Cyberstalking, impersonation and threats.

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ksmith20092008

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When I was dating a previous boyfriend, he had me send some nudes to potential swingers. We never did anything with these people but they had my nudes which my idiot boyfriend didn't edit to exclude my face and they figured out my name from e-mail correspondence. They figured out where I worked and threatened to send pics to my work and threatened us. My boyfriend paid them off. This was probably 7 years ago.

Well fast forward to a couple years ago and this guy is back posting my nude pics on craigslist stating my name and where he thought I lived. He now knows that's not where I live and he's trying to find me by setting up fake Myspace, Facebook and other profiles. He's defaming me by posting other pictures of a woman having sex with a bunch of men with the face blurred out along with my actual nudes in the hopes that they will think the sex pics are also me.

In order to get some information from him we contacted him via facebook under the guise of an old friend in order to see if we could figure out who he was. After a while he fessed up to not being me but he thinks my fake e-mail account is legitimately friends with me so he's constantly telling me to forward things to myself, very threatening e-mails (slitting throat, exposing my pics to work, etc, etc) if I don't have sex with him. My husband (not the original boyfriend) knows everything and is fully supportive in tracking him down but I'm scared from a professional and physical standpoint.

We've gone to the cops and filed a report but they are of no help. They told us that they would eventually assign a detective but since it's not a violent crime it's at the bottom of the list.

Here's my question: What the heck can I do to protect myself and get this guy? I've noticed that you mentioned getting a lawyer to get an information subpoena. Can a lawyer file a restraining order? Does that mean that this person will now know my new married name because that's the only thing he doesn't know and it's the only thing from him knowing where I live and who I am. Why do I have to cower in fear with no protection from the system? It's incredibly frustrating. Thank you for your time.
 
This is a good question. To begin, you might as well contact MySpace and Facebook and Craigslist to preserve the evidence and providing them a copy of the police report (I think if you omitted your name that would be fine.) It is possible that you might be able to obtain the information on file at those companies such as, e.g. email address and IP address of the poster. At that point, I'll be honest - I haven't had to file suit and withhold the name of the plaintiff so I'm not quite sure. Given the fact that "libel per se" (where you don't have to prove damages because they are obvious) usually extends to sexual history of a woman, it is possible that there may be some statute that will give you the protection you need. With regard to a lawyer filing a case, you may need to do so against a "John Doe" in order to obtain the information if the companies are not willing to provide it. I'm sorry to hear your problem and wish you luck. Hope we can help.
 
Thanks for your response. We have been in contact with all the websites and with the exception of craigslist, none will give the pertinent information without a subpoena. Would we have to get a subpoena for each instance or can we get a blanket subpoena? Can we file criminal charges without the aide of the police? (I'm sure not) It's really frustrating because there is an open police report that we've basically been told nothing will be done on. In Georgia it's a misdemeanor the 1st conviction and a felony the second. If we can't ever get the first one, how can we hope to get to the felony?

Is it possible to file a restraining order or something that requires this person to cease his postings? We are hopefully in the process of tracking him down through an investigative service, at that point could we sue civilly?
 
1. you cannot file a criminal claim. On the DA's office can.

2. I figured you'd need the subpoena. When I was in house we did it the same way.

3. You'd have to file against John Does. How can you get a restraining order against defendants you don't yet know or can identify?

4. Yes, you can sue civilly if you find out the "who".
 
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