| Cyberbullying illustration |
A woman was arrested after she created a Facebook account to stalk herself.
Cheryl Nelson, 52-years-old, of Kent county, Michigan called police and filed a report that she was the victim of bullying, harassment and other crimes.
The woman blamed her former boyfriend and his new girlfriend for the harassment. Detective Jason Russo, handled the case in which Nelson complained that her former boyfriend, Kevin Haarsma, and his girlfriend, had left her several threatening messages as well as letters at her house, according to an arrest warrant.
Officers spoke with her former boyfriend, who told officers the he was the one being harassed by Nelson. Officers obtained a search warrant for her home computer. That is when officials learned that she set up a Facebook account and made it seem as if Haarsma’s new girlfriend was stalking her.
“This sounds like the actions of a teenager, not one of a 52-year-old woman. These are serious allegations, as cyberbullying happens and people are destroyed by them, and it has to be stopped. Luckily, the woman was caught in her lie or her boyfriend could have gone to jail over this,” cyber bullying activist Amy Garcia, 47, of Dover, Delaware told YourJewishNews.com after learning about the false Facebook bullying claim.
According to Detective Russo, Nelson admitted to falsely reporting the crimes because she was not able to let go of her relationship with Haarsma. "The evidence shows that Nelson used her computer to create fake Facebook accounts using Haarsma’s personal information. Nelson used this account to make it appear that she was being harassed and bullied by his new girlfriend, by posting threatening messages," Russo said.
Nelson was arrested after it was discovered that she filed the false police reports.