Well, the SOB did it. Tommy Mesereau was able to work a plea that spared Dani Mathers jail time in her invasion of privacy case. For those of you just joining us, Dani is a former Playboy centerfold who took a photo of a naked 70-year-old lady without her consent as she changed in the LA Fitness locker rooms. Dani then posted it to Snapchat with the caption, “If I can’t unsee this then neither can you”. Dani and her attorneys Tommy Mesereau, who successfully defended Michael Jackson in his child abuse cases, and Dana Cook have been trying to get the case thrown out since charges were filed. But LA City Attorney Mike Feuer has been gunning for her specifically because of her nasty body shaming of the woman. Two prior attempts by Dani’s Team to avoid trial were denied due to Dani having not shown remorse. Just last week we learned that Dani could face up to six months in prison but a last minute deal was reached. Dani pleaded no contest to invasion of privacy and for her wholly inadequate plea, she was giving a wholly inadequate punishment: graffiti removal and three years probation.
Former Playboy model Dani Mathers on Wednesday pleaded no contest to invasion of privacy after prosecutors said she secretly took a photo of a naked woman in a gym locker room and posted it on social media last year, PEOPLE confirms.
Mathers, who was named “Playmate of the Year” in 2015, was sentenced to perform 30 days of community labor — specifically “graffiti removal” — according to Rob Wilcox, a spokesman for the Los Angeles city attorney.
Pleading no contest has essentially the same effect as a guilty plea, as the defendant agrees not to dispute the charges, but does not admit guilt.
Mathers, 30, was also ordered to serve three years’ probation.Her attorney Dana Cook tells PEOPLE, “With her no contest plea, Dani Mathers has accepted responsibility for the very inappropriate photo that she took. She feels terrible for the victim and she hopes somehow, someway she can make amends. This case is a good example of how social media when used inappropriately can cause harm to even an unknown person.”
“With her no contest plea, Dani Mathers has accepted responsibility… “ Please excuse my LA vernacular but F**k you, Dana Cook. She hasn’t accepted responsibility for anything. Did she educate herself in any way after the incident to understand the outcry? No, she merely claimed, “That is not the type of person I am.” Did she volunteer to put in time at a youth center or elderly home to atone for her poor judgement? No, she just fought the charges on baseless claims that the invasion of privacy law was too ambiguous to be constitutional. The only thing she “feels terrible” about is the threat to her manicure from cleaning the graffiti. I’ll bet in a year’s time she’ll hit the media circuit with her newly published memoir, Tagged by Society: A Bunny Boiled. It will be all about how she was picked on after this case and she will cry into a monogrammed hanky. Pffffft!
Even though the LA courts feel a hand-slap is just fine here, others have let Dani know how they stand on her behavior. LA Fitness cancelled her membership and banned her from all their gyms. Not only did they call her behavior “appalling,” but they said, “It’s not just our rule, it’s common decency.” KLOS radio station fired her. I want to believe Playboy disassociated themselves form her but there is no evidence they’ve said anything at all on this. Just last Monday, California’s senate passed an invasion of privacy bill that will “stiffen the punishment for those convicted of the crime.” Too bad Dani didn’t get that extension, huh?
Photo credit: Getty Images
Oh good, glad we are now letting hot women off with sexual assault now too, not just varsity athletes. Equality for all!
She’s awful and up until the trial she was insinuating that the “truth” would come out in trial. She’s a hideous person
Article said she “showed no remorse”
There’s little difference between what she did and upskirt photos. Why wasn’t this treated like the sex crime it was?
Exactly, why is this bint not on a sex offenders register for what she did.
Also I respectfully disagree with this case being labeled as body shaming, because then it gets dismissed as some “SJW – tumblr type nonsense” when it is in fact a sex crime.
+1000
I have never understood and have used the same upskirt comparison (and sneaking a snap of someone in a dressing room).
She never seemed to grasp how taking the photo was the problem. Maybe her ‘career’ has messed up her understanding of things.
I can’t believe taking naked pictures of women is only considered body shaming or invasion of privacy. This is a sex crime period. I’m sorry but if a non-famous woman or a guy took the same picture, they would be serving time as they should. Isn’t this what the producer did to Erin Andrews and he served time!
I’m sure the poor woman whose naked pictures will forever exist on the internet feels like she was assaulted and has emotional trauma. I’m so mad!!! F_ck community service.
To be fair though, a man convicted of taking an up-skirt shot who had no prior criminal record at all would likely receive a similar sentence no?
I don’t know about upskirts but the man who posted naked pictures of Erin Andrews served time and was considered a sexual predator.
I had to look it up to remember the exact details, but what happened to Erin Andrews was quite different than what happened in this particular case. In EA’s case, Michael Barrett was found guilty of federal stalking charges when he sawed a peephole at the Nashville hotel in 2008 and spied on Andrews while she was nude. He confessed to requesting the room next to hers and creating the peephole.
Barrett uploaded videos of Andrews nude online, which were then viewed millions of times. His defense claimed that media exposure that stemmed from the uploads benefitted Andrews career (Campuzano, 2016)
I put a comment on her FB page reminding her that she is now, and always will be, a sexual predator, and she should remember that every time she looks in the damn mirror.
This case gives me a ragestroke.
I agree with everything said here but I will tell you that I am now going to use the word ‘ragestroke at every opportunity.
Ragestroke is the perfect way to describe this. I’m also going to adopt it into my vocabulary.
This is a shockingly light sentence. Is there any likelihood of it being appealed? Or at least used to pressure your politicians into strengthening your laws surrounding sex crimes?
Terrible people doing terrible things will NEVER admit they are terrible!!
No they don’t and sometimes they become president. Losers winning blows.
Stupid, hateful bitch.
She should have been made to do community service in a retirement/nursing home. Have her learn some compassion and respect for older people. If she decided to have an attitude, I would bet some of the residents would certainly give her a verbal smackdown.
Karma is waiting patiently to bite her in the ass. She deserves everything coming to her
She seems like the sort of person who doesn’t learn. Even if she did her community service in a retirement home, you could see her walking around with a disgusted look on her face the whole time. Some people just do not get it and she seems like one of those. Hopefully no one will employ her again. She’ll do p0rn. Shallow airhead.
She is the type that will “leak” a sex tape and then go on a talk show tour about how violated she feels and how she now knows how that woman at the gym must have felt. Meanwhile she will make a deal to profit from her ” leaked on purpose” sex tape. She is trash
Not sure this would be good to be honest. Older people in nursing homes are very vulnerable, abuse is common, they shouldn’t be in the hand of someone who proved that they have no respect for them. It’s like saying somebody who abused a child should work with children as a punishment/to learn how to respect children.
Completely agree. I would not want someone with her past behavior around an incapacitated loved one.
With adults, you can usually train for skill, but not character.
I hear where you are coming from, but I just wish some feisty older person would really put her in her place. The thought of someone like Dani doing what she did to someone who could have been my mother just enrages me. Cleaning up graffiti is not good enough, she should be going through the parks /off leash dog areas and picking up shit.
Rant over, time for coffee 🙂
@RBC – I understand what you’re saying, and do wish a feisty elder could set her straight. 🙂 She could use it. Imagining her around a trusting, immobile person scares me, though.
Do you ever wonder if they hire comedians to scream jokes at stars as they walk the step and repeat, because there seem to be a plethora of pictures of stars dramatically cackling their heads off at just the right moment. Like ‘look at me and how fun I am’
🙄
Apparently there is no such thing as justice anymore. All we have is a legal system. I’m sickened.
She would never be clever enough to come up with that title.
I think her punishment should be jail with release conditioned upon 2 things 1. she pays a hefty fine and 2. has her implants removed and she will have to pay for the removal. No getting out of jail until she does those 2 things.
This is because punishment for cases like hers should be unique to the individual so as to inflict maximum mental anguish. She seems like a brainless, talentless, gold-digger whose boob implants are her strategy for bagging a rich man and making a living with her boobs until she finds her sugar daddy. Thus the reason for mandatory removal of her bolt-ons.
As far as her sentence goes, she got off lightly. But never forget that she ruined her career in a matter of minutes.
Did we really need to wait for the alleged truth to come out? It was already perfectly clear she’s a steaming pile in human form.
I don’t see why this isn’t being treated like “revenge porn”. But at least now she can fade into obscurity and the victim can use her guilty plea to sue her ass off in a civil suit.
This isn’t who I am.
Yes, yes it is. It is exactly who you are, which is why you did it. You did it, and the only reason you’re all sad and stuff is because you are having to face consequences (well, a little, anyway). I don’t like to advocate vandalism, but I hope someone is able to find out where she is supposed to be doing her graffiti clean up so they can go there the night before and spray paint “Dani Mathers is an evil twat” over and over again so she has to fix it.
To paraphrase Romy and Michelle – Dani, you’re a bad person with an ugly heart.
My only hope at this point is that the woman comes forward and sues her until she’s destitute.
I don’t know how these things work exactly, but will the poor woman who got humiliated in this ordeal be able to sue her?
Did you guys see she also has to pay the victim $60. At least that’s what the news report I read yesterday said. LOL $60 what’s the point of that?!?! Don’t spend your $60 all in one place~! Like you think it would be $600 at LEAST
I read about the $60 too, are you kidding me? What is that even for and how did they come up with that amount? I hope the woman can pursue a civil case at the very least since justice was not served.
$60 was to replace the backpack seen in the picture so the victim wouldn’t be recognized by it. Bullsh*t if you ask me. More a slap in the face than anything.
She could, but she might not want the publicity. Right now, the only people who know her identity are the police and prosecutors.
I read that she had to reimburse costs associated with removing images from the internet (to the extent that’s even possible). Also, the woman might be able to sue if California law allows it. Invasion of privacy is usually a tricky cause of action, but having read a lot of the post, it might well be treated as something else–an assault, even. I see what y’all mean about the failure to treat it as a sex crime. That Dani is a predator and should have been treated accordingly.
This chick is an embarrassment. Hilarious.
it wouldn’t upset me if she is broke from hiring the big name lawyer
I, too, hope naked lady sues her till her wallet gasps for breath. It was such a mean, sh*tty invasion of privacy, just a low horrible thing for a low horrible person to do. Guess some of that silicone migrated to her brain and compromised the human aspect.
I’m wondering if the reason why they settled was so naked lady wouldn’t have to go to court.
Is she really seen as attractive? I’m not seeing it.
That’s the first thing I noticed. She is really very, very unattractive in those photos from the courthouse. It must be a combination of her general self being ugly (inside and out) and also the magic of makeup and lighting on red carpets and photo shoots. Plus that suit she’s wearing is cheap looking and fug.
Something positive- ever since this ruling came out, my gym has put signs EVERYWHERE (stalls, on the TVs, bulletin boards etc) about how you are not allowed to use your cellphone under ANY circumstances in the locker room or sauna areas. Not even a progress selfie. This has always been the policy but they are reiterating and if you get caught, even if no one is around, your membership is revoked!
Time will come for her like it comes for us all.
Her beauty will vanish and all that will be left is the ugliness inside.
She got away with this, but Karma is real and she will get hers. The nature of her nasty post told us all who she is and what she values. She will lose, and be another former Hollywood beauty. There are many of them.
She has no future, folks.
This woman has the WORST fake boobs and lips.. Looks like she used a plastic surgery Groupon. Blech.
Plastic surgery Groupon just made me actually LOL!
She’s a fine one to be body-shaming, eh? She looks the way she does on purpose!
What a disgusting, horrible human being. I feel sorry for anyone who has to deal with her, in any way, ever. A monster in human skin.
That’s ok. I’m letting time and gravity take its course. By the time she’s that woman’s age, she’ll be glad anything on her fake body is perky.
I think her career in entertainment is over too. Unless you count strip bars.
She should have gotten jail time! She only regrets it because she got caught. She will not change because she got away with it.
On top of all that she’s a shameless liar. That post was meant for all, not just a girlfriend. She’s full of it.
Unfortunately, I’m not at all surprised this happened in L.A., the home of body shaming, physical image obsession, and dysmorphic women. I have lived here (for a job) for 6 years now, and while there are plenty of nice, normal, diverse people here, this city has far more than its share of “Danis.” In fact, there is a sickening number of them—avoidable in most places, but practically ubiquitous in a few others. There is just a very competitive, mean spirit among some of the women here, and a self centeredness that is absolutely astonishing. However, usually such women pick on women closer to their own age, who they feel threatened by or competitive with, not senior citizens–which makes Dani all the uglier and more horrific, and absolutely sociopathic. Her man made “beauty” is as laughably artificial as her bolt ons, and as her “remorse.” She feels no remorse whatsoever for hurting that woman: Sociopaths only care if they get caught.
I hope she violates probation and ends up in jail!
She is back on Instagram and there are people that are defending her actions calling it a ‘mistake’. It was a ‘mistake’ for her to get off this easy. I hope the woman sues her for whatever money she has left and she will have to get a real job. I wish they would publish where she is doing her graffiti removal because I would grab a chair, and some popcorn and heckle the $hit out her all day long.
As an attorney, I don’t understand why you felt compelled to slam this woman’s lawyers, calling them POS and so on. Did they negotiate a really lenient sentence for their client? Guess what – that’s their JOB! Yes, their client is a horrible and disgusting person, but if criminal defense attorneys only defended nice, decent people, they would starve to death.
or get a better job and stop whining?
How about not everything is about you?
@Montrealaise: “if criminal defense attorneys only defended nice, decent people, they would starve to death” Are you really sure about that?
I have never practised criminal law, but I have referred many clients to criminal defence attorneys. Sure, some of the clients they represent are basically decent people who have made a bad decision, or people who are wrongly accused, but the majority of them are people like Dani and worse – murderers, rapists, con artists and other sociopaths who ruin others’ lives. Under our system of law, everybody has the right to legal representation, no matter how reprehensible they are. Or would you prefer that we deny them the right to legal counsel, put them up against a wall and shoot them, the way it’s done in North Korea?
Tell her to keep living she won’t always look like she does now. I just think stupidity has no limit. You read these stories and think what is wrong with people?
What she looks like now isn’t all that great anyway, IMO.
I feel so bad for the woman she publicly shamed, no one deserves that. What an entitled piece of crap Dani is and I hope she just goes away now (not that I knew who she was before this). What a shallow waste of a person.
This is superficial, but then again she’s highly superficial, so here goes: She’s not going to age well. She may end up hoping within 20 years that she looks as good as the lady she publicly humiliated and violated.
This case has me really riled up, she is positively vile & I hope her “career” is ruined.
I hope that one day in the future Dani will feel the way she made that woman feel. Only then will she fully understand that what she did was wrong and disgusting. Looks fade and Karma’s a b*tch.
She learned NOTHING. All she wanted was to avoid jail time and to be absolved of her guilt, because she thinks she’s the one being picked on. And that POS lawyer’s statement? What justice has been served? Giving the woman she decided to humiliate $60? What amazed me was seeing people who insisted that “picking on Dani” wasn’t going to help the situation because people were being “mean” to her.
Ugh, I’m going to be mean. She has one of those jaws that takes up most of her face. It juts forward in an ugly manner. Ugly heart, ugly face. 🙁
Her smile just looks evil to me.
Yes to all this, but to put it in perspective, our so-called president has done and said so many equally (and sometimes more) horrific things, that it makes this chick’s crime pale in comparison. Oh for the outrage and ANY punishment for that d-ck.
30 days of community service is a joke. Even the maximum penalty of 6 months in jail would be a slap on the wrist. This is a sex crime for pity’s sake.
There’s the famous tale of the Beauty and the Beast. She may think she’s the beauty, but no. IMO she’s the Beast and it will show more every year. Every time she makes bitchy, negative comments about anyone, those around her will be reminded of her mean nature.
The only upside is that she was probably hoping to parlay her bunny ears into acting but that’s not gonna happen now. She will likely marry a billionaire and well…. ew…
Did the victim not get any kind of compensation? Surely a nice lump sum for a nice holiday and for future legal bills (in case your neighbours bring up that pic) would help a lot?
How did Mathers get off the legal hook so easily? Did she gratify some people personally in playboy style? did she have compromising playboy bunny information on some people?
Oops, sorry for the double post, 41. and 42.
If wanted I think 41 could get deleted.
Did the victim not get any kind of compensation? Surely a nice lump sum for a nice holiday and for future legal bills (in case your neighbours bring up that pic) would help a lot?
Not just the victim is affected by this case. But there are lots of people who have a high(er) BMI and who don’t go to gyms nor to sports clubs for precisely these reasons. And that is why body-shaming is so very very harmful. It is like preventing people to get medical attention when they need medical attention. It is absolutey disgusting.
How did Mathers get off the legal hook so easily? Did she gratify some people personally in playboy style? did she have compromising playboy bunny information on some people?
Surely Mathers could have received a more “educational” punishment? Some punishment where she learns how much she has hurt that lady and how much damage body-shaming does to humans.