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Playboy Model Convicted Of Resisting Arrest During Traffic Stop

Tribune photo by CLIFF MCBRIDE

"This isn't the way I thought it was going to turn out," Playboy model Rebecca Reyes said of the jury's verdict Tuesday.

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By THOMAS W.  KRAUSE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 1, 2008

Updated: 04/01/2008 06:19 pm

TAMPA -- Despite a 21-year-old model's contentions that she was roughed up by Temple Terrace Police, a six-member jury today took about 20 minutes to determine she was guilty of resisting them.

A Temple Terrace police officer testified today that Rebecca Reyes became belligerent when she was pulled over for faulty taillights. She was arrested after cursing at the officers and ignoring their demands that she get back inside her truck.

Reyes' defense attorney said the two large officers pushed her to the ground, cuffed her behind her back and yanked her up again, scraping her arms and face – all because they couldn't handle a simple traffic citation.

"My client was physically abused by law enforcement that day," attorney Jay Hebert told the jury. "They escalated a taillight ticket."

Hillsborough County Judge Tom Barber sentenced Reyes to pay court costs and a $500 fine. She must serve 12 months on probation and work 48 hours community service picking up trash for the sheriff's office. When she finishes the community service, she can petition the court to have her probation ended early.

After the trial, Reyes said she did nothing wrong.

"This isn't the way I thought it was going to turn out," she said. "But I do respect the jury's verdict."

Asked whether she would have done anything different that night, Reyes said: "I probably wouldn't have cursed. That seemed to offend a few people."

On Dec. 23, Reyes was driving home from a shopping trip when Officer William Cooper noticed the taillights on her small pickup were not working. He followed her into her apartment complex.

While he was writing her a ticket, she got out of the truck. He told her to get back inside.

Reyes told Cooper she needed to get something. About three or four times, Cooper said, he told her to return to the cab.

"She got very belligerent," Cooper testified. "She started cursing and said she would not."

A second officer arrived to ask Cooper whether he needed help. The two arrested Reyes.

Reyes, testifying on her own behalf, said she got out of her truck to walk around to the passenger side. She said she had just bought her boyfriend a Christmas present and was going to get it out of the cab to put it in the bed of the truck so he wouldn't see it.

As soon as she got out, Cooper told her to get back into the truck.

"I said 'yes, OK, I will, just let me tell you what I needed,'" Reyes said. "I just needed to get my bag."

The second officer repeated the order. When she told that officer she needed to get her bag, he grabbed her by the arm, Reyes said.

Assistant State Attorney Elizabeth Frau asked Reyes whether she cursed at them.

"Oh yeah," Reyes said.

She said she was scared and didn't know what they were doing. When they slammed her onto the hood of a patrol car, she said, she started to yell for her boyfriend, or for anyone within earshot. She said she pushed against the officers, to keep her face from getting pushed onto the car. That's when they said she was going to jail.

"I was yelling 'Why are you doing this?' " Reyes testified. "I was just screaming. It was a nightmare."

Frau told the jury that the officers' actions were not extreme given the circumstance Reyes created.

"Do they have reason to fear Ms. Reyes?" Frau asked. "They don't know. They don't know what's in her car."

Reyes appeared in the July issue of Playboy and models under the name Reby Sky. She has also modeled for Esquire, GQ and Stuff magazines.

Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tampatrib.com.

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