Cheerleader mom accused of harassing teens with messages, videos
A Bucks County mom was ordered to stand trial Friday for allegedly harassing her teen daughter’s cheerleading squad teammates with anonymous messages and videos.
Raffaela Spone, 50, is charged with three counts each of cyber harassment of a child and harassment, both misdemeanors of the third degree. She remains free on $75,000 unsecured bail.
Hilltown Township police in March said Spone created the doctored images of at least three members of the Victory Vipers, a traveling cheerleading squad based in Doylestown. Police were contacted by one of the victim’s parents in July, when that girl began receiving harassing text messages from an anonymous number, court records say.
The girl and her coaches were also sent photos that appeared to show her naked, drinking and smoking a vape.
During the investigation, two more families came forward to say their daughters had been receiving similar messages from an anonymous number, court records say. The teens were sent photos of themselves in bikinis, with accompanying text saying the subjects were “drinking at the shore.” Some of the girls received messages urging them to kill themselves, police said.
Detectives tracked the phone numbers to a website that specializes in selling anonymous phone numbers to telemarketers, then traced the calls to Spone’s Chalfont address and cellphone, court records say.
Spone’s daughter was not implicated.
How the videos were made remains under investigation. Following a hearing Friday before District Justice Regina Armitage, Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub said in a statement that while investigators originally believed at least one video showed evidence of the use of so-called deepfake face replacement technology, police are at this point are unable to confirm the video evidence was falsified.
“Harassment is a crime. It is illegal for an adult to harass a child,” Weintraub said. “Pennsylvania law does not permit an adult to repeatedly and anonymously annoy, alarm or harass someone.”
Spone’s attorney, Cary Bartlow Hall, did not immediately return a phone message Friday. Hall has hired an expert to examine the videos allegedly found on Spone’s phone, Weintraub said.