A Pennsylvania woman is facing multiple harassment charges for allegedly creating fake images and videos and using them to anonymously intimidate her daughter’s fans, according to Bucks County officials.
In prosecuting documents, the Hilltown Township Police Department alleges that Raffaela Spone, 50, harassed several officials and members of the Victory Vipers cheer squad in Doylestown.
After the first victim alleged cyber harassment, several others also spoke out, the police said, and at least one victim received a message encouraging suicide.
Spone reportedly created digitally manipulated images and videos – known as deepfakes – that falsely depicted his daughter’s teammates drinking, vaporizing and posing naked, all the activities that would get them kicked out of the team.
Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub told NBC News on Sunday that the use of deepfake images was “one of the most disturbing aspects of this case, because it seems to me that this technology is available to anyone.”
“I don’t know mechanically how she was able to do that, but I can say that she is an ordinary citizen – I don’t know if she has more technological proficiency than her neighbor on the street,” said Weintraub.
“It was an unsophisticated attempt, but it was still successful,” said Weintraub.
Police wrote that they identified Spone by searching the phone numbers that anonymously sent the intimidating text messages to several members of the cheerleading squad. The numbers belonged to a smartphone application called Pinger, which allows users to send text messages.
With court orders, the police obtained the IP address of the Pinger application user and then used the IP address to obtain the Spone’s name and address from the mobile operator, the police said.
Further analysis showed that the device was used to send messages on the dates that the squad members received them, police said.
Weintraub said the teammates’ target was “not random” and said Spone’s alleged motive would be put on trial.
Spone had his fingerprints and was released on March 10 pending a pre-trial hearing scheduled for March 30.
In a statement, Victory Vipers said the group “has always fostered a family atmosphere and we are sorry for all the individuals involved”.
“We have very well-established policies and a very strict anti-bullying policy in our program,” says the statement. “When this incident came to our attention last year, we immediately started our own internal investigation and took appropriate action at the time. This incident happened outside our academy. When the criminal investigation followed, we cooperated fully with the police authorities. All athletes involved, are no longer part of our program. “
Spone’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
