Who REALLY leaked topless pics of Wisconsin Badgers volleyball team? Cops probe inside job as mystery deepens
MADISON, WISCONSIN: The University of Wisconsin-Madison Badgers volleyball team celebrated their 2021 championship win with a locker-room party. Unfortunately, the women in the midst of the celebration had taken some pictures which were meant to have stayed privy to the locker room itself, but it ended up circulating online in the ugliest way possible. The fact that nude images and videos of the university's women's volleyball team were released has baffled the University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department. In a fresh turn of events, police suspect that it is the work of someone on the inside and are edging closer to finding who was responsible for leaking the photos online.
The police department's executive director of communications, Marc Lovicott informed the Daily Mail that the case is "unique" for a variety of reasons, and the sexual content came through an unidentified player's phone. The investigation was confirmed on Thursday, October 27 by University of Wisconsin police spokesman Lovicott. Given that the investigation is ongoing, Lovicott declined to provide any additional information on the subject as volleyball players from the team are exempt from suspicion at the moment. The player, whose phone had the 40 stolen images and videos was not suspected, according to the police and was unaware of how the pictures ended up online.
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Leave it to the vet 🤫
— Wisconsin Volleyball (@BadgerVB) October 27, 2022
Danielle Hart for the point! pic.twitter.com/3GImYNF8P5
Wisconsin basketball players' nude photo leak
On October 18, 2022, the volleyball team supposedly discovered that their locker room images were trending on TikTok and reported it to campus police which led to the leak's discovery. Not only TikTok, it also made the rounds of a variety of websites including 4Chan, Twitter, Reddit, Imgur, Discord and Telegram among others. According to the Milwaukee Daily Journal, after the squad won the Big Ten title in the 2021 final, private images and videos were posted on various social media accounts. However, those leaked videos and images were scrubbed off from Reddit, Twitter, and other websites. In the photos, allegedly taken after the title ceremony took place in November 2021, the members of the squad can be seen posing with their sporting jerseys with their sports bras lifted or clad in underwear in some photos. Izzy Ashburn, Liz Gregorski, and Jade Demps are among the best players who are now on the squad; some of the original team members have since graduated.
The investigation
Officials have launched an inquiry into the event and are looking into several violations regarding the unauthorized release of sensitive photos.
The police announcement comes after the University of Wisconsin stated in a separate statement last week that authorities are investigating "multiple crimes" after personal images and videos of players on the women's volleyball team were posted online. When they discovered that the pictures were becoming viral, the volleyball team members reportedly alerted the campus police. One of the images in which players took off their sports bras was taken after Badgers won the Ben Ten title in December 2021 when the players were celebrating their victorious feat in the locker room. The majority of the material that was uploaded on the websites without the players' permission has been taken down, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Wisconsin University supports its athletes
In a statement, Wisconsin Badgers wrote on Twitter: "We are aware that private photos and video of UW volleyball student-athletes that were never intended to be shared publicly are being circulated digitally," it read, "The unauthorized sharing is a significant and wrongful invasion of the student-athletes' privacy, including potential violations of university policies and criminal statutes. When the student-athletes became aware of the circulating photos, they contacted the UW-Madison Police Department. UWPD is investigating multiple crimes, including sharing sensitive photos without consent. UWPD is not investigating the volleyball student-athletes for wrongdoing in this matter. Our top priority is supporting our student-athletes and we are providing them with the appropriate services and resources."
Statement from UW Athletics pic.twitter.com/M2lK2OYg8a
— Wisconsin Badgers (@UWBadgers) October 19, 2022
Coach Kelly Sheffield who has been head coach of the team since 2017, did not go into too much detail but said that he is in full support of the students and no disciplinary action would be taken against the team.
Current status of the investigation
The ongoing investigation is believed to be in its latter stages as police officials are working on unveiling the culprit behind the heinous act of exposing reputed athletes from Wisconsin University. They are certain that this is the work of a person from the inside. Furthermore, the Wisconsin women’s volleyball team showed no signs of nerves as they comfortably beat two Michigan teams on Oct 24 after their nude images surfaced online. For anyone who thinks the team may be phased by the scandal, they were quickly put right.
What Wisconsin law says on photo leaks
According to Wisconsin state legislation, the leaking of locker room images and recordings can result in a sentence of up to 3.5 years in jail or further monitoring. Images of naked or partially naked people in a locker room that are shown, transmitted or broadcast without permission are illegal. Distributing visual explicit, undressed, half-dressed, or revenge-themed images without permission is illegal throughout the state. The unauthorized release of the picture violated the athlete participants' right to privacy, according to law enforcement officials. Furthermore, it may have violated the law as well as university rules.
Should anyone have any information that could further the investigation, they can call the UWPD dispatch center at 608-264-2677.