Mother accused of catfishing, cyberbullying her daughter

ISABELLA COUNTY, Mich. — A Michigan mother is facing charges after investigators said she sent hateful, bullying messages to teenagers, including her own daughter, while using a fake name and number.

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Kendra Licari was arrested on charges including stalking a minor and obstruction of justice, according to a criminal complaint obtained by ABC News.

The investigation into Licari began when a student at Beal City High School told her parents she had been getting harassing messages, up to 12 a day, on social media for months, WWTV reported.

One student who was receiving the messages was Licari’s daughter, whose boyfriend was targeted too, according to ABC News.

“Even when we realized that it wasn’t a kid, we weren’t expecting that it would be a parent,” William Chilman, Beal City Public Schools superintendent, told ABC News. The school district later reported the complaint to law enforcement.

In the criminal complaint, obtained by WWTV, police said Licari used software to hide her location and used several fake numbers to pretend to be other students in Beal City when she sent messages to her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend.

Isabella County Prosecutor David Barberi told ABC News they were able to identify Licari through her IP address.

“By and large it was mostly just harassing-type messages; demeaning, demoralizing and mean texts,” Barberi told WWTV. “We’re talking about several hundreds of text messages, over 1,000 pages of discovery in the case as it related to communications between the suspect and victims in this matter.”

Police told ABC News that the harassment began in early 2021, when Licari was employed by the school district as a basketball coach.

“When the case first came into our office, it was bizarre and almost hard to believe,” Barberi told WWTV.

Police said that when they confronted Licari, she admitted to sending the messages, ABC News reported. Her attorneys declined a request for comment.

Licari was released on a $5,000 bond, according to ABC News.

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