Town commissioner accused of using fake online profile to cause controversy

A commissioner in Ranlo, who admitted that he used a fake Facebook account to cause controversy with residents, is now officially off the board.

The board of commissioners formally accepted Trevor Hay’s resignation Thursday night.

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Residents told Channel 9 that Hay made a profile and posed as a real Charlotte businessman.

Hay was the top vote-getter during the town’s elections last year, but many said he will find it hard to fund support after the allegations.

The name-calling made on the fake online profile is too offensive to repeat, according to many.

Some residents said they want to see the former commissioner leave town.

Penny Bradshaw said she was called a bigot by someone on Facebook using the profile.

“We had words for almost a year on Facebook,” Bradshaw said.

Hay was using Glenn Wright II’s likeness as a profile on Facebook.

Hay called Bradshaw a liar using Wright’s name, she said.

“I wasn’t the liar,” Bradshaw said. “He was.”

Hay resigned Friday after posts from three phony profiles were linked to his personal accounts.

Bradshaw said he sent her an apology from his real Facebook account and tried to call her using the app. She didn’t answer.

“After all the things he said to me and all the names he called me, I didn’t want to talk to him,” she said.

Hay reportedly called some commissioners to tell them the truth.

Commissioner Katie Cordell was stunned.

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“It’s such an unfathomably stupid thing to do,” Cordell said.

She said Hay was extremely remorseful and wanted her advice.

“I told him that he owed the town a sincere apology,” Cordell said.

She said he then posted an apology on a town Facebook group.

Hay called his actions childish and said he had an “egregious lack of judgment.”

The post was later deleted.

“Mr. Hay was acting on his own accord,” town manager Jonathan Blanton said. “These actions are not reflective of the town of Ranlo. It’s not who we are.”

Officials were apologetic to the real Glen Wright II, a businessman who may have had no idea his face and name were injected into local fights in an apparent mean-spirited way.

The town of Ranlo did not mean for any of this to occur, Blanton said.

Bradshaw and other residents are starting a petition to keep Hay from holding office again.

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