WWL Radio officials believe the homophobic slur tweeted from the station’s official account to talk show host Seth Dunlap earlier this month was sent from Dunlap’s personal cellphone, according to a New Orleans Police Department report.

The station also has accused Dunlap, who is 35 and openly gay, of threatening the station that he would go “scorched earth” over the tweet and demanding more than $1.8 million in compensation while he was facing personal financial troubles, said the police report, which was obtained Thursday through a public records request.

The police report, which summarizes allegations leveled by WWL Senior Vice President Kevin Cassidy and attorneys for the station’s corporate parent, Pennsylvania-based Entercom, suggested law enforcement was still working to corroborate the station’s allegations.

For now, police have classified the case as a possible extortion, which Louisiana law defines, in part, as “the communication of threats to another with the intention (to) obtain anything of value.” It is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Dunlap's attorney, Megan Kiefer, said Entercom's allegations as presented in the police report were "defamatory and self-serving," and her client maintains the company's complaint is "littered with falsehoods."

She alleged that the company's attorneys "illegally used the threat of criminal prosecution" in order to settle any potential litigation with Dunlap following the tweet at a low monetary figure. She confirmed the dollar figure he had requested.

She also said Entercom was "revictimizing" Dunlap.

Records show WWL filed its complaint against Dunlap on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Dunlap announced he had passed a lie-detector test on whether he had accessed the station’s Twitter profile to post the tweet himself or worked with someone else to do so.

Kiefer also has announced her client’s intention to sue the station, arguing that the tweet hinted at a broader homophobic culture at the station and was part of a hostile workplace.

Seth Dunlap takes polygraph test over offensive WWL Radio tweet; NOPD given reins of investigation WWL Radio on Wednesday broke a two-week silence about the homophobic slur someone using its Twitter account addressed to talk show host Seth D…

She said her client did not have password access to WWL Radio’s Twitter profile, adding Thursday, "It is truly reprehensible (the station) would be attempting to blame the victim of its own anti-LGBT culture, and they are only compounding the severe damage that Mr. Dunlap has experienced at the hands of Entercom."

The police report adds an extraordinary twist to a story that has led to criticism of WWL Radio and Entercom for what some argued was a slow response in addressing the tweet.

Kiefer’s announcement on Wednesday beat, by minutes, WWL Radio’s own statement saying it had completed an internal investigation aimed at identifying who had sent out the tweet, an inquiry that the station said involved a digital forensic expert and an outside lawyer.

Though the station didn’t publicly identify any individual as having posted the tweet, it said it had determined that bringing the information it uncovered to the NOPD was the appropriate next step.

That decision was apparently made after Cassidy, Dunlap and their attorneys met Tuesday. According to what the station told the NOPD, as detailed in the police report, Dunlap’s legal team had previously sent a letter demanding $1.85 million over the tweet.

The report said management tried to ask Dunlap about whether he had been discriminated against because of his sexuality. But Dunlap’s team objected to the questioning, and the meeting was derailed when management revealed their digital forensic expert had concluded that Dunlap “posted the (homophobic) tweet himself from his personal cellphone.”

The station said the forensic expert, John Conroy, discovered the tweet was sent from an Internet protocol address associated with Dunlap's phone, according to the police report. It said Conroy's investigation involved examining the station's "Internet system, software and hardware inside the company's offices."

According to WWL Radio, the station had been receiving “letters in the past few months regarding wage garnishment” for Dunlap’s personal debts, the police report said.

“Apparently, Mr. Dunlap has a variety of unpaid credit cards and personal loans, and the companies holding the debt are going into collections for the unpaid amount,” it said.

WWL Radio claimed Dunlap’s legal team left the meeting after telling the station’s lawyers to go to the District Attorney’s Office and “file criminal charges” if they believed Dunlap “did in fact commit extortion.”

Kiefer on Thursday portrayed the series of events differently, saying that "settlement discussions" had broken down and that Entercom had waited until that point to "refer the matter to (NOPD)."

The report released Thursday notes surveillance footage showed Dunlap was in his office with the door closed at the time the tweet was sent. He then opened the door and walked out to show his phone to a co-worker, “apparently talking about the tweet.”

Dunlap, a Washington state native, had been hosting his own weeknight show, “The Last Lap With Seth Dunlap,” on WWL Radio since 2017. He had previously co-hosted a sports show after beginning his career at the station as a sales representative.

The tweet at the center of the case went up Sept. 10. Dunlap, a sports show host, had shared a link on Twitter to his analysis of recent NFL games, and someone using WWL Radio’s account then retweeted Dunlap’s link while referring to him as “a fag.”

The tweet vanished from the station’s profile within minutes. But Twitter users had already screen-captured the slur, which attracted attention from across the country, with many sports journalists and fans condemning WWL Radio while expressing support for Dunlap.

The controversy erupted days after Dunlap had written a lengthy post on his Facebook page outlining the difficulties he had faced while working in sports media as a gay man.

Dunlap said he had been prompted to write that post after Saints quarterback Drew Brees had been mired in his own controversy after appearing in a video created by Focus on the Family – which makes no secret of its anti-LGBTQ stances – to promote Oct. 3 as “Bring Your Bible to School Day.”

While many people expressed support in response to Dunlap’s post, some comments were homophobic.

Hours after the tweet surfaced, WWL Radio denounced the slur directed at Dunlap and pledged to determine who had used the station’s Twitter profile to insult the host. The insult was sent from an iPhone, according to screenshots of the tweet.

But it wasn’t until Wednesday – more than two weeks later – that WWL Radio announced its investigation had reached any conclusions. And even then, the station said it couldn’t provide any details on the probe’s findings after having referred them to NOPD.

The NOPD's report said it had not received any documents from WWL Radio or Entercom concerning the tweet as of Tuesday night.

Dunlap hasn’t been on the air since the night the tweet was sent. He took the next night off and then announced he was taking indefinite leave.

Kiefer said she is confident any lawsuit from Dunlap will produce evidence showing the station and Entercom had allowed “an anti-gay, bigoted and hostile work environment to flourish” despite being warned of its existence.

Kiefer said Dunlap did not provide his phone to the station’s investigators but that they never asked for it. She contended Dunlap had "fully cooperated" with the station's investigation.

Kiefer said Dunlap took a polygraph exam Wednesday in hopes of helping the station’s investigation. A report from the polygraph administrator said Dunlap did not show signs of deception when he denied having any involvement with the tweet.

Polygraph results are generally inadmissible in court proceedings. Experts caution that the lack of deception in polygraph results is not the same thing as proof of innocence.

WWL’s statement Wednesday denied that the station fosters a homophobic environment and insisted it was committed “to supporting all members of the (LGBTQ) community.”

“We apologize to our listeners, clients, partners and employees for this abhorrent, disrespectful act,” the statement said.

Note: This post was updated since it was first published to include updated comments from Kiefer as well as additional details.