A judge has ordered a Buchanan County sheriff’s deputy to pay damages after he admitted altering a photo of a co-worker and then e-mailing it to others.
Twenty-nine-year-old Tracey Bantz was ordered Tuesday in Delaware County District Court to pay $156,000 plus interest and court costs for emotional embarrassment and damage to the reputation of the 33-year-old woman. She’d filed a civil suit against Bantz after he altered a photo to make it look like she was baring her breasts.
The woman had quit her job at the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Department in 2001 after an on-the-job accident a year earlier left her unable to fulfill her professional duties.
(Editor’s note. This article was updated to correctly identify the deputy involved as Tracey Bantz, not Tracy Vance)