Ashley Pealer, one of two Upper Cumberland Development District employees recently terminated from the agency, has filed a lawsuit in federal court accusing top officials of the UCDD of constitutional rights violations for illegally hacking into her personal messages.Attorney W. Gary Blackburn of Nashville filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee Northeast Division on Pealer’s behalf last Wednesday.The complaint alleges that violations of the Stored Communications Act, the Wiretap Act and Pealer’s Fourth Amendment rights were committed by interim UCDD Director Randy Williams and UCDD Board Chairman Mike Gannon, who is also Cannon County executive.According to the suit, text messages, private emails and Facebook communications were used to try and “embarrass and intimidate” Pealer “in retaliation for her refusal to participate in or remain silent about the illegal behavior of Wendy Askins, and to determine the extent to which she was involved in disclosing illegal conduct to the news media.”Williams reportedly terminated Pealer and her mother Kathy in June, less than two weeks after he took over as interim director of the agency.After being fired, the younger Pealer said that she began hearing from sources inside the UCDD that her private messages were being shown around, and that someone from the agency posted on her personal Facebook page from the agency cell phone after she had been forced to turn the phone in.The lawsuit alleges that: “Some 300 pages of private text messages, which were stored through Verizon, were accessed by the defendants and printed. After the text messages were printed, they were published to various persons.”The suit specifically lists Williams and Gannon as being involved in the accessing and printing of the messages.The complaint also alleges that: “At least one of the Defendants used the private password of Pealer to invade and access Pealer's Facebook account as well. The Defendants intercepted a private email communication to Pealer's Facebook account.“The purpose and intent of this behavior was to embarrass and intimidate Pealer in retaliation for her refusal to participate in or remain silent about the illegal behavior of Wendy Askins, and to determine the extent to which she was involved in disclosing illegal conduct to the news media,” the suit reads.The UCDD employee policy handbook apparently does not mention, nor are there any concrete policies regarding use of text messaging on agency-issued phones.The agency manual does, however, provide that communications stored in agency systems are the property of the agency.The suit states that Pealer “Does not assert any expectation of privacy with regard to the agency email account or voicemail.”Pealer feels that access to her private email account and private password-protected Facebook account was a violation of her rights, and that text messages which were stored through a Verizon service are not subject to rules concerning information stored on agency systems.The suit demands that Gannon and Williams be held responsible for damages in amounts no less than $1,000 for each violation and not less than $10,000 for the violation of the Wiretap Act, as well as punitive damages and attorney's fees.