A woman from Texas allegedly created accounts online in her ex boyfriend’s name and used them to issue murderous threats to herself and another woman, causing him to be thrown in jail several times.
In September, 22-year-old Lisa Marie Garcia purportedly began creating fake social media accounts on sites such as Facebook and Instagram using her ex-boyfriend’s name and information to create the profiles. She has been accused of using these accounts in order to issue death threats to herself and another woman with whom he has a child making it appear as if he was composing the threats himself.
Garcia used the content of the messages in an attempt to cause legal trouble for Brandon Berrott, and he was taken into custody when she reported the threats. After his release she continued using the social media accounts with Berrott’s name in order to construct more threats toward herself, and then contacting the police.
Over the next 10 days Garcia repeated this process a minimum of seven times. Each time she reported a threat Berrott was arrested due to violating the terms of his bail stating that he not contact her.
Garcia was reported to have claimed Berrott’s mother had manipulated his release by bribing a judge, though it was eventually proven untrue calling Garcia’s credibility into question.
While Berrott was in police custody Garcia attempted to perform the same pattern of sending death threats to herself with the fake accounts, and attempting to report it to the authorities. Since Berrott was already detained it was determined that there was no possible way he could have issued that particular threat.
An investigation on Garcia was opened, and it was determined that her actions appeared criminal. Charges against Berrott were dropped.
Garcia is now facing three counts of online harassment and one count of retaliation. If convicted she could receive a sentence of up to 10 years.
If you or someone you love is suspected of an online crime, contact Orange County criminal defense lawyer Staycie R. Sena at (949) 477-8088 for a consultation now.