Police: Scranton man posted, shared nude photos of ex

JEFF HORVATH, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
·2 min read

Taylor police charged a Scranton man for disseminating nude photos of his ex-girlfriend using multiple social media platforms.

Police filed charges in March against Frank Battaglia, 20, 325 S. Keyser Ave., after the ex-girlfriend and her parents reported the alleged harassment. The Times-Tribune is not identifying the victim, who was a minor when the nude photos were taken.

Reached Wednesday, Battaglia said the case was “blown out of proportion.” An affidavit describing his alleged conduct was based on lies, he said.

The woman told Officer Jacob Palonis that Battaglia had been posting her explicit photos on Reddit, Instagram and Snapchat and sending them to her friends using Facebook Messenger. The two had an “on and off relationship” together for several years, Palonis wrote in the affidavit.

The woman’s mother told police Battaglia sent her explicit photos of her daughter via Snapchat in July 2021, using the username “Knarf.” The family didn’t report the matter contemporaneously because the daughter was embarrassed, police said.

The victim also told police Battaglia created Instagram accounts under her name and used them to post old explicit photos taken of her when she and Battaglia were both juveniles. The photos, some of them screenshots from FaceTime calls, were taken without the victim’s consent, charging documents note.

Battaglia posted the photos as Instagram stories and on Reddit, the woman told police.

“She stated at times the account would post her phone number or message her friends and send the explicit photos through Instagram messenger or Facebook messenger,” the affidavit notes. “(The woman) stated that Battaglia would also send the photos through Snapchat to her friends from his personal username and inform them to spread the photos.”

The explicit photographs show the victim when she was between 15 and 17 years old, she said. Battaglia also was a juvenile at the time of their relationship, but shared the explicit photos as an adult, she told police.

“This case was blown out of proportion and ... I feel like it’s an insult to my character being that the affidavit of probable cause was built on a lot of lies,” Battaglia told the newspaper.

Battaglia faces a misdemeanor count of unlawful dissemination of intimate images and a summary count of harassment. He was released on unsecured bail.

Shane Scanlon, the attorney representing Battaglia, declined to comment on the pending case.