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Affidavit in 'Revenge Porn' case: I'm posting your shit and there's nothing police can do about it

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Dustin Demanche (Rochester Police photo)

ROCHESTER - The Rochester man indicted for allegedly posting a nude photo of his estranged girlfriend on Facebook told her before he did it that he was going to "post your shit everywhere" and that police could do nothing about it, according to a Rochester Police affidavit obtained by The Rochester Voice.

Dustin Demanche, 26, of 24-B Lafayette St., was formally charged earlier this month by a Strafford County grand jury with nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images, a Class B felony that carries a maximum seven-year prison term if convicted.

Demanche is said to have committed the crime on May 27 when "purposely, and with the intent to harass (his partner) disseminated publicly on Facebook a private sexual image of (her) and (the woman) is identifiable from the image itself or information displayed in connection with the image, and (her) intimate parts are exposed in the image; and the defendant knew or should have known that the image was to remain private; and the defendant knew or should have known that (she) had not consented to the dissemination of the image."

According to the affidavit, the victim in the case, who is from Lebanon, first notified police the day after it was posted to complain about the photo.

Since the photo was posted in Rochester and police first responded to the victim at a Rochester address, police here decided to investigate the allegations.

The victim told a responding officer that she had gotten into an argument with her boyfriend over texts and Facebook Messenger and told him she no longer wanted to talk to him.

That's when he told her he was going to "post your shit" and there was nothing police could do about it.

Soon after the victim received a screenshot of the sexually explicit photograph of her that was taken from Demanche's Facebook page, the affidavit states.

The affidavit states the picture is clearly of the victim, shirtless and braless, with her breasts in full view.

The victim asserted that the picture had been sent to Demanche for his eyes only and not to be seen by anyone else. She also said that at no time did she ever give Demanche permission to post the photograph, according to the affidavit.

The officer then spoke with Demanche at his home on Lafayette Street. He told the officer he didn't post the photograph following the argument with the victim, the affidavit states. He further stated that he believed he was allowed to because "as soon as the photos were sent to him, they became his property and he could do with that property as he pleases."

He was told that wasn't the case as the photos were intended to be private and placed under arrest.

Rochester Police Capt. Jason Thomas said earlier this week that this was the first such case of revenge porn he can remember.

He added he was unsure how long it took Facebook to take down the image.

The "revenge porn" statute has only been on the books in New Hampshire for about a year, Thomas said.

Some 34 states have statutes against revenge porn as well as Israel, Germany and Great Britain.

In Maine's first case of "revenge porn" last year, a West Bath man accepted a plea deal in September for a deferred disposition for one year.

Maine passed its "revenge porn" law in 2015.

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