Laguna Beach man accused of ‘revenge porn’

A Laguna Beach man was accused Friday of using “revenge porn” to try to coerce a woman back into a romantic relationship with him, police said.

The Orange County district attorney’s office charged the 54-year-old man with three misdemeanor counts of violating a protective order and three misdemeanor counts of disseminating private photographs of another person without the person’s consent.

The Daily Pilot is not identifying the man to avoid indirectly identifying the woman.

On March 20, according to Laguna Beach police, the defendant sent the woman the photos and threatened to disseminate them to others if she didn’t get back together with him. The man is accused of sending the photos via text message, which the district attorney’s office called unlawful dissemination, according to court documents.

It’s unclear whether the photos were shared with anyone else, police said.

In 2013, California enacted a law that prohibits distributing photos that depict sex acts or intimate body parts of another person without the person’s consent while knowing it would cause emotional distress for the victim.

At 7 p.m. Friday, police went to a residence on Highland Way and arrested the man, who they said was standing in his kitchen and apparently intoxicated. He received medical clearance before being booked at the Laguna Beach Police Department. He was later released on bail, police said.

The defendant remains out on bail and no hearings are currently scheduled in the case, according to police and court records.