Mich. mom accused of catfishing and cyberbullying her daughter for over a year
12/19/2022 2:41 pm PST
BEAL CITY, Mich. (TCD) -- A 42-year-old mother is facing charges after she allegedly catfished her teenage daughter and sent her "demeaning" text messages over a span of months.
According to the Mount Pleasant Morning Sun, Kendra Licari was charged Monday, Dec. 12, with two counts of stalking a minor, two counts of using a computer to commit a crime, and one count of obstruction of justice for allegedly harassing her daughter and her daughter’s then-boyfriend.
Licari and the boyfriend’s mother reported the harassment to the school district in December 2021. The two worked with the Beal City Schools to find the culprit, but the Morning Sun reports the school was hamstrung at times because many of the messages were not sent on school grounds.
Licari worked as a basketball coach at her daughter’s school in 2021 but was reportedly not invited back to lead the team.
WKRC-TV reports the alleged cyberbullying began in early 2021.
According to WKRC, Isabella County Prosecutor David Barberi said prosecutors collected "several hundreds of text messages," including over 1,000 pages of discovery. The daughter allegedly received up to 12 texts in a day.
Berberi said, "By and large it was mostly just harassing-type text messages, demeaning, demoralizing, and just mean texts."
The Morning Sun reports Licari allegedly used a VPN to hide the actual location where she sent the messages and posed as different teenagers.
The FBI eventually got involved and tracked the IP address to Licari.
WWTV/WWUP-TV reports Barberi called Licari’s alleged actions as "cyber Munchausen syndrome."
Licari was booked into the Isabella County Jail and released after posting $5,000 bond.
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