Eva Lopez is suing the New York Police Department for $30 million (£23 million) after a photo of her was accidentally put on a billboard looking for grand theft.
According to court documents, Eva Lopez, 31, first learned she was a wanted woman on Aug. 16, when she and her boyfriend stepped off an aircraft from Florida and a friend of his contacted them.
“I thought it was something fake. I really couldn’t believe the police would put me on a wanted poster,” she recalled.
Lopez dismissed it until her employer persuaded her that it was real and advised her to contact the East Village’s 9th Precinct.
According to the lawsuit complaint, she called Detective Kevin Dwyer, whose name was mentioned on the flier, that night only to discover that she “knew it was an issue before she called.”
But the damage was already done, the influencer said: “It was already spread around on social media. It was still being passed around, still being talked about, still making me look like a thief.”
The image in the wanted poster showed her in a low cut, hot pink tube top, with a thick gold necklace, bright, multi-colored leggings, and high heels, along with the caption: “Wanted for Grand Larceny. Perpetrator – probable cause to arrest.”
The poster was looking for information about a theft that occurred on August 3 in Manhattan, in which a guy had scheduled an escort online only for the escort to steal a $13,000 (£10,000) Rolex and a credit card.
Lopez, on the other hand, claimed she was in Queens on August 3 rather than Manhattan, despite the investigator telling her that the victims had shown police images of Lopez.
She continued: “On Facebook, the [wanted poster] got shared thousands of times – 10,000, 20,000 times. Then on Instagram a lot of blog sites that have millions of followers, they posted it as well.”
Lopez, who also works as a bartender proclaimed her innocence on her own Instagram page – to no avail, with her reputation suffering as a result.
She said: “I just really want people to know that’s not me, in any way, shape, or form. The girl has nothing to do with me.”
She said she had never been in trouble with the law, had never worked as an escort, and had never met the victims.
Source: dailystar.co.uk
