Newsroom
Police say they expect to launch a disciplinary probe after reports emerged that a special police officer was back on the job after serving six months in jail for using false pretences to obtain nude photos from a female high school student and then blackmailing her.
A 40-year-old Greek Cypriot special police officer, who pretended to be a 27-year-old woman on social media and used his fake profile to approach a high school girl not yet 17 at the time, recently completed a six-month sentence.
But local media on Wednesday reported that the officer, who was ordered by a court to be stripped him of his gun permit before going to jail, was in fact back on the job after his prison release.
Officials reportedly said a disciplinary probe was to take place but an internal affairs committee was never formed citing coronavirus concerns.
It was also reported that the officer, who admitted he had created a fake profile account on Facebook for “playing games and vice,” was never suspended during his trial while it was not clear whether he had retained his gun permit after his release.
Officials reportedly said a disciplinary probe was to take place but an internal affairs committee was never formed citing coronavirus concerns
According to Philenews, a superior officer has confirmed that the probe never took place due to the pandemic but reassured an Internal Affairs committee was back on the case with the task at hand.
“The special officer has been reassigned in another post where he is not in contact with the public,” the official was quoted as saying.
According to details in the case, the officer used the name “Evridiki Neokleous” on Facebook and sent a friend request to the teen back in 2014. He then began asking the girl what she was wearing and tried to get photos of her in her underwear.
Court documents showed that the girl initially refused saying she was shy, but the cop was very persuasive, managing to break the ice by sending nude photos of another woman, showing only her naked body but not the face.
The high school student then gave in and sent six topless photos in which she exposed her bare breasts while wearing panties.
After the incident, the girl got wind of the man’s scam and blocked “Evridiki” prompting the police officer to contact a female acquaintance of the teen to relay his threat that he would publish the sexy photos if the 17-year-old did not unblock him on Facebook.
The girl then contacted the man asking him to delete the photos, with the man agreeing only if she would appear live on camera to show him her underwear.
After the student unblocked him but refused to make the video call, the man leaked her nude photos on the internet while covering the face, prompting the girl to file a complaint with the police.
