Toni Marie Angeli, for a Harvard photography course, decided to make her four-year-old son Nico the subject of her final class project, The Innocence of a Child's Nudity. After discussing the project with her professor, Angeli began her project with a few shots of Nico and made the fatal mistake of taking her roll of film to Zona Photographic Labs on Rogers Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Zona owners were "alarmed" and called the Cambridge police, who went to Zona, looked at contact sheets prepared by Zona without Angeli's authorization, and decided that the pictures were "gross." Zona and the Cambridge police set up a sting operation, requiring Zona employees to lie, so that the police could come to Zona and confront her about her "pornography" when she came to pick up her negatives. On November 2, Angeli went to Zona, accompanied by Nico and by her husband, Luke D'Ancona. An altercation ensued when Angeli realized why the police were there. Angeli was handcuffed, manhandled into a back room, beaten and choked. During the scuffle a lamp was knocked over, and a picture fell off the wall. A hollow core door was also damaged when Angeli kicked out as she was being escorted to the police van.
Angeli was never charged with child pornography, but she was charged with disorderly conduct, malicious destruction of property under $250, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. (The police claimed that Angeli threw the lamp.). Angeli's trial began on January 24, 1996, and a verdict was brought in on January 30. She was acquitted of the assault-and-battery charges, but convicted on the two other counts. The judge sentenced her to pay damages, to 50 hours community service, and to 18 months of probation. Angeli refused to sign the probation contract, stating that she wished to make no admission of guilt. The judge then sentenced her to 30 days at MCI Framingham. We are currently trying to raise money to pay for her appeal.
It now appears that Angeli's conviction was based on perjured testimony from Detective William Phillips.
Here's what the Boston Coalition for Freedom of Expression had to say about Zona when it placed them on their annual villains list:
Zona Photographic Labs, for prurience that passeth understanding. Last October an employee at this Cambridge facility spotted a few innocuous nude pictures of photography student Toni Marie Angeli's 4-year-old son on a roll of film Angeli had shot for a class project and dropped off to be developed. The staff of Zona instantly went into orbit, leeringly imagining the worst, and notified police. Conniving enthusiastically with smut-busters on the Cambridge police force, Zona employees then helped set up a clumsy, heavy-handed sting operation that enabled police officers to intercept Angeli in Zona's outer lobby and confront her publicly with "a crime of pornography." Outraged, Angeli responded with a burst of anger that led to her arrest and a 30-day jail sentence. Meanwhile, Zona conducted an insufferably whiny program of damage control, demonizing Angeli to a ludicrous -- and libelous -- degree. Any photographer who cares about artistic freedom, respect for artists, and everyone's right to privacy should go to whatever lengths necessary to avoid Zona.
If you're concerned about Toni Marie Angeli's plight, here are a few places to call or write.