1 week ago
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A photographer has sued a couple for defamation over their claims that he made lewd comments to their daughter during a “10-second” shoot at a street fair.
Freelance photographer Brent Nicastro filed a defamation lawsuit against Erika and Chris Lukas over their accusations after he took a picture of their 17-year-old daughter at Willy Street Fair in Madison, Wisconsin, on September 22.
According to a report by Wisconsin State Journal, Nicastro is a longtime volunteer photographer for a variety of festivals and nonprofits in Madison.
In the lawsuit, Nicastro claims that local musician Tony Castañeda was driving around the fair in a golf cart to take photos. Nicastro then says he had a 10-second interaction with a 17-year-old girl holding a chocolate-covered banana and took her photo.
According to the court documents seen by Wisconsin State Journal, Castañeda allegedly approached the girl and said something like “We are taking photos for Wil-Mar” (a reference to fair co-sponsor Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center). She allegedly responded with something like: “Not like this.”
However, 28 minutes after Nicastro took the photo, the girl’s mother Erika submitted a comment on the Marquette Neighborhood Association website stating that her daughter and her daughter’s friend “were verbally sexually harassed … by two grey-haired male fair officials.”
Erika described the incident as “unacceptable” and expressed a desire to get in touch with the two men.
According to the lawsuit filed last month, Nicastro says he received a phone call from Wil-Mar Executive Director Gary Kallas that evening regarding the allegations and returned the call the following day to deny them.
‘Significant Harm’ to a Photographer’s Reputation
Nicastro alleges that the couple falsely accused him of sexual misconduct and harassment. He claims that the girl’s parents were not present during the photo shoot and Erika and Chris appear to have relied on what their daughter told them about the incident.
Nicastro says he later sent an email to Erika and Chris denying the accusations and alleges he simply took the photo of their daughter because he thought it “would nicely illustrate someone enjoying treats from the Willy Street Fair vendors.”
Erika also filed a police report over the incident but the officer who investigated the matter opted not to refer any charges to the Dane County District Attorney’s Office. In the lawsuit, Nicastro says he told the investigating officer that he did not remember the incident with the 17-year-old girl but that based on what other people had told him about it, she and her friend must have misheard him and Nicastro.
Nicastro has now sued the couple for defamation, claiming that their comments have done “significant harm” to his reputation as a photographer. He is asking a court to bar Erika and Chris from making “further defamatory statements” about him “to anyone” and to order them “to contact the individuals that received the defamatory statements and retract those statements.” The photographer is also seeking an unspecified amount in monetary damages.
“I have lived and worked in the Marquette neighborhood [in Madison, Wisconsin] for nearly 50 years and my reputation has been spotless,” Nicastro says in a statement to Wisconsin State Journal, “I very much look forward to the truth coming out.”
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
English (US) ·