Daytona Beach police sergeant resigns after nude pics found

Sgt. Penny Dane used city-owned computers

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A Daytona Beach Police Sergeant has resigned after admitting to posting nude pictures of herself online while on-duty.

Sgt. Penny Dane has been in law enforcement for approximately 18 years and has been a sergeant with Daytona Beach police for the past four years.

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According to an internal affairs investigation, Sgt. Dane admitted she accessed and sent sexually explicit pictures as part of an online game called "Red Light Center." The game is likened to a virtual sex club and resembles Amsterdam's Red Light district.

The sergeant allegedly admitted to investigators that she e-mailed the images to her lover while on the job.

"It's something in my 26 years in law enforcement that I've never seen," said Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood.

Chitwood said he was flabbergasted after viewing the nearly 300 photos and videos that Sgt. Dane accessed using her city-owned computers and internet.

In all, 177 images were found on Dane's office desktop computer, 97 images were found on the laptop inside her marked patrol car and at least 23 of the pics were of the sergeant herself.

"Extremely pornographic in nature, and in several of the photos that we have since discovered, she was in her uniform," said Chief Chitwood.

Chitwood said Sgt. Dane also intentionally turned off the GPS tracking device in her patrol car so no one would know where she was while she got online and accessed the photos for hours, all while she was supposed to be supervising other officers on patrol.

"As we got into that hard drive, it was just mind boggling that you could be out of service for that long and just think you could get away with it," said Chitwood.

In fact, Dane did get away with it since 2009, but Chief Chitwood said the majority of the pictures were accessed in just the past few months.

Ironically, investigators were tipped off by Dane herself when she accused another officer of sexual harassment. After a review of her own e-mails, the self-incriminating evidence was discovered. Chitwood said Dane's sexual harassment claims later proved false.

Sgt. Dane also allegedly told investigators she was able to multi-task while on the job, and as she accessed all of those images, she never missed a call.