Lengthy Internet Harassment

What is the name of your state? Ohio

My problem with an internet stalker/harasser has gone on since 2001, but the past few years have been the most troublesome.

Someone has publically accused me of 1) calling in a bomb threat on a train leaving Penn Station and 2) accused me of sending someone bullets via federal mail. This person is careful when posting such things on her yahoo group and doesn't come right out and name me, but many people in the community know she is referring to me by the 'hints' she gives.

The bomb threat - I had just left Penn St after visiting a sick friend in another state. My friend posted, saying I had made it to my train on time and would be returning home. Within hours, the post about the bomb threat appeared.

The federal mail accusations - This person says I sent bullets in the mail to a woman in the UK. This person says the package has been traced back to my post office and as soon as they have proof it was me, I'll be dealt with. Again, she doesn't mention me by name, but her recent description of me tells people in our online community who she's talking about.

I've contacted my local law enforcement about her before and they've done nothing. I've contacted HER local law enforcement about her before and again, though they were sympathetic and went so far as to say they had 'quite a lengthy list of complaints' from her about numerous people, they didn't do anything.

It seems to me that it should be just as illegal to falsely accuse someone of federal crimes as it is to commit them.

This person has been removed from many forums that our community is part of, so her accusations can't be voiced there. However, she owns a yahoo group and she freely and frequently defames me, though not by name.

What can I do to get this business stopped? Please don't tell me to 'leave the community' or to 'ignore her', as I've done all that in the past, only to have the harassment continue and even get worse. I've complained to Yahoo dozens of times over the past seven years about this person, yet she continues on.What is the name of your state?

How would this person know when you've arrived/departed from a train station?

The sick friend I'd gone to visit posted in passing on our own Yahoo group to our friends there that she'd just taken me to the train station. The stalker claims to not be a member of our yahoo group, but we know better. I had the post removed when I got home that night. The stalker person then posted this the very next day:

A friend in NY called last night and told me there was a bomb threat for one of the trains leaving Penn station in NY yesterday.
MY GOD where will it all end?
It turned out to be a hoax, but My God. Even a hoax about a bomb in this day and age is no laughing matter. Too many people have already died in too many acts of violence. The stupidity has got to stop!

As to how she knew when I was arriving or leaving, her stalking is so severe that she'd have looked up the trains leaving, arriving, whatever.

"A friend in NY called last night and told me there was a bomb threat for one of the trains leaving Penn station in NY yesterday.
MY GOD where will it all end?
It turned out to be a hoax, but My God. Even a hoax about a bomb in this day and age is no laughing matter. Too many people have already died in too many acts of violence. The stupidity has got to stop!"

How does that post even come close to identifying you as the person who called in the bomb threat?

It's very hard for me to convey the depths this woman will go to in order to get at me. All one has to do though is look up a train schedule for the state I visited and the state I live in to see that all trains go through Penn Station. She knows where I live, she knows where I visited and the rest is pretty easy to figure out.

The woman has made numerous accusations about me over the past several years, so when she says something like this that isn't true, we know who she means.

Another friend of mine was trying to become a vicar in her home country. The same stalker dug around, found an email address to someone she thought was in charge of choosing new vicars, emailed the man and also passed around the email address to others so my friend wouldn't be chosen.

Yet another gal I am no longer friends with, but was acquainted with for a few years: She'd gotten a good job at a city office. She used her work computer during lunch to post to groups and such. The same stalker got the IP from one of those posts, provided it to the gal's bosses at the city department, said the gal was sending her harassing emails and the gal was fired. This same gal was going to Los Angeles for the weekend once. She posted on her own group that she was going to LA. The stalker lives in Louisiana and actually had her local police chief call the gal, ask her if she was coming to Louisiana and told HER to leave the stalker alone!

I'm not the only one she's stalked and harassed. But I'm the one who's sick and tired of it.

so this lady has unlimited abilities and computer knowledge to find out personal information of all of your friends and stalk them also?

Have you and your friends ever figured out why this person is stalking you?

you never answered my question about the bomb threat post. No reasonable person can read the supposed post of the stalker and figure out that you are the person who called in the bomb threat.

stephenk said:

so this lady has unlimited abilities and computer knowledge to find out personal information of all of your friends and stalk them also?

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Anyone can get an IP from an email and track it. And it's not 'all' my friends. I mentioned some of the people I am or have been friends with. These are just people I konw about. There could be others as well. But yes, she is very good on the computer. Her police chief can even back that up.

Have you and your friends ever figured out why this person is stalking you?

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To get into that, I'd have to go way back to 2001 and it's all just snowballed from there. To make a long, boring story short, the stalker impersonated someone online, a celebrity of sorts, and a huge dramatic story to go along with her impersonation. I got proof that she was doing it and told certain people, a few of whom know the real celebrity personally. Ever since then, I've been one of her targets. She tries to tell people that I'm a mental case, that I invented all of what she did, even though I provided proof. She then told people that I faked the proof via faking headers, etc. (She also once broke into my hotmail account, sent out malicious emails to people and had my account closed. Only when I kept contacting Hotmail, telling them to check the headers of the offensive emails and see where they came from, was my account reinstated.) I wouldn't know how to fake a header if I took night classes on it.

you never answered my question about the bomb threat post. No reasonable person can read the supposed post of the stalker and figure out that you are the person who called in the bomb threat.

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As I said, she's always very careful to not name me specifically in her posts, though others have. The group where she posted the comments about the bomb threat is a group about this celebrity she impersonated, not about bombs, trains or anything else. She took the circumstances that my friend posted and twisted it into the bomb threat post. No one else in our community posted about traveling by train that day. It's like she sits and waits for any little tidbit of information to be posted so she can use it in some weird way to make herself appear the most "normal" of fans. Because she never uses our names specifically, she can always say "We weren't talking about you. Everything's not always about you." when in private, she's naming names. No, she didn't come right out and say I threatened to bomb a train, she IMPLIED it and that's just as bad as being called a terrorist. For the record, there WAS no bomb threat at Penn Station the day that she says there was.

LowDose said:

No, she didn't come right out and say I threatened to bomb a train, she IMPLIED it and that's just as bad as being called a terrorist.

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Well, the thing is, no it's not.

Clt747 said:

Well, the thing is, no it's not.

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In this day and age of terrorism, I say it is. Unless you've been more or less called a terrorist, you can't know.

What you wrote:

"A friend in NY called last night and told me there was a bomb threat for one of the trains leaving Penn station in NY yesterday.
MY GOD where will it all end?
It turned out to be a hoax, but My God. Even a hoax about a bomb in this day and age is no laughing matter. Too many people have already died in too many acts of violence. The stupidity has got to stop!"

This does not even come CLOSE to accusing you of making a bomb threat! I'd say that you have some "issues" if you think that this generic comment comes anywhere near implying that you made this bomb threat (if there was indeed such a threat).

Short of a court order preventing this person from accessing the internet, there may not be anything that can be done. You can TRY to sue them or get a civil harassment order, but if all the posts are that vague and generic, then it will never happen. You will need some specific examples of how the person is targeting you.

- Carl

LowDose said:

In this day and age of terrorism, I say it is. Unless you've been more or less called a terrorist, you can't know.

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Outside of the hyper-drama you've worked yourself up into, the statement "somebody called in a bomb threat at Penn Station" is NOT the same as saying "LowDose is a terrorist." Go get some fresh air.

I respect your thoughts on it. I really do. But believe me, until you've lived it, you just can't know. Anything she's done, it can't be proven. I know she was calling me a terrorist and others know she was, but they're aware of her and what she does. It's okay, really.

About the accusations of mailing bullets to the celebrity's wife in the UK. Does that constitute as defamation?

FYI - I once filled out a form on JudgeJudy.com about this person. I asked for one dollar in damages, so it's not money I'm after. I just want her to shut up and stop spreading garbage about me all over the internet. When one of the producers of the show called me and asked for the stalkers phone number and information, I had to realize that I'd be seeing her face-to-face and literally had a panic attack. I never called them back with the information.

I don't feel that dealing with this person's harassment and abuse over the past 6 years is creating hyper-drama. I'm tired of it. Fed up with it and nothing will stop it. That's why I came to this site in the first place. For help and advice, not snide criticism.

There's not much anyone can do with such vague commentary.

To make a case for defamation you will have to cite damage ... HOW have you been damaged by what has been said? Can you prove that what she has explicitly claimed (if she has made explicit claims against you) was false? Further, can you prove that she should have reasonably known that the statements were false?

I'm afraid there really is very little you can do except ignore this person. If you don't like it, then get a wad of cash together and start paying attorneys a couple hundred dollars per hour to chase this person down and issue threats, notices, edicts, and subpoenas. But, in the long run, there may be little that can be done save spend money.

- Carl

no offense but what makes you so important that anyone would spend their entire life following you, harrassing, you, looking up train schedules, posting things about you on various websites, etc. etc. etc. ????

I seriously suggest that you seek the help of a mental health expert. If for no other reason than to assist you in dealing with the stress of this "stalker".

Thank you CdwJava, for being honest and up-front with me. I appreicate it.

And no offense, fairisfair, but can't you read? I clearly stated that I came here for help and advice, not snide criticism. Until you've lived the life and walked in the shoes, you don't have a clue.

This woman thinks she's superior to all, self-righteous and perfect. When I exposed her for the fraud she really is, I became her target. Others have become her target because they supported me.

I don't feel I need a mental health expert because I know I'm above this woman. I know I'm a good, honest person and that puts me above her. I'm not here for attention or sympathy, I merely wanted some legal advice, that I can't afford, to maybe get the abuse to stop.