Lakeway Police are investigating a bizarre case of what is described as online harassment.
The victim did not even realize there was a fake Facebook page with his name on it until he was alerted by a friend. Investigators say the person who put up the fake page was intent on ruining the other man’s reputation.
According to the affidavit, sometime between January 13 and 17, 48-year-old Jeff Layne Draper copied pictures and identifying information from the victim’s real Facebook page, then created a duplicate but added links to a pedophilia website, stated that the victim was a homosexual, and that he liked children.
Tracking down Draper took months. He now faces charges of online harassment, a third degree felony.
“From our perspective, the amount of harm that can be done in terms of reputation and integrity of the victim probably rises to at least that relative punishment,” said Benny Reid with Lakeway PD.
Draper is not in custody yet.
“We believe that based on conversations with his attorney that he will be turning himself in if he hasn’t already,” Reid said.
Professor Mary Lynn Rice-Lively teaches a social media course at the school of information at the University of Texas. She says this sort of online harassment is on the rise, and warns users of online social media sites to take advantage of privacy settings and protect themselves as much as possible.
“There are many many ways that people can kind of spoof their way into presenting themselves as somebody else,” Rice-Lively said. “I suspect that many of the sites such as Facebook and others come completely open. So unless you know how to shut different parts of the personal information down, you’re just leaving yourself open to some sort of malicious attack by other people.”
Via: KHOU.com
