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Former State Trooper Sent Himself Nude Pics From Crash Victim’s Phone, Pleads Guilty

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A former Minnesota state trooper reached a plea deal Tuesday after being accused of taking a woman’s cell phone and sending himself nude photos of her, the Star Tribune reported.

Albert Kuehne, 37, pleaded guilty in Hennepin County District Court to nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images, according to the Tribune. The state agreed to drop a felony count of harassment.

Minnesota State Patrol placed Kuehne on paid administrative leave on May 20, 2020, and terminated his employment about four months later on Oct. 2, according to the Tribune. Kuehne is scheduled to be sentenced Monday.

The trooper detained a 25-year-old woman on suspicion of drunk driving after she crashed her vehicle, the Tribune reported. Video footage from Kuehne’s cruiser showed the trooper confiscating the phone after the woman made a call, telling her “give me the phone now,” according to The Washington Post.

The woman was being treated by paramedics when Kuehne was alone in his vehicle and sent the three photos, according to the Post. She was released later after being taken to the hospital, according to the Tribune.

A (now former) Minnesota state trooper, Albert Kuehne, arrested a woman and then texted himself nude photos of her that were stored on her phone which he had confiscated. He then deleted the texts to try to cover it up, but her synced MacBook caught himhttps://t.co/twi32QLtwn

— Emma Kinery (@EmmaKinery) June 10, 2021

The woman’s boyfriend discovered that someone had texted the photos to an unknown number, and when he called the number the person on the phone identified himself as Kuehne, according to the Tribune.

Investigators searched and seized Kuehne’s phone and found the images after obtaining a search warrant, according to the Tribune