A Texas woman is facing multiple charges after authorities say she created fake social media accounts to impersonate her boyfriend and send threats to herself and another woman.
The Houston Chronicle reports that Lisa Garcia, 22, of Baytown, was arrested and charged last week with retaliation and online impersonation after she allegedly posed as Brandon Berrott, 23, on Instagram and other social media apps, and then accused him of threatening to kill her.
The newspaper reports that Garcia, who has a child with Berrott, first accused him of threatening her life on September 16. Berrott reportedly had a child with another woman, and Garcia allegedly sent threatening messages to both herself and that woman from the fake social media accounts.
In addition to the alleged impersonation, Garcia is also accused of making false police reports — which landed Berrott in jail on three occasions and reportedly cost him his job.
The newspaper reports that Berrott was initially arrested and charged with making terroristic threats against Garcia. He was released on bail, but when the purported threats continued he was taken into custody again for violating the terms of his bail.
Prosecutors reportedly said that the allegedly fake threats also got him fired from his job. And Garcia reportedly took it even further: According to a criminal filing obtained by the Houston Chronicle, Garcia called the mayor of Baytown in late November, demanding an investigation of a judge she claimed Berrott’s mother, who reportedly works for Harris County, was bribing to get her son released from jail.
“He didn’t do any of this. He was charged with eight criminal cases and is innocent of all of them,”prosecutor Britni Cooper reportedly said in court on Thursday.
“I’m horrified, actually, and can’t imagine what this guy went through. It’s a nightmare.”
Berrott’s attorney Carl Moore claims that Garcia was driven by a custody dispute with his client.
“She wanted him to revoke his parental rights and he said, ‘No, I want to be in my child’s life,'” Moore told the Houston Chronicle.
“When you read the messages, I believe you could tell that they were written by a female that was scorned.”
“In my 10 years of practicing law, I’ve never felt so confident that my client was innocent,” Moore continued.
“We submitted to voluntary interviews, which is something that I hardly ever let clients do, but I just knew he wasn’t lying to me. He never wavered.”
Garcia faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. As of late last week, the suspect was being held on $10,000 bond.
[Feature image: Baytown Police Department]