Kent County, MI – Here’s a strange one for you. A Comstock Park woman is in trouble with the law after admitting to making a false Facebook account meant to mimic her ex-boyfriend (complete with pictures, personal info) to make it look like his new girlfriend was threatening her.
… Or something.
Cheryl Nelson is facing criminal charges (specifically false report of a felony and unlawful posting of a message) for a year of “catfishing” herself as her ex-boyfriend, Kevin Haarsma, on Facebook. The 52-year-old made eight criminal complaints over the course of a year saying that she had been a victim of stalking, harassment, assault and home invasion.
Of course, none of that actually happened.
In August 2012, Nelson told Kent County Sheriff’s Detective Jason Russo that her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend had left threatening letters taped onto the front of her home.
She lodged further complaints regarding additional letters, but Russo also received a report from Haarsma that she had been stalking and threatening him. The detective then got a warrant to search Nelson’s home and computer equipment.
He wrote:
“Nelson made (an) admission that she had been falsely reporting crimes because she was not able to let go of her relationship with Kevin. Evidence shows that Nelson used her computer to set up false Facebook accounts using Kevin Haarsma’s personal information… Nelson used this account to make it appear that she was being stalked and harassed by Kevin’s new girlfriend by posting threatening messages.”
Nelson won’t be charged as a habitual offender if she cops to her current charges, a deal which she is said to be considering.
Sounds crazy, right? In fact, the use of Facebook, especially after a bad breakup, can indeed make you crazy . You can read all about it at Social News Daily (in the interest of full disclosure, I wrote the article I am now linking you to).
What do you think of Cheryl Nelson’s attempted Facebook frame-job? Have you heard of people doing even crazier things with social media? Let us know in the comments below.
[Image via: Annette Shaff, Shutterstock ]
