AG Coakley: It was ‘right result’ for blogger to remove naked pictures of Tom Brady’s son
Massachusetts State Police troopers visited David Portnoy, a Boston sports blogger, on Friday and asked him to take down an Internet posting showing naked photos of Patriots star Tom Brady’s toddler son.
[fragment number=0]“We went to see Mr. Portnoy and asked if he would be willing to remove it. He was, and we’re grateful for that,’’ Attorney General Martha Coakley said today. “We think that was the right result, and in light of all of that, we believe that the matter is closed.’’
A firestorm erupted last week after Portnoy on Thursday posted pictures of the toddler naked on a beach in Costa Rica, along with questionable language
Portnoy, who runs the Barstool Sports blog, said in a posting that the two troopers who visited him “were friendly, non threatening and basically just said they were getting lots of complaints from the lunatic fringe … and it would be in the best interest of everybody involved if I’d just take them down.’’
“I obviously still stand by the fact I had every right to do everything I did, but I’m not looking to make cops jobs more difficult that it already is so I complied,’’ he wrote. “I went with my gut and my gut said just make it easy on everybody at this point.’’
Coakley’s office began a preliminary investigation after receiving calls and complaints, she said. Representatives from the Patriots and Coakley’s office said complaints did not come from Brady, Brady’s family, the Patriots, or other Brady representatives.
Sending troopers to a home is a standard part of child exploitation investigations, Coakley said. She said she did not plan to press charges, because a charge of child exploitation needs proof of malicious intent, which the troopers did not find, Coakley said.
“From the reactions, people were equally troubled by the tastelessness of this,’’ Coakley said. “But … our issue is always to make sure you don’t have children who are being exploited by the actions of others on the Internet or otherwise.’’
Patriots spokesman Stacey James declined to comment on how Brady had reacted to the Barstool Sports posting.
Readers had lashed out at Portnoy on the website, on the radio, and elsewhere. Some called for criminal charges against him.
Jason Wolfe, vice president of programming for WEEI-AM, a sports talk station, tweeted that Portnoy would not be invited to appear again, saying, “What he did was completely irresponsible.’’
Massachusetts State Police spokesman David Procopio declined to comment specifically on the visit to Portnoy’s home because the issue was handled by Coakley’s office, not the State Police.
“I can say, in general terms, that it is a critical part of our mission to protect children from exploitation,’’ Procopio said. “We regularly monitor and take action against people who produce, publish or trade material that, because of its content or presentation, raises concerns about the well being and safety of the children who are depicted.’’
Martin Finucane of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
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