Candidate running for Phoenix mayor using photographer's images without permission

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - A local political photographer says a candidate running for mayor of Phoenix is using his images without his consent.

He says he's asked her repeatedly to take them down, but says she isn't cooperating.

The candidate is a woman named Alexandra De Scheel.

Fox 10 confirmed with the city of Phoenix that she has jumped through all of the hurdles up to this point to run for mayor of the city.

The photographer, Jonathan Williams, contacted Fox 10 because he says he's gotten no where in getting her to stop using his images on her campaign website.

"There were three of my images on her site," Williams said.

"How do you know those were yours?"

"Well, they had my watermark on them for one," Williams said.

Williams showed Fox 10's Ty Brennan the originals on his computer. He says when he reached out to her and asked her to take them down, he was told they were revamping the website and they would.

Bue he says after a few days, the images were still up, so he reached out again.

"I got a message from her husband on Facebook saying I need to stop harassing her and they're going ot take me to court," Williams said. "They're going to take me to court for harassment when they're committing copyright infringement and they're running for a mayor position. It's absolutely insane."

He says if she were to have asked to use the images in the first place, they could have worked out a deal.

Now, he just wants his images removed from her site.

"I want to see integrity in every office. Democrat, Republican, Independent, whatever. There has to be integrity and if you're going to skimp on something as small as a photo, like what are you going to do when you get into office? Bottom line, I want to see these things exposed and to do what's right," Williams said.

Fox 10 reached out to De Scheel for comment through multiple channels and have not heard back.