhile, until any judgment can be reached, Deutsch says the city is continuing to focus on city business. He adds, it’s too early to say if the mayor will be placed on leave, and what replacement plans might look like.
“It’s a personal matter. It does not involve the city business,” he said. “The staff here and in other city facilities are continuing to do their jobs, and we will continue to work with them and the city council to keep moving forward.”
If Mayor Bradshaw is convicted, he could face up to two years in prison per count, and/or a $5,000 fine per count. Dates for further hearings and a potential trial have not yet been announced.
