There are benefits to being anonymous online, such as the ability to protect sensitive and private information from prying eyes and identity thieves.
However, there is a significant drawback to being able to conceal our identity online. Cyberbullies can say anything they want because they can hide behind a screen, and they almost never have to deal with the consequences.
One teen from Mt. Pleasant, Michigan reported that she suddenly received online hate and never guessed the culprit. As it happens, her mother was the mastermind behind it all.
After a year-long investigation that started when Beal City Schools received a complaint regarding cyberbullying, Kendra Gail Licari was charged in December 2022.
The victims of the harassment were Licari's daughter and the guy her daughter was seeing at the time, so Licari investigated the matter with the boy's mother and school authorities to determine who might be responsible.
Isabella County Prosecutor David Barberi stated that although Licari was coaching girls' basketball at her daughter's school when the allegation was received in December, the texts started as early as 2021.
The events happened outside school property and without the use of school equipment, and district authorities quickly ran out of tools to find the offender.
In January 2021, the district requested assistance from law enforcement; by April, the FBI's computer crime section had also become engaged.
After gaining access to the IP addresses used to deliver the messages, the federal agency discovered they were connected to Licari.
According to Barberi, the mother concealed her whereabouts using virtual private networks (VPNs) and even gave the impression that the communications were coming from places where other teens were hanging out.
349 pages of abusive texts and social media posts were gathered by the prosecutor's office. The messages attempted to pass for writing by using slang and abbreviations to mimic the messages coming from another teen.
Licari was found and challenged after which she allegedly confessed fully to what she had done. It's unclear why she specifically targeted her daughter, though.
The 42-year-old mother was charged with stalking a minor, using a computer for crime, and obstruction of justice. Furthermore, she also attempted to frame another minor during an investigation.
Licari was sentenced to 19 months to five years in prison by a Michigan judge in April 2023.
The three further counts were withdrawn by Isabella County Prosecutor David Barberi after Licari entered a guilty plea to stalking minors.
