Just In: Chicago Anchor Involved in Revenge Porn
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Just in time for ratings, WFLD (Chicago) Anchor Rafer Weigel name is being thrown around in a revenge porn case.
Kathy Browne has been charged under Indiana's new revenge porn law in a three-person relationship dispute involving Weigel and a Valparaiso woman, according to court documents.
Browne has been charged with the distribution of an intimate photo that was allegedly sent by the Valparaiso woman to Weigel.
Browne is charged with sending the images to the local woman along with threats of providing the photos to her children's school.
Police say that both Browne and the Valparaiso woman were dating the Anchorman.
The woman and Weigel began dating until she discovered he was seeing other women as well, including Browne, according to police. The local woman called off the relationship, but not before texting explicit photos of herself to Weigel, including some that involved nudity, police said.
The local woman said she was contacted in August by Weigel, who said Browne had accessed his phone and downloaded the explicit photographs, according to charging documents.
The Valparaiso woman said she began receiving emails from Browne.
Browne's defense attorney, Ken Elwood, said Tuesday afternoon that he believes his client was improperly charged and that this application of the new law was not the intention of lawmakers.
The photos were sent to the person portrayed in them at her own request, Elwood said. The alleged victim asked for the photos of herself because she did not believe Browne had them.
"She requested that she send it and we have proof of that," he said.
The Valparaiso woman obtained a protective order earlier this month prohibiting Browne from contacting and/or harassing her or her family, according to court documents.
The Valparaiso woman also is seeking a protective order against Weigel, and a hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. this morning before Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary Harper.
Weigel is represented in the case by attorney Walter Alvarez, and his law office has not yet responded to repeated requests for comment.
Alvarez has sought to dismiss the protective order request, arguing in part that Weigel obtained a protective order last month in Cook County, Illinois, on behalf of himself and two other people against the local woman.
It sounds like a perfect story for the November book, but I have a feeling that WFLD will not be covering this one.
Weigel is the son of now-deceased and popular WBBM sports anchor Tim Weigel. Rafer previously worked at WLS and weekend sports anchor before taking an anchor job in St. Louis. He returned to Chicago to anchor Good Day Chicago on WFLD.
H/T Northwest Times
