False claim image shows Trump probation officer 'Rohondra Williams' | Fact check
The claim: Image shows Trump probation officer 'Rohondra Williams'
A June 1 Threads post (direct link, archive link) connects an image of a female police officer to former President Donald Trump's conviction in his hush money trial in New York.
"Meet: Rohondra Williams Trumps (sic) Probation Officer," text on the image reads.
The post was liked more than 600 times in two days. A similar post on Instagram was liked 44,000 times in two days.
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Our rating: False
The image is miscaptioned. The image shows a police commander with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, not a probation officer from New York. Probation would be assigned as part of a sentence, and Trump has not yet been sentenced in the case.
Image shows Indiana police commander, not New York probation officer
Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts in his hush money trial in Manhattan on May 30. Before Trump is sentenced on July 11, he could be interviewed by the New York City Department of Probation for a pre-sentence report, which is a document that makes recommendations for sentencing and is used by a judge to help decide an appropriate punishment, according to the New York State Unified Court System website.
But the image in the Threads post does not show a probation officer named "Rohondra Williams."
Instead, the image shows Commander Nikole Pilkington of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department in Indiana.
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The same photo of Pilkington was used by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2022 for a feature titled, "Policing While Black and Female: Five Voices from the Field." The feature identifies Pilkington as the woman in the photo, which also shows her wearing an Indianapolis police shoulder patch and a name badge that includes her first initial and last name.
In a March 5, 2024, post on X, formerly Twitter, Rick Snyder, president of the Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police #86, congratulated Pilkington for being appointed commander of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department's Southwest District. The post includes a similar photo of Pilkington.
There are no credible news reports about a probation officer named "Rohondra Williams" being assigned to Trump's criminal case in New York. The former president has yet to be sentenced, and if probation is part of his sentence, an officer could be assigned to him after that point.
The Police Department's website also lists Pilkington as commander of the Southwest District.
The Threads user did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The New York City Department of Probation also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Our fact-check sources:
Rick Snyder, March 5, X post
New York State Unified Court System, accessed June 4, Pre-Sentence Report
U.S. Department of Justice, March 2022, Policing While Black and Female: Five Voices from the Field
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, accessed June 3, IMPD Southwest District
Nikole Pilkington, accessed June 3, LinkedIn
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Image does not show Trump probation officer in NY case | Fact check