May 15, 201610 yr Danville Woman Sues AT&T For Stolen Photos - LEX18.com | Continuous News and StormTracker Weather Think of the private information on your cell phone. What would you do if it ended up in the hands of a stranger? A Boyle County woman said an employee at a cell phone shop stole very personal photos he was supposed to delete. Now as police investigate, she's suing. "I mean this is a part of our daily life," said Noel Caldwell, attorney at law. Cell phones are our modern day diary, and for most of us, that means private information or photos, are on our cell phones. "Any unauthorized access is a total invasion of your privacy," said Caldwell. Caldwell said that's what happened to his 19-year-old client in 2014. He said 78 naked or half naked photos and one video, were taken from her phone by an AT&T employee. "She's quite traumatized, she's hurt, she's embarrassed. And truly feels like a victim in this case," said Caldwell. He said she took her phone to get fixed at the Danville AT&T and employee, Travis Applegate, abused her trust. "He stated we are going to replace your phone. She actually said, actually can I get my phone back? To delete data what's on there. He said don't worry about it, we do it," said Caldwell. According to the lawsuit, Applegate guaranteed he would personally delete all of the data from the phone. However, lawyers say Applegate ended up saving some of the photos from the device for himself. The information came to light after he befriended the victim, through a mutual friend, in 2015. "November of 2015 is when the Danville Police Department and other parties associated discovered that wasn't just three or four photos. It was 74 additional photos of my client, including a video. And even more disturbing, is they found numerous other unknown females," said Caldwell. Danville Police said no criminal charges have been filed, yet. In fact, Caldwell said Applegate still works at the Danville AT&T store. In a statement, an AT&T spokesperson said: "We take these allegations and the protection of customer privacy seriously, but cannot comment on the pending litigation." LEX18 News stopped by Applegate's house for his side of the story on Friday, however, he did not answer. The lawsuit alleges that Applegate confessed to the victim in a text, saying "I'm sorry. It's my fault. I'm in the wrong. When I did that, I didn't know you." "It's an admission and I think it's clear cut that he stole her photos," said Caldwell. Now she's fighting back, and suing Applegate and AT&T for an invasion of privacy, emotional distress, and negligence. "That this does not happen to anybody else, that this wrong is righted in whatever way shape or form that can take place," said Applegate. Again, no criminal charges have been filed in this case. Edited May 15, 201610 yr by GOREDDEVILS
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