Woman charged with cyber bullying
D.A.: She used app to alter photos and videos of teen cheerleaders
DOYLESTOWN >> The technology to make “deep fake” videos and use those videos to cyberbully people, as a Chalfont woman is accused of doing to three cheerleaders who were part of the same cheerleading group as her daughter, is available to anyone with a smart phone, Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub warned during a March 15 press conference about the case.
“All one needs to do is download an app and you’re off to the races. You can make deep fakes to your heart’s content,” he said.
Raffaela Spone, 50, is charged with three counts of cyber harassment and three counts of harassment in the case.
Her attorney, Robert Birch, said on WPVI that she denies the charges.
The three persons Spone is accused of cyberbullying were all minors at the time of the incidents, Weintraub said. The first report involved a Hilltown resident, he said. The case was investigated by Hilltown Township Police Ofc. Matthew Reiss.
The investigation began in July 2020 after the mother of one of the victims reported her daughter had received a text message saying “you should kill yourself,” the D.A.’s office said.
“She also reported that photos were taken from her daughter’s social media and edited to make her appear to be drinking, vaping, and in one photo, her bathing suit was edited out and covered with skin tone color to make it appear as if she was naked. A video was also sent to the Victory Vipers cheer gym, showing the victim vaping,” the D.A.’s office said on its Crimewatchpa.com page.
The three victims and Spone’s
daughter all are part of Victory Vipers, the D.A.’s office said.
The charges involving the other two victims were for messages received in August of 2020, the D.A.’s office said.
Spone used her cell phone to manipulate photos of the victims, Weintraub said.
It can sometimes be difficult to tell when photos or video have been manipulated, he said. It also takes a lot of police work to bring the case to court, he said.
“It only takes a couple of minutes to make a deep fake video, but it takes us, as in this case, months to try to investigate and walk back to the source to connect all those dots to hopefully hold somebody accountable,” he said.