KENT COUNTY, MI -- A Comstock Park woman faces criminal charges after police say she admitted to creating false Facebook accounts with her ex-boyfriend's personal information to make it appear that his new girlfriend was threatening her.
Cheryl Nelson, 52, is charged with false report of a felony and unlawful posting of a message.
Nelson, over the course of a year between November 2011 and last October, made at least eight criminal complaints to the Kent County Sheriff's Department, saying she had been the victim of stalking, harassment, assault and home invasion.
On Aug. 12, 2012, Kent County Sheriff's Detective Jason Russo handled a complaint in which Nelson alleged that her ex-boyfriend, Kevin Haarsma, and his girlfriend had left several threatening letters taped onto the front of her home, according to a probable cause affidavit for Nelson's arrest.
After that day, Nelson made additional calls to police alleging more letters had been left, Russo wrote in court records.
During Russo's investigation, an Ottawa County Sheriff's detective took a complaint from Haarsma, regarding threats and stalking behavior displayed by Nelson. The Ottawa detective served a search warrant on her home for computer equipment.
"Nelson made (an) admission that she had been falsely reporting crimes because she was not able to let go of her relationship with Kevin," Russo wrote. "Evidence shows that Nelson used her computer to set up false Facebook accounts using Kevin Haarsma's personal information ... Nelson used this account to make it appear that she was being stalked and harassed by Kevin's new girlfriend by posting threatening messages."
Nelson was previously charged with fraudulent use of checks in the state of Florida.
Prosecutors have agreed not to charge her as a habitual offender if she will plead as charged to the two criminal counts. Nelson waived a probable cause hearing this week and will be able to consider the deal before trial in Kent County Circuit Court.