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Article updated: 3/17/2013 3:51 PM

New industry: Charging to remove cop mug shots from websites

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A website posts police booking pictures and then charges people to have them removed — at different rates based on how quickly they'd like the picture to come down. We've blurred out the picture and the website's URL.

Wheaton attorney Don Ramsell says a client pleaded guilty to save legal costs and time only to learn his arrest photo would remain on a website until he paid $50 to $100 for its removal.

Mark Black | Staff Photographer

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There's a chance your mug shot is already online if you were booked into the Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake or McHenry County jail in the last couple of years — even if your arrest didn't make the daily news. At least a half dozen websites now post suburban booking photos on a pay-to-remove basis. When attorneys protested, "They basically said Sue us,'" one lawyer recalled. "Eventually, just about every one of my clients paid the blood money."

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