A star witness in New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s lawsuit against a group of pro-life advocates admitted in federal court that she created a fake Facebook account to entrap and spy on members of the pro-life community as she also compiled the information into dossiers she shared with Schneiderman’s office.
The admission comes just several weeks after Schneiderman told NPR’s All Things Considered about his investigation into online fraud, fake social media accounts, and identity impersonation.
“It’s clear that there’s a whole business in fake accounts, there’s a whole business in bot accounts,” Schneiderman said, adding:
This has become a major area of inquiry and concern for us over the last year or two as we’ve learned more about how technology has enabled new types of deception and criminal conduct. And unfortunately, the Internet is the crime scene of the 21st century, and we have to become familiar with the territory.
LifeNews reports on the February 15 cross-examination of the witness – who reportedly used the fake name of Shelley Walker on the Facebook account – by Tyler Brooks, attorney at the Thomas More Society, which represents the pro-life sidewalk counselors, ten of whom are members of Church@TheRock in Brooklyn and attempt to offer women alternatives to abortion:
[T]he New York Attorney General’s star witness admitted she created a fake Facebook page pretending she was a pro-life Christian to develop dossiers and entrap pro-life sidewalk counselors who appeared in front of the Choices Women’s Medical Center in New York City’s Jamaica neighborhood. She then passed on the information to the Attorney General’s Office, which was already well aware of her fraudulent activities.
…
[T]he witness admitted creating the Facebook page under the fake name of Shelly Walker. The witness described her elaborate scheme to entrap the unwary pro-life counselors named in the Attorney General’s lawsuit. She went to great lengths to invent an entirely fictitious identity; using someone else’s photo she had found on the internet, listing her occupation as a bank teller and stating she was from Saginaw, Michigan, even posting weather reports from Saginaw, as if she were there.
Moreover, in order to make her Facebook personality of Shelly Walker appear legitimate, she sent out hundreds of friend requests, friending hundreds of pro-lifers throughout the country. She purposely searched out pro-life and conservative groups and even claimed to be a supporter of Ted Cruz and Father Frank Pavone, an ardent pro-life Catholic priest. She fabricated an emotional personal story of being talked into an abortion by her husband, who she later divorced (none of it true).
The witness, however, actually directs the abortion escort program at Choices Women’s Medical Center in Jamaica, New York, a clinic operated by abortionist Merle Hoffman, 71, the woman Forbes dubbed in 2011 the “Millionaire Abortionist.”
Courthouse News Service reports on the testimony of Hoffman, who affirmed her prior statements that pro-life advocates engage in “a type of terrorism” toward women seeking abortions when they attempt to offer them life-affirming alternatives.
Defense attorney Horatio Mihet of Liberty Counsel showed a 2012 video clip of Hoffman’s accusing pro-life protesters of being “bullies” and comparing them to the “American Taliban.”
The report continues:
Hoffman has since clarified her intent but has not retracted the comments.
“I used it because at that point in time the Taliban were very much in the news,” she testified Thursday, “and their issues concerning the treatment of women … the misogyny, the fundamentalism.”
She compared Taliban fundamentalism to the religious beliefs of protesters outside Choices.
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“What I see outside,” Hoffman said, “I see that as a type of terrorism, yes, a type of terrorism toward the patients, definitely.”
An email from Hoffman to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sandra Pullman and Nancy Trasande also revealed the abortionist describing the pro-lifers as “particularly aggressive – they need to be bridled!”
The witness who admitted to creating the fake Facebook account testified that, after sharing the information she collected on the pro-life community members with Schneiderman’s office, the AG’s office never told her to cease her fake account activity or to delete the information.
“In fact, the Office outfitted her with a concealed video camera to record pro-life counselors in front of Choices,” reports LifeNews.
Schneiderman has long been open about his support for abortion rights and Planned Parenthood.
In October, the New York AG addressed a NARAL Pro-Choice America event, describing his work at an abortion clinic when he was 17 years old.
“I learned a critical lesson,” he said. “If a woman does not have the right to control her own body, she is not truly equal. If a woman does not have the right to control her own body she is not truly free.”
In January, Schneiderman responded to the news that Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards would be stepping down. Referring to Richards as a “game-changer” and a “role model for women,” Schneiderman tweeted:
Cecile, you have been a game-changer. Your leadership has helped millions of NYers get the health care they need. You have been a role model for women across the country. And in the face of vicious opposition, you have shown a new generation of activists how to lead. Thank you. https://t.co/oLBvu2VmzW
— NY AG Underwood (@NewYorkStateAG) January 26, 2018
The lawsuit Schneiderman’s office brought is called People of the State of New York v. Griepp, and is being heard at United States District Court Eastern District of New York, before Judge Carol Bagley Amon.
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