A City of Phoenix employee is accused of stalking his ex-girlfriend, storing nude photographs of her on a city-issued iPad, and throwing physical copies of the photos onto her yard.
Police report that their investigation began on October 17, when, according to court documents, "two witnesses saw a naked picture of the victim and a man on a city of Phoenix I-pad and I-cloud account that the suspect had access to since he is a city of Phoenix employee."
The victim told police that she and the suspect, 44-year-old Richard Lee Abbott, broke up years ago, but he recently had escalated his frequency of harassment and threats.
Records show that Abbott works for the Neighborhood Services Department.
Police say that Abbott sent about 70 e-mails and over 1,800 text messages to the victim where he threatened to kill her and assault her family. Abbott also would send nude photos of her in the e-mails and texts, along with pictures which indicated that he had been in her home while she wasn't there, according to records.
He also allegedly threatened to send the pictures to her employer along with false information intended to get her fired.
On October 20, police say the victim went outside her home and found at least 20 photos of her in her underwear scattered on her front yard and in the neighborhood. The photos had derogatory comments written on them as well, according to the police report.
About a week later, police report that Abbott was seen at the victims' parent's house where he threw nude pictures of the victim out of his car window. He also did the same at the victims' home.
Police said the victim's daughter found the photos at her home.
Abbott was arrested on Oct. 26 near 27th and Glendale avenues. He faces charges of stalking and unlawful distribution of images.
ABC15 reached out to the City of Phoenix for comment. They referred our inquiry to police. ABC15 reached out and will update our story as more information comes into the newsroom.
