DALLAS _ A year ago, Tim and Claire Gautreaux walked into a car dealership in Grapevine, Texas, to buy a new Prius. They say the car-buying process was what you'd expect: long and tedious.
But what happened behind the scenes is now the focus of a civil lawsuit against the dealership and one of its former sales directors, who also faces criminal charges.
Police believe Matthew Luke Thomas, the car sales director, found nude photos of Claire Gautreaux on her husband's phone and forwarded them to an email address for a swinger's website.
Thomas, 44, is charged in Tarrant County with computer security breach, a class B misdemeanor. This week, Tim and Claire Gautreaux filed a civil lawsuit against Thomas, Texas Toyota of Grapevine and Toyota Motor North America in a Dallas County court, alleging breach of contract, intrusion, negligence and public disclosure of private facts.
Tim Gautreaux, 29, is a pastor at Hope Fellowship in Frisco. His wife, Claire, works in retail management.
The couple went to Texas Toyota of Grapevine in January 2015.
Tim Gautreaux had his pre-approved financing document saved on an application on his phone. The salesman who was helping them asked to borrow Tim Gautreaux's phone so he could show the information to his manager.
He returned the phone a few minutes later and directed the couple to meet the dealership's finance manager, who asked for their pre-approved financing document and a pay stub.
That's when Tim Gautreaux sensed something was amiss. When he tried to pull up a screenshot of his pay stub from the "Photos" app on his phone, he saw that a year-old photo of his wife had been pulled up on the app.
Later, he learned that photos of his wife getting in and out of their bathtub _ from what they described as a private moment _ had been sent to an email address that appeared to be linked to a swinger's website and a Garland couple, the lawsuit says.
The emails had been deleted from Tim Gautreaux's phone by the time he got it back, but were saved on a different app that backs up his emails.
"This private moment that was intended to remind us of our happiness together was ripped away and replaced with fear and uncertainty," he said in a prepared statement Thursday.
Grapevine police said the dealership's owner told them Thomas had the phone around the time the emails were sent. The police officer investigating the dealership incident found a profile on the swinger's site that appeared to belong to Thomas, police said.
Thomas was arrested in November 2015 on the security breach charge. He was released after posting bond. His next court hearing is scheduled for Dec. 29.
He could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
Tim and Claire Gautreaux have been married for eight years and are expecting their first child. They have famed lawyer Gloria Allred on their side. She joined them at Thursday's news conference.
"These actions have caused the Gautreauxs to suffer humiliation and mental anguish, particularly because they do not know who has seen these photographs or may see them in the future," Allred told reporters.
Allred's past clients have included women who accused celebrities such as Bill Cosby and Donald Trump of sexual assault. The California-based lawyer said she became involved in the Gautreaux case because she found the allegations disturbing. She said she wonders whether anyone else has had a similar experience without realizing it.
"Were it not for the app that he had, he would not have known what happened to the photographs or that they had been viewed and forwarded," Allred said.
Claire Gautreaux. 27, said she decided to come forward with the allegations because she wants to stand up for anyone else who may have been a victim.
"I want to make sure that it does not happen to anyone else. I hope to bring awareness and prevent others from being victimized as I was," she said.
The dealership's representatives did not respond to a request seeking comment Thursday. A woman who picked up the phone at the dealership said no one named Matt Thomas works there.
