Monday, April 2, 2012 | 4:17 p.m.
Clark County Jail detainees are subjected to violations of their privacy because of campaign contributions from reality show producers to Sheriff Doug Gillespie, a Las Vegas woman claims in a new lawsuit.
The suit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court by attorneys for Lenette Beall of Las Vegas.
It says Beall was arrested on April 10, 2010, for suspicion of drunken driving and was later humiliated when she appeared on Langley Productions Inc.’s truTV series ''Inside American Jail'' and was referred to as a ''naughty girl.''
''Plaintiff has been the subject of an avalanche of personal ridicule, scorn and unwanted recognition for the way she was portrayed on Inside American Jail,'' the suit says, with her attorneys contending the footage featuring her was edited in a way to falsely suggest she had no remorse for her actions.
''The footage was edited, staged and sensationalized in an effort to demean plaintiff,'' the suit says.
The suit says Beall was extremely intoxicated at the time she was booked into jail and doesn’t recall signing a release or waiver giving "Inside American Jail" crews permission to use her image. At the time, her attorneys claim, she lacked capacity to enter into an agreement because of her extreme intoxication.
The suit complains that while jail personnel should have been honoring her constitutional rights, including her right to consult an attorney before answering questions, they instead were violating them by questioning her about her arrest ''and seeking admissions about the crime she was accused of committing in violation of her Fifth and Sixth Amendment right to remain silent.''
The suit says Langley Productions, which also produces ''Cops,'' and its owners donated tens of thousands of dollars to Gillespie’s 2010 re-election campaign beginning in 2009 — contributions that are behind Langley’s access to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department investigations, searches and arrests, as well as activities in the jail.
It’s been a ''policy, practice and custom for members of Metro to work with a production company known as Langley Productions Inc. to make its detentions and investigations worthy for television, at the expense of the constitutional rights of Nevada citizens," the suit says.
It goes on to say that at one point, Metro Detective Gordon Martines asked a Langley representative who had ordered a "Cops" crew to film Metro activities and the representative, Susan Carney, replied, ''The sheriff ordered this; we are here to help him with his campaign for re-election.''
Carney later said she was joking, records show.
Allegations about Langley’s influence at Metro were previously reported when they were considered by the Nevada Commission on Ethics. Martines unsuccessfully ran against Gillespie in 2010.
A Commission on Ethics investigatory panel, in a January 2011 opinion, cleared Gillespie of any wrongdoing.
It found he had received $45,000 in campaign contributions from Langley Productions, related company Sunrise Post Productions and related individuals. However, the panel ruled there was no evidence that Gillespie used his position to help the donors or granted them unwarranted privileges because of the contributions.
Gillespie had also told Langley officials his participation with them that year would have to be limited because of his re-election campaign.
The panel found that Metro officers who appeared in Langley shows did so voluntarily, none received extra pay for doing so and that no government funds were spent so that Langley could shoot footage.
''The filming is done during regular business hours. The film crew participates in a 'ride along' with a specific bureau. The bureau is not required to go to places they would not go otherwise,'' the panel found.
When questions were raised in 2010 about Langley’s access to the jail, a Metro spokesman told Aol News that the police department provides the same access to multiple production companies, including the Discovery Channel, NBC for Dateline and CBS for 48 Hours.
A request for comment on Friday’s lawsuit was placed with Metro, but a spokesman said the department couldn’t comment on it.
A request for comment also was placed with truTV, whose parent company is another defendant, but a spokeswoman there couldn’t immediately be reached.
Beall’s lawsuit against Metro, Gillespie, truTV parent Turner Broadcasting Systems and Langley includes counts of unauthorized use of her likeness for commercial purposes, portraying her in a false light, intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation, violation of her constitutional rights and negligent training and supervision of jail staff. It seeks unspecified damages.
This isn’t the first time truTV has been sued over an episode of American Jailhouse in Las Vegas.
Tina Vlijter, also dubbed a “naughty girl’’ by truTV, sued the network in 2010. That suit did not involve Metro.
That suit claimed Vlijter, called ''Hot Blond Tina'' in YouTube versions of her truTV appearance, also was intoxicated when she was booked and lacked the capacity to consent to the use of her image.
It alleged defamation, breach of her right to privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
That case was later closed under undisclosed terms, indicating it was settled.
Beall is represented in her lawsuit by Las Vegas attorneys Cal Potter III and Louis Schneider.
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