A Warner Bros. Two years to the day after the brutal murder of University of Utah athlete Lauren McCluskey, her parents, Jill and Matt McCluskey, and the university announced a $10.5 million settlement in a lawsuit against the school. The alleged breach of privacy was first reported last month by The Salt Lake Tribune, which said that the Police Department in Logan, Utah, where Officer Deras is now employed, had begun an internal affairs investigation into the matter. . Lauren McCluskey's parents, Matt and Jill McCluskey, hug some of their daughter's teammates after a vigil for their daughter on Oct. 24, 2018 in Salt Lake City. 1:58 AM EDT, Fri October 23, 2020. pg.acq.push(function() { With our commitment to learning from our mistakes, we honor Lauren and ensure her legacy will be improved campus safety for all students, Watkins said. Lauren McCluskey killing A former University of Utah police officer is accused of sharing an explicit photo of slain student Lauren McCluskey, 21, days before her Oct. 22, 2018, murder at the . At one point, he demanded $1,000 from her to prevent him from posting explicit photos of the two of them. Two days later, he again showed the photos to a second supervisor, asking how to attach them to a case file. Officer Miguel Deras presented her case to campus police on Oct. 12, 2018, to report she was being harassed. "They seemed to show no curiosity about this person who had lied about his age, his name, his he was a sex offender," Matt McCluskey told ABC News. An internal investigation found that Deras 'mishandled sensitive evidence' regarding the 2018 murder case of Lauren McCluskey; Deras showed explicit photos of McCluskey to at least three co . He was long gone before we had any inkling that that incident with the photo being shown had occurred, U. police Lt. Jason Hinojosa told the outlet. Deras still works as a police officer. Life is not fair, really. The girl's parents, Jill and Matt McCluskey, are currently upholding a $56 . Deras reportedly said that he could ogle at them anytime he pleased, according to the outlet. Lauren McCluskey was murdered by a deranged stalker despite multiple calls to 911 to report him. The McCluskeys joined U President Ruth . A spokesman for the University of Utah said the school would not be commenting on the lawsuit until its lawyers and the state attorney generals office, which is also representing the university and campus police officials, had a chance to review it. Did you encounter any technical issues? I just wish a responsible adult would have listened and believed. McCluskey, a University of Utah student, confided in campus police in October 2018 that she was being extorted by her sex-offender ex-boyfriend, identified as 37-year-old Melvin Rowland. He did not electronically share them with another officer. The university will also rename the newly launched Center for Violence Prevention as the McCluskey Center for Violence Prevention. Deras now works for Logan Police 85 miles away from his previous workplace. hitType: 'event', Over the course of the next two weeks, she called campus police a number of times to report he was sending her harassing messages, as well as attempting to extort money from her. Lauren McCluskey killing A former University of Utah police officer is accused of sharing an explicit photo of slain student Lauren McCluskey, 21, days before her Oct. 22, 2018, murder at the . The DPS report shows that officer Miguel Deras accessed the photo email attachments unnecessarily on his phone multiple times. Join Nancy Grace for her new online video series designed to help you protect what you love most your children. She had been shot seven times. Rowland was on parole and could have been taken into custody. On Oct. 19, 2018, McCluskey emailed detective Kayla Dallof with Rowlands offender information. Mr. McConkie said that campus police failed to do its due diligence in looking into Mr. Rowlands criminal background. Lauren McCluskey killing A former University of Utah police officer is accused of sharing an explicit photo of slain student Lauren McCluskey, 21, days before her Oct. 22, 2018, murder at the . McCluskey had forwarded the images to Deras as evidence. Her parents should hold every single person and organization involved accountable for failing their kid in such an egregious manner . SALT LAKE CITY ( ABC4) - On Oct. 22, 2018, University of Utah student-athlete Lauren McCluskey was shot and killed on campus. Rowland, a convicted sex offender on parole, had been using a fake identity to deceive McCluskey. pg.acq.push(function() { Student protesters pictured in September 2017 on the University of Utah campus. eventAction: 'view' Lauren McCluskey's Killer Tried To Blackmail Her With Revenge Porn. In an effort to stop him, McCluskey sent him $1,000, officials said. There were numerous opportunities to protect her during the almost two weeks between the time when our daughter began expressing repeated, elevating, and persistent concerns about her situation and the time of her murder, Jill and Matthew McCluskey wrote. Lax dormitory security and a macho culture of minimizing coeds complaints also contributed to her death. appreciated. McLenon reported that he was told there was nothing there when advised of the results of the investigation, but he later admitted he didn't read the IA report until after the news article was published. According to the Department of Public Safety report, Deras received the images in question on Oct. 13, 2018. Too late for McCluskey, changes are coming about, somewhat ironically in a year when campus population and social interactions will drastically decrease due to the coronavirus. As We Mourn The Death Of Lauren Smith-Fields, Where Is The Justic How Republicans & Democrats Weaponize Latinx Trauma to Get Votes. Avery Scott. }); The University of Utah has settled two lawsuits with the parents of Lauren McCluskey, a 21-year-old student who was killed by an ex-boyfriend she had complained about to police more than 20 times. When McCluskey learned Rowland had a criminal conviction, and had lied about his age and name, she ended the relationship. "The University did not seek or receive consent from any officer to change these policies, did change them to the detriment of officers who relied on the prior policies, and used the changes to damage the officers in question," the notice states. A University of Utah police officer saved explicit pictures of college student Lauren McCluskey and shared them with at least three men after a staff briefing about the 21-year-old's complaints of being blackmailed by her ex-boyfriend. Last May, the university claimed that Deras never showed pictures of Lauren to any noninvolved officers. Jill McCluskey, mother of Lauren McCluskey, left, University of Utah President Taylor Randall, second from left, and others participate in a memorial walk for Lauren McCluskey at the McCarthey . The two began talking in September of 2018, but by October 2018, Lauren found out a bombshell about Melvin. On Monday, Rowland confronted McCluskey after she came back from a night class, forced her into a car, and fatally shot her. According to the complaint, Chatman found the university police "distributed compromising images of Lauren McCluskey for prurient purposes unrelated to any legitimate law enforcement activity." University police officers characterized his internal investigation into the photos as a witch hunt, but Chatman ultimately fired several officers . Her mother Jill McCluskey says, The officers never checked Laurens killers offender status. A Change.org petition titled "Fire and Press Charges against Miguel Deras for Distributing Lauren McCluskey's Photos," which launched three months ago, has at least 135,446 signatures as of . The man, Melvin Rowland, shot Ms. McCluskey seven times on Oct. 22, 2018, after kidnapping her. At some point after that, in the hallway outside a shift briefing, Deras showed the McCluskey pictures to three officers who had previously seen them, according to the report. Lauren McCluskey, a student at the University of Utah, told campus police she was being blackmailed over the photos by 37-year-old Melvin Rowland - only to be exploited by the officer she turned . At some point, Deras called her with a strange request. Fans baffled by singer's sudden exit. Chatman added that he is confident the current officers in his department are willing to roll up their sleeves and work to remove any prior perceptions the public has of the universitys police department. When Lauren McCluskey went to campus police to ask for help, she had just discovered that the man she was dating was a registered sex offender. As CrimeOnline previously reported, McCluskey, a University of Utah student, was found deceased in October 2018, in her car near the medical towers on campus. }); The man who killed University of Utah senior and track star Lauren McCluskey . The temperature is finally topping 70 degrees and winter storms are on the outs! A public information officer for the Utah attorney general's office also declined to comment. reporters on a platform technologically tailored to meet the needs of the modern reader. An independent review uncovered the alleged incident, but the University of Utah Police reportedly insisted that they had no idea that Deras kept the photos for his personal use. Lauren's mother stated all the money from the settlement will go to support the Lauren McCluskey Foundation to help improve campus safety. Former University of Utah Police Chief Dale Brophy, who received a full year's salary and a $6,000 party when he retired amid criticism of his department's handling of Lauren McCluskey's . At the time, McCluskey said she thought Rowlands friends sent the messages to lure her from her dorm, as Rowland was still posting on social media, despite it being a violation of probation to have social media accounts. We share with the McCluskeys an interest in working to improve safety for all students, not only on our campus but on campuses across the country. He then forwarded those pictures to Dallof within the same hour, the report states. Following McCluskeys murder, teammate and friend Brooke Martin was in shock. As it turns out, theres an easy, straightforward way to reduce the endemic poverty and hunger in America: money. Discovery Company. As part of the campus safety improvements, the university has also consolidated evening classes in neighborhood clusters to help keep students safer. As we now know, Deras downloaded those pictures onto his personal phone and was overheard boasting to colleagues, remarking about her looks and being cute. In October 2018, college student Lauren McCluskey went to the University of Utah campus police to report that she was being blackmailed by an ex-boyfriend. Black Teenager Shot in Kansas City, Missouri. Its more than likely that the singular officer who is quoted misremembers what occurred nearly two years ago, especially when others do not share that recollection and when this account was not raised during two prior investigations., Jones said the real takeaway from the report is that Deras account of events has been confirmed. pictures a killer was using to blackmail her . At least two other officers stated they were present when this happened. According to new data from the U.S. On Tuesday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his resignation amid a slew of allegations and scandals. 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