When Sondra Arquiett agreed to cooperate with government investigators investigating drug traffickers, she gave them access to her cell phone and all its contents. But could she have anticipated what they would do with it?

Definitely not, claims a lawsuit brought by Arquiett against Special Agent Timothy Sinnigen of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), who used photos from her phone to set up a fake Facebook account and contact suspected criminals.

In 2010, Arquiett, who went by the last name Pierce at the time, learned about the “Sondra Pierce” Facebook account when a friend of hers asked about the pictures of herself she was posting,reports BuzzFeed. These included one of her straddling the hood of a BMW and another of her in her bra and underwear.

Arquiett had been arrested in July 2010, accused of conspiring to distribute cocaine. The authorities believed that her boyfriend, Jermaine Branford, was the head of a cocaine trafficking ring. According to a sentencing motion by her lawyer Kimberly Zimmer, Arquiett was not being paid in the same way as the others, only receiving small gifts and gas money from co-defendants.

“To her, because they took care of her, she considered them like family,” Zimmer wrote. “Although she knew that her co-defendants were distributing drugs and that she was helping them to do so, she considered the things that she did for Branford and the other co-defendants as ‘favors.’”

Arquiett was sentenced to five years of probation after pleading guilty in February 2011. Branford also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison.

In a response to Arquiett’s suit, US attorneys say that Sinnigen’s actions were justified, and that he set up the account in hopes of “friending” a fugitive who was evading arrest.

“Defendants admit that Plaintiff did not give express permission for the use of photographs contained on her phone on an undercover Facebook page, but state the Plaintiff implicitly consented by granting access to the information stored in her cell phone and by consenting to the use of that information to aid in an ongoing criminal investigations [sic].”

They also admit posting a photo of her in “a two-piece bathing suit or bra and underwear” but “deny the characterization of the photograph as suggestive.”

“I cannot imagine she thought that this would be a use that she consented to,” University of Washington law professor Ryan Calo told BuzzFeed.

Following the publication of BuzzFeed’s story on Oct. 7, Facebook removed the profile. The site’sCommunity Standards prohibit claiming to be another person and publishing people’s personal information without their consent.

reportingproject.net

reportingproject.net

“The incident at issue in this case is under review by Justice Department officials,” department spokesperson Brian Fallon told BuzzFeed.