Lawsuit: DNR employee looked up license info for dating website
The Department of Natural Resources employee accused of illegally accessing driver's license data was using the information to screen women on an online dating website, according to a Mankato law firm.
Farrish Johnson Law Office filed a class-action lawsuit against 48-year-old John Austin Hunt of Woodbury after he allegedly accessed more than 19,000 motor vehicle records in a five-year span and kept an encrypted file with 172 driver’s license photos of women on his computer.
Hunt was fired from his position in January and is now facing criminal charges.
Attorney Scott Kelly tells the Mankato Free Press that Hunt was using the records to cross-reference profile information for women on Match.com.
The records could show whether the women were using their real photographs of themselves and being truthful about other personal information such as address, age, height, weight and full name.
Kelly says one woman that met Hunt reported he knew things about her that he shouldn't have.
Hunt searched data for more than 7,000 people, about 94 percent were female.
Kelly says 15 women and two men have joined the suit so far, but more are expected.
The Star Tribune reports at least nine federal lawsuits have been filed in the last year relating to DVS misuse.
Farrish Johnson also filed suit against the state alleging that an unnamed employee at the Minnesota Department of Human Services accessed 1,100 motor vehicle records without an authorized purpose.
