Last month marked three years since the infamous incident between Chris Brown and Rihanna the night before the 2009 Grammy Awards in L.A. The pair have since made up, but that didn’t stop the police from their own internal investigation of exactly how the top secret Rihanna photo got out to the press. It was obviously an inside job, and they’ve finally tracked it down to two women. Find out the details below.
(GG) – According to the Smoking Gun, the officers, Rebecca Reyes, 39, and Blanca Lopez, have each been on paid administrative leave for more than 30 months and the former roommates could face termination as a result of the Internal Affairs Group (IAG) probe, which has included the search of the pair’s respective residences.
Officer Cleon Joseph, an LAPD spokesman, refused to answer a series of written questions about the department’s investigation of the leak of the Rihanna photo, terming the probe a “confidential matter.â€
The IAG investigation began soon after the web site TMZ published the Rihanna photo on February 19, 2009, less than two weeks after she was assaulted by singer Chris Brown while traveling in his rented Lamborghini.
The shocking photo showed the singer, now 24, with welts, bruises, and scratches suffered during the harrowing attack, which was detailed in a court affidavit sworn by an LAPD detective.
Police reports show that Reyes, assigned to the LAPD’s Wilshire Division, was part of the initial detail working the assault case.
At one point, she was included in the team dispatched to arrest Brown at L.A.’s London Hotel. Lopez, a rookie cop assigned to the Hollenbeck Division, had no role in the investigation of the assault by Brown.
IAG investigators have determined that the photo published by TMZ was one of dozens taken by an LAPD officer who responded to the Hancock Park neighborhood where a local resident heard Rihanna’s cries for help and called 911.
The TMZ image, however, was only a cropped portion of one of the police evidence photos. The original LAPD image shows Rihanna’s shoulders and most of her chest. Rihanna was photographed on the street, near Brown’s Lamborghini, which he abandoned after the attack.
The photos of Rihanna were only accessible by a small number of LAPD cops, which is why many are pointing the finger at Hollenbeck Division officers, like Reyes, who were involved in the investigation of the assault.
