SALISBURY, Md. (WBFF) — Letters obtained by Spotlight on Maryland reveal a private confrontation between Wicomico County’s two most prominent elected officials escalated into accusations of “revenge porn” and “nude selfies.”
The letters, released late Wednesday after a public records challenge by Spotlight on Maryland, provide a different account than the one offered by County Executive Julie Giordano hours earlier.
In a Sept. 12, 2024, letter sent on official county letterhead to Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis, Giordano formally requested an investigation into the “alleged sharing of pornographic images of me by one of your deputies.”
She claimed the sheriff had acknowledged seeing such images and asserted that the deputy’s actions violated state law.
“I have never consented to the creation of any visual representation of myself with my intimate parts exposed or while engaged in an act of sexual activity,” Giordano wrote. “I have never provided consent to distribute any visual representation of me with my intimate parts exposed or while engaged in an act of sexual activity.”
Giordano wrote that Lewis told Matthew Leitzel, Wicomico County’s deputy director of administration, that “‘revenge porn’ only applies in the context of an intimate relationship between the parties.”
“While I agree that no such intimate relationship exists between myself and the deputy in question, your interpretation of Maryland’s revenge porn statute is incorrect,” Giordano wrote. “That law does not require an intimate relationship between the individuals for the prohibition against distributing explicit images to apply.”
She added: “No member of the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office or any other law enforcement agency has permission to possess any visual representation of myself with my intimate parts exposed or whole engaged in an act of sexual activity.”
“This matter is straightforward: either a deputy shared a nude photograph of me, or they did not. If such an image has been shared, this constitutes a criminal act,” she added.
Giordano said she was prepared to cooperate fully with any investigation.
Public records now obtained show that Lewis responded to Giordano on Oct. 4, 2024, with a scathing rebuke.
“Since we last discussed your sharing of ‘nude selfies’ to one of my deputies, neither you nor anyone else requested an investigation be initiated into the possible dissemination of these ‘pornographic’ photos,” Lewis wrote. “Photos, of course, that any viewer would quickly discern were self-generated, self-created, and ultimately self-distributed.”
Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis’s letter sent to Wicomico County Executive Julie Giordano on Oct. 4, 2024. (Wicomico County Government)
Quoting a portion of Giordano’s letter where she wrote that no one has authorization to possess intimate images of her, Lewis wrote, “Perhaps, you should have thought about that before you sent those selfies from your phone.”
In your words, this matter is straightforward: You have a choice to make, Madam County Executive,” Lewis wrote. “As a key witness to the nude selfies, I stand fully prepared to testify as to how a deputy requested permission to enter my office and shut my door. While standing next to my desk, the deputy proceeded to scroll through multiple nude selfies of you, clearly taken by you, now being shockingly displayed on my deputy’s cellphone.”
Lewis further said that the alleged images were never forwarded to his phone or that he had been in possession of the disputed pictures.
“But, one can only wonder how many others have seen or been forwarded (perhaps by you) these same photos,” Lewis wrote. “As for the visual representation of you engaged in sexual activity, I have never claimed to see that video.”
The Wicomico County sheriff then said that he was conflicted on an internal investigation into the matter. He said that he was “more than willing” to request an investigation into “where these pornographic images (nude selfies) originated.” He added that the request would be made through the Maryland State Police or the Office of the State Prosecutor.
“Once the investigation commences, it will likely result in the issuance of a search and seizure warrant of your cellphone (personal and government) by investigators to conduct a complete forensic examination to confirm that the same photos shown to me did in fact originate from one of your cellphones, or a previous cellphone owned by you,” Lewis wrote.
Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office headquarters on Thursday, June 4, 2026. (Steve Pierce/Spotlight on Maryland)
He said that all deleted messages, photos, and emails “are fully-recoverable despite one’s best attempts to destroy them.”
“Of course, once the investigation concluded, you will no longer be able to deny to your own administration or to the citizens of Wicomico County that these photos not only exists, but so do your text messages, phone logs, and other video evidence detailing your activities and life as Wicomico County Executive,” Lewis wrote.
Lewis said that “as the sheriff of Wicomico County, I’m deeply hurt and embarrassed that a fellow elected official would bring such disrepute onto a county where I was born and raised.”
Our citizens deserve better,” Lewis wrote.
The sheriff gave the county executive two weeks to respond to how he should proceed. No further public records were provided beyond that date containing specific terms sources provided Spotlight on Maryland, including “nudes” and “pornographic.”
Earlier this year, Wicomico County’s attorney told Spotlight that the records would be withheld, arguing their release would constitute an “unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” and they were part of an “investigatory” record.
Wicomico County’s attorney, Andrew Illuminati, wrote Spotlight on Maryland on Wednesday afternoon explaining the reversal of its decision, saying the release of the records is now a public interest due to reporting and “the matter has not been referred to an outside agency for investigation.”
“The Sheriff’s Office confirmed that there are no preservation notices to cell phone companies, there is no known evidence that images still exist and that there is not a ‘cease and desist’ letter or any other letter from the Sheriff instructing the County Executive ‘to cease sending semi-nude, nude, or pornographic photos of herself to sheriff deputies’ quoting from [Spotlight on Maryland’s] article,” Illuminati wrote.
Wicomico County Attorney Andrew Illuminati’s letter to Spotlight on Maryland sent on Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (Wicomico County Government)
After Spotlight on Maryland first reported on Tuesday that Giordano denied sending nude pictures to deputies, she held a press conference in Salisbury with two hours’ notice to media.
Video footage from Mike Goldberg, producer for ‘Open Agenda,’ a show seen on Wicomico County’s Public Access Channel 14, shows the full press conference.
For the last three years, three years, I have been forced to address the same false allegations over and over again,” Giordano said to the media. “I want there to be absolutely no misunderstanding about what I am saying: As the county executive of Wicomico County, I have never sent inappropriate photographs to a deputy, to a county employee, or to anyone else.”
“I never have. I never would. Period. These allegations are completely false,” Giordano added.
Giordano said the allegations are a “deliberate attack on my character, my integrity, my reputation.” She went on to attack reporting and questions about alleged – now obtained – letters that were sent between her and the sheriff.
“What makes this even more outrageous is the story today is supposedly about letters, yet the entire story became a vehicle to resurrect years-old rumors about alleged photos that have never surfaced because they do not exist,” Giordano said. “Let’s be honest about what happened here: the letters were simply the excuse. They were the hook. They were the masquerade used to drag these false accusations back into the public eye for one purpose: to damage me politically and personally.”
“This is fake news at its finest,” Giordano added.
Wicomico County Executive Julie Giordano told Spotlight on Maryland on Thursday, June 4, 2026, at Salisbury University that she has not received a letter telling her to stop sending alleged nude photos to sheriff’s deputies. (Steve Pierce/Spotlight on Maryland)
At the conclusion of the press conference, Giordano said she “would not be taking any questions.”
The video showed that people inside the room shouted questions at Giordano as she left, asking if the photos were distributed before she became county executive. Another woman asked if Giordano believes Lewis is “behind this.”
After the news conference, Spotlight on Maryland sent the following questions to Giordano:
Spotlight on Maryland twice asked Giordano by text message on Monday if she “ever had any sexual or otherwise intimate relationships with any member of the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office.”
“[T]his conversation is over talking to you is literally not even worth my time. I’ll wait and hear from the attorneys,” Giordano wrote on Monday to Spotlight on Maryland. “Oh, by the way, this whole texting conversation is off the record. I was literally trying to help you see the entire picture, but it’s obviously not worth my time.”
Spotlight on Maryland responded that it never agreed to be off the record.
“All of your questions will be answered in the letters,” she wrote back.
Do you have any tips or information related to this story? Send news tips to gmcollins@sbgtv.com or contact Spotlight on Maryland’s hotline at (410) 467-4670.
Follow Gary Collins on X and Instagram. Spotlight on Maryland is a collaboration between FOX45 News, WJLA in Washington, D.C., and The Baltimore Sun.
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