Sunday, August 10, 2008

UPDATE: Officer Charged in Prank Gone Wrong

An Austin resident working as a police officer for the Amboy/Vernon Center Police Department has been charged with misconduct after allegedly asking a teenage girl to flash her breasts to avoid arrest for drinking, according to the Star Tribune.

Steven P. Boyle has been charged with one gross misdemeanor count of misconduct of a public official by the Blue Earth County Attorney’s Office.

According to the Tribune, the criminal complaint said the incident occurred the night of July 4 at Pumpkinland near Vernon Center.

Boyle allegedly told a sheriff’s investigator he’d been contacted earlier by the young woman’s friend, who’d requested he play a prank of her.

The Tribune said he approached a camper at the farm market and pretended to question the group there. The young girl fled, the report said, though Boyle soon caught her and administered a preliminary breath test.

She failed, and was handcuffed and placed in his squad car.

The Tribune said fellow campers suggested Boyle allow her to show her breasts to avoid transport to jail.

She agreed after Boyle allegedly approached her with the idea, and showed her breasts surrounded by others at a campfire after her handcuffs were removed, according to the Tribune.

She was allegedly told the situation was a joke immediately following.

Boyle is scheduled to appear Aug. 22. The maximum penalty for his crime is one year in prison and/or a $3,000 fine.

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