With The Recording Industry In Free Fall, Why... >>
<< Looking More Closely At Judge Gertner's...
 tdicon 
Google Tries To Make It Easy For Anyone To... >>
<< Class Action Against Apple & AT&T...
 | 

Scams

by Mike Masnick

Mon, Jul 12th 2010 1:13pm




Filed Under:
framing, prepaid mobile, texts, threats


Woman Caught Trying To Frame Ex-Boyfriend With Threatening Texts She Wrote Herself

from the yeah,-that's-not-going-to-work dept

All too often, we hear about law enforcement folks complaining about the evils of pre-paid mobile phones, with the idea being that someone (a terrorist?) might use them with no way to track them down. As with the open WiFi bogeyman, it seems that people are ignoring traditional detective-work. Take, for example, this story that reader Stan sent in, of a woman who tried to falsely frame her ex-boyfriend and his sister-in-law by purchasing a pre-paid phone in her sister-in-law's name, sending herself threatening text messages, and then going to the police and accusing the ex- and the sister-in-law of being behind them. While the police did initially arrest the pair, further investigation (by the sister-in-law and ex-) led them to the store where the woman purchased the phone. The salesman there identified the woman as buying it while pretending to be the sister-in-law. Then, the police began investigating where the threatening texts were sent from (I'm assuming they subpoenaed the phone company for tower info), and the location matched with where the text-forging woman was at the time. So, instead the police arrested her and she's now been sentenced to a year in jail.

18 Comments | Leave a Comment

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments (rss)

(Flattened / Threaded)

  1.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jul 12th, 2010 @ 1:45pm

    Threatening text will get you and those you know thrown in jail /w hearsay proof? really?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
    icon
    ECA (profile), Jul 12th, 2010 @ 1:46pm

    Fun isnt it.

    Cops are only there to arrest you..

    Judges only to take and decide Information..

    WHO acknowledged the charges from the Lady, and did the follow thru?

    1. take the complaint
    2. CHECK the complaint
    3. arrest someone..

    What happened to #2?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    identicon
    Keven Sutton, Jul 12th, 2010 @ 1:47pm

    Evidence

    I would hope that the police checked the receiving phone to see what number the threats were coming from (if you were buying a pre-paid phone and already had a phone, why would you let someone know who you were if the entire purpose of buying the phone was to threaten them in an illegal manner?). I'm sure there were plenty of vectors for the truth to come out on this one, from phone records to possession of the offending phone.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jul 12th, 2010 @ 1:51pm

    Re: Evidence

    "Deputy District Attorney Mena Guirguis said that after Manunga and her former boyfriend stopped dating in 2008, she took out a pre-paid cell phone in his sister-in-law's name, and started sending the threatening text messages to her regular cell phone."

    The phone records would have indicated that the phone was the sister-in-law's.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jul 12th, 2010 @ 1:55pm

    Re: Fun isnt it.

    2. Check The complaint.
    Police: call CellPhone Company. Who is the person that owns 555-1212
    CellPhone Comapny: The name we have in our system for that number is SisterInLaw.
    Police: Thank You

    move to Step 3.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  
    icon
    Dark Helmet (profile), Jul 12th, 2010 @ 1:59pm

    Re: Re: Fun isnt it.

    "1. take the complaint
    2. CHECK the complaint
    3. arrest someone.."

    4. ????
    5. PROFIT! (For the court system and lawyers)

    Holy shit! This time it actually worked!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  
    icon
    Phillip Vector (profile), Jul 12th, 2010 @ 2:12pm

    Re:

    How is tower information hearsay?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  8.  
    icon
    Billy (profile), Jul 12th, 2010 @ 2:48pm

    Re: Re:

    Tower information is not hearsay. They were arrested before the tower info was obtained, thus, arrested on hearsay.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  9.  
    icon
    Red Monkey (profile), Jul 12th, 2010 @ 2:52pm

    self service investigation

    So the police are now outsourcing detective work to crime victims? What do the police get paid to do? Good thing the police let them out of jail to investigate the crime. I wonder if they had to supply their own badges.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  10.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jul 12th, 2010 @ 3:12pm

    Re: self service investigation

    The department of homeland security outsources terrorist suppression to airplane passengers and considers that a systematic success.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  11.  
    icon
    interval (profile), Jul 12th, 2010 @ 3:52pm

    Re: Re: Re: Fun isnt it.

    Ha ha ha!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  12.  
    identicon
    Pixelation, Jul 12th, 2010 @ 3:57pm

    This brilliant woman will now get to spend time with the "chili finger" lady.

    Dumb criminals are dumb.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  13.  
    icon
    Phillip Vector (profile), Jul 12th, 2010 @ 4:48pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    Ah. I misread. Apparently, It is the ex who had jail time. Wasn't it? Didn't she get jail time after the tower info?

    Her ex-boyfriend and his sister-in-law didn't get jail time from what I read.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  14.  
    identicon
    abc gum, Jul 12th, 2010 @ 4:59pm

    The real evil of the pre-paid phone is that a person can get the benefits of a mobile phone without paying exorbitant monthly fees. Certainly, only a terrorist would attempt to do this.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  15.  
    identicon
    McCrea, Jul 12th, 2010 @ 6:03pm

    Re: in custody

    "They were arrested on false charges of making criminal threats and required to post thousands of dollars in bail. The sister-in-law was arrested three times, and spent some time in custody before she could gather enough funds to pay the bail on her third arrest."

    The sister-in-law spent some time in custody, which could mean jail.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  16.  
    identicon
    McCre, Jul 12th, 2010 @ 6:05pm

    Re: Re: in custody

    Dang, I definitely quote too much. Copyright infringement, sorry.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  17.  
    identicon
    Loke, Jul 13th, 2010 @ 3:13am

    Amateur.

    She should have used an anonymous telephone. Then stalked the victim and sent herself text messages from locations where the victims where known to have been. The police connects the dots and there you are. Oh and dispose of the phone permanently afterwards. And never have it on between texts.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  18.  
    icon
    Niall (profile), Jul 15th, 2010 @ 2:25pm

    Re:

    Except she'd have to leave 'her' phone somewhere else or it would show as in the same area.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


Add Your Comment

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here
Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
Save me a cookie
  • Note: A CRLF will be replaced by a break tag (<br>), all other allowable HTML will remain intact
  • Allowed HTML Tags: <b> <i> <a> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <hr> <tt>
With The Recording Industry In Free Fall, Why... >>
<< Looking More Closely At Judge Gertner's...
 tdicon 
Google Tries To Make It Easy For Anyone To... >>
<< Class Action Against Apple & AT&T...
 | 
Follow Techdirt
Flattr rss rss
A word from our Sponsors...
Sponsored Resource
Essential Reading
Techdirt Reading List
Techdirt Insider Chat

A word from our Sponsors...
Recent Stories

Thursday

12:52pm: AT&T Continues To Mock The Concept Of Net Neutrality; This Time With Google Hangouts Block (29)

Tuesday

9:46am: Why ESPN's Offer To Pay To Have Its Content Bypass Data Cap Meters Plays Right Into The Hands Of Wireless Providers (27)

Monday

11:52am: Police Follow Up Beating A 'Possibly Intoxicated' Man To Death By Seizing Witnesses' Cell Phones (131)

Friday

5:11am: Blackberry CEO Predicts Tablets Will Be Obsolete In Five Years (54)

Tuesday

8:28am: ICE Starts Raiding Mobile Phone Repair Shops To Stop Repairs With Aftermarket Parts (101)

Wednesday

5:00pm: DailyDirt: Smaller, Better, Faster Wireless (4)

Tuesday

9:07am: Judge Finds Himself In Contempt Of Court When His New Smartphone Interrupts Closing Arguments (49)

Monday

2:14pm: Boston Officials Allegedly Shut Down Mobile Service In Boston To Prevent Remote Detonation (Update: Or Not) (86)

Tuesday

9:22am: Google Competitors File Ridiculous EU Complaint Arguing That 'Free' Android Is Anti-Competitive (58)

Friday

7:39pm: California Court Rules It Illegal To Check Maps On Your Phone While Driving (108)
More arrow
A word from our Sponsors...

Close

Email This