Police Officer Accused of Negligence in Jeong Jun-young Illegal Filming Case Receives Suspended Prison Sentence in First Trial

Singer Jung Joon-young / Photo by Jang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] A police officer accused of conducting a negligent investigation into singer Jung Joon-young's illegal filming case was sentenced to a suspended prison term.

According to the court on the 26th, Judge Shin Hyuk-jae of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 4 sentenced police officer A (57), who was indicted on charges of dereliction of duty and bribery, to six months in prison with a one-year suspension and a fine of 50,000 won on the 22nd. A confiscation order of 17,667 won was also issued.

Earlier, A was prosecuted for negligently investigating the case while working as the team leader of the Women and Youth Division at Seongdong Police Station in Seoul, handling a report in August 2016 stating, "Jung Joon-young filmed sexual intercourse scenes on his phone without permission. There is fear that the video will be distributed," and for colluding with Jung Joon-young's lawyer.

According to the prosecution, as the police investigation proceeded, Jung Joon-young entrusted his phone to a forensic company and denied the illegal filming charges at Seongdong Police Station, stating that "the victim was believed to have consented to the video recording, and the video was deleted immediately after filming."

However, A reported to the command chain that "Jung Joon-young admitted to the charges," and it was investigated that he conveyed the opinion to send the case with a prosecution recommendation without conducting phone forensics. Additionally, despite the command chain's further instructions to secure the phone, it was found that A contacted the forensic company requesting a certificate stating "the phone was damaged and could not be recovered." He was also indicted for receiving a meal worth about 17,000 won from the lawyer during the visit to the forensic company.

Subsequently, the prosecution conducted its own forensics after voluntarily receiving Jung Joon-young's phone, but the video had already been deleted and could not be secured. Jung Joon-young was not prosecuted on October 5 of that year due to insufficient evidence.

Judge Shin found A guilty of the charges. He stated, "As an investigating police officer, the duty of integrity and diligence is required more than anyone else, but in this case, the essential investigative procedures to secure evidence in a sexual violence case were not fully carried out, and the case was formally sent to the prosecution with a mere prosecution opinion," adding, "This goes beyond simple negligence in performing duties faithfully and amounts to conscious neglect or abandonment."

Judge Shin said, "Although the amount of bribery received was small, the act during the investigation process to secure evidence actively raised doubts about the fairness of duty execution, damaging social trust in the fairness of the investigation, so the culpability is not light," but also noted, "Considering the absence of prior criminal records and the fact that he worked diligently for a long time without special disciplinary actions, the sentence was determined by comprehensively considering these mitigating factors."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.