A Bloomsburg woman has been charged with harassment and identity theft after she allegedly signed up her cousin for things like a satanic temple, a suicide hotline, and a divorce lawyer because she wasn’t invited to the wedding.
According to court documents, a Trooper from State Police-Frackville was contacted by a woman in the Pottsville area back in March after she’d gotten “inundated” with emails, texts, and subscriptions to service she had not requested.
The woman said those messages included applications for mental health and drug treatment services, messages from a satanic temple and other churches, and correspondence from a divorce lawyer.
All the correspondence and messages she received included her personal biographical information, police say. Some of the messages she received even seemed to know she was pregnant.
The Schuylkill County woman said she believed she knew who was responsible for sending these messages, her third cousin – identified as Vanessa Baker, 40, of Bloomsburg – whom she didn’t invite to her August 2024 wedding.
Since the wedding, the woman reportedly told police, Baker has been harassing her by text, on social media, and through emails. Despite numerous requests to have these messages stop, Baker allegedly persisted to a point that her cousin was forced to block her on all those platforms and on her phone.
Still, Baker allegedly attempted to make contact through other apps like The Knot and Duolingo, police say. This eventually caused the Schuylkill County woman to seek legal counsel of her own to get a cease-and-desist order against Baker.
Also, the woman told police that the stress caused by Baker’s alleged actions caused her to go into pre-term labor and miss time from work. She’s also gotten an emergency PFA order against Baker.
Baker reportedly phoned police in early April. During that phone call, police say Baker confessed that she was still upset about not getting invited to the wedding back in August. She also allegedly admitted to taking her cousin’s email and phone number to use it to sign her up for services like the satanic temple and a divorce lawyer.
A preliminary hearing on the harassment and identity theft charges has been scheduled for June 17 before District Magistrate David Plachko.
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