A picture is worth a thousand words, but those pictures come with criminal charges.
A Pennsylvania mother allegedly made illicit fake videos of her daughter’s cheering rivals and sent them to her coaches to try to get the kids to fire the team, authorities said.
The fake images, so expertly manipulated that they are known as “deepfakes,” were also sent to at least three girls on Victory Vipers’ animation team, with messages urging young people to commit suicide, she reported. the Philadelphia Investigator citing the Bucks County District Attorney
Raffaela Spone, 50, was charged with cyberbullying against a child and is accused of creating completely fake snapshots, showing children drinking, smoking and naked, authorities reported.
Spone was arrested on March 4.
According to court documents obtained by the newspaper, there were no indications that her teenage daughter knew what her mother was doing.
In July, police learned that one of the girls had received harassment text messages from an anonymous number, according to court documents, and that her coaches were being sent nude photos, drinking and smoking.
Two other girls complained about the fake photos showing them in bikinis, which led police to investigate the anonymous number and content.
Police found the photos and videos to be fakes, which seems genuine, but has been digitally modified.
Investigators located the number to the telemarketers and tracked the data to an IP address that came from Spone’s home in Chalfont, about 50 minutes north of Philadelphia.
Victory Vipers told ABC News that he cooperated with police during the investigation and that “all the athletes involved are no longer part of our program.”
“Victory Vipers has always promoted a family environment and we regret all the people involved,” the team said in a statement. “We have very well-established policies and a very strict anti-bullying policy in our program.”