Dan Maloit, a candidate for Erie’s District 2 town council seat, is being sued by for allegedly posting nude photographs of his ex-wife online, along with identifying information including her name and place of work.
The plaintiff, who filed the lawsuit under the name Jane Doe, stated in court filings that she was married to Maloit from December 2006 to March 2018. Doe first discovered the photos in 2022 and to date has discovered 56 images “which depicted her in various states of undress — including some in which her genitals and other private areas were fully visible. Plaintiff’s face was visible in some or all of the photographs.”
Court filings say Doe was able to “trace [the images] as far back as 2016, when they were posted to a 4chan imageboard.”
Colorado law criminalizes the sharing of explicit images “for the purpose of harassing, intimidating or coercing” and without the permission of the person depicted, colloquially referred to as “revenge porn.” A misdemeanor, it is punishable by up to 364 days in jail or a $10,000 fine.
The lawsuit was filed in late August. In September, Doe filed for a protective order against Maloit.
Maloit then filed a countersuit against Doe alleging that the lawsuit was purposely timed to cause harm to his run for office and that she consented to and participated in posting of “erotic content” to the web, including “lingerie pictures that she asked Defendant to take for a third party.”
Maloit published a statement on his Facebook page calling the allegations false and condemning “the selective posting of specific portions of the plaintiff’s original motion by mostly anonymous accounts… intent on harming me to influence the election.”
“I do believe that the people who are posting this all over Facebook are only doing it as part of a smear campaign,” he said in a followup interview. “I think it’s kind of wrong that they’re trying to identify who the plaintiff is. Obviously they filed anonymously, which is their right and should be respected. It’s unintentionally causing that person and other people harm in an attempt to harm me politically, which I don’t think is right.”
Maloit would not confirm the identity of Jane Doe, who he referred to in the statement, interview and court filings as “the plaintiff.”
“We all have private lives I doubt we’d want shared all over Facebook in our community,” Maloit continued. Of Erie politics, he said, “We’ve got a lot of vitriol in the community. There’s a lack of respect and there’s a lot of cheap wins.
“I hope I have a chance to serve District 2 and bring the rational, level-headed voice of a single parent.”
Maloit has three competitors for the District 2 seats: Dan Hoback, Brandon Bell and Ben Hemphill. Two people will be elected to serve D2.
Erie is re-electing its entire town council after adopting a home rule charter last year.