By Brett Gillin
There’s loving your job, and then there’s loving your job. A police officer in Puerto Rico has been suspended for allegedly loving herself on the job, while allowing a coworker to photograph her mid-act. The photo was leaked to several other officers and quickly spread before being posted to social media sites.
According to this story in the Daily Mail, Cynthia Marrero Pomales, a 29-year-old police officer in Carolina, Puerto Rico, decided to take protect and serve to a totally different level while she was at the police station one day. Sources claim that Pomales partially undressed from her uniform and began a sex act on herself while a male colleague took pictures.
When the photographs were leaked to fellow officers, and senior officials in the police department caught wind, she was immediately suspended. According to this article in The Mirror, some sources from within the department claim that Officer Pomales actually uploaded the racy images onto social media herself. However, they claim that the pictures were meant to be shared only with a small, private circle of friends, not widely distributed.
One way or another, however, the pictures went outside of her intended circle, and she was suspended from the police force. Sources claim that she has already been interviewed by authorities and has given a statement. The details of that interview and statement have not been made public to this point.
Superintendent of Police Jose Luis Caldero Lopez confirmed to The Mirror that the photographs are authentic and that Officer Pomales has been suspended while the investigation continues. Sources also claim that a photograph that has not been widely distributed shows Pomales in a compromising position with a United States flag draped over her body.
Officials claim that Pomales’ suspension is due to her offending the honor of the police force and damaging its public reputation. Although officials are not speculating as to what the punishment would be if the investigation concludes that Pomales is guilty of the allegations against her, there is a precedent in Puerto Rico.
In 2014, two police officers were expelled from the Puerto Rico Police Department after photographs surfaced of them performing a sexual act inside the presidential palace. As reported by Fox News, the two officers, Jose Melendez and Tatiana Morales, made a video featuring a sexual act inside the presidential palace before being fired for insubordination and indiscipline. They were also charged with harmful, immoral and disorderly conduct to the detriment of the police force.
