On Thursday, Saratoga Springs (N.Y.) Police Chief Christopher Cole admitted publicly that, from his office at City Hall, he sexted explicit pics of himself to a woman with whom he'd been having an "intermittent personal relationship." Hey, at least he's being honest, right?

However, it seems that Cole was a bit, um, clumsy in discussing his sexting habits with the community, and now might face disciplinary action plus a civil lawsuit. The Post Star of Glen Falls, N.Y., which has won a Pulitzer (congrats, guys!), reports that Laurie Masi, the woman with whom Cole had the "intermittent personal relationship," asked Cole to quit sending her sexts. When he (allegedly) didn't, she contacted the police. Awkward.

News accounts don't spell out every detail, but it seems that Cole learned that Masi had contacted his department and tried to get in front of the emerging scandal by sending out a public statement:

"The relationship I had with Ms. Masi was between two consenting adults and sometimes involved conversation and texting of a sexual nature and on a few occasions involved each of us texting sexually explicit photos to each other," Cole said.

"These photos were always sent and received on my personal cell phone, however, on one occasion, while on my lunch break and not in the course of my duties as chief of police, I texted a photo from my personal cell phone from behind closed doors while in my office at City Hall."

FWIW, he's been legally separated from his wife for a few years, and she wasn't married. But Masi didn't quite appreciate being mentioned by name in Cole's statement, and hired the lawyer. It's also problematic if Cole continued sexting her after she'd asked him to stop.

As you might expect, the local media have already branded this incident Saratoga's own Weinergate, because "Colegate" sounds too much like a toothpaste, and everything sexting + public officials = Weinergate, at least until the next political sexting scandal arises. And one will, because of the sexting epidemic that's sweeping America. Your police chief could be next! [Post Star, Fox News Detroit. Image by Lasse Kristensen via Shutterstock.]