Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Fake Mayor Twitter Account Leads to Police Raid

posted by LaminatorX on Thursday April 17 2014, @04:32PM   Printer-friendly
from the I-Miss-Fake-Steve-Jobs dept.

EvilSS writes:

Police in Peoria, IL raided the home of a 27 year-old resident who set up a parody Twitter account for the Peoria mayor. The raid did not result in any arrests, but computers and phones were seized and the residents questioned. The police are investigating the account for breaking a law forbidding "impersonating a public official". If the case moves forward, the alleged owner of the account, Michelle Pratt, could face a $2,500 fine and up to a year in jail.

Even if it is eventually dropped, this could have a chilling effect on satirical political speech and seems like a massive overstep by a local police force to save face for an elected official.

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Fake Mayor Twitter Account Leads to Police Raid | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 23 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by HiThere on Thursday April 17 2014, @07:38PM

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 17 2014, @07:38PM (#32808) Journal

    Since the account has now been disabled, it's now impossible to judge who is ... , it would be worse for someone who is in the public eye constantly.

    Michelle may, of course, be justified in her claim... but I have a feeling she may have pushed the envelope just a little too far. Time will tell.

    Will it? Does she have enough money to fight the case? To me it looks like unjust repression, combined with theft (and probably wanton destruction) of personal property.

    --
    Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Interesting=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   3