Videos weren't deepfakes, but Chalfont mom still found guilty of harassing daughter's cheerleader teammates

A Bucks County jury found a Chalfont mother guilty of using anonymous numbers to harass three of her daughter's cheerleading teammates.

On Friday, after a four-day trial, jurors found Raffaela Spone, 51, guilty of three counts of misdemeanor harassment for sending the texts messages about the three girls between July and August 2020. Jurors took about an hour and a half to convict her.

Spone's case made national news last year after the original officer who filed the charges, former Hilltown Officer Matthew Reiss, wrote in Spone's criminal complaint that "deepfake" technology was possibly used to superimpose one of the girl's faces onto a video of her vaping.

"Deepfakes" are when an image of someone else is placed on top of a video to make it appear that someone else is doing what is depicted in the video, police said.

In May, after Spone's preliminary hearing, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office released a statement acknowledging that "deepfake" technology may not have been used in the case. Assistant District Attorney Julia Wilkins repeatedly told jurors throughout the trial that they were not alleging any "deepfake" technology was used, meaning the videos that were sent were in fact real.

Prosecutors alleged Spone used anonymous numbers to text harassing messages about the girls to the coaches of Buckingham-based Victory Vipers, where the girls cheered with Spone's daughter, and the parents of the girls. The text messages shared screenshots and videos of things the girls were posting on social media, such as TikTok. Spone, according to police, was unhappy with the things being shared on social media. She identified herself as a "concerned parent," in the texts. The images depicted vaping and drinking, among other things.

She declined to testify during the trial.

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Her attorney, Robert Birch, told jurors during his closing arguments that the prosecution had not proven that Spone was the one sending the messages. The messages, he said, were from someone who was concerned about the girls.

The screenshots showed pictures of one of the girls drinking, and another one showed one of the victim's claiming she was depressed. When Birch asked if the video was a "cry for help," the victim in the second video agreed.

Birch also told jurors that none of the messages were directly sent to the girls. But Wilkins noted that harassment can be to, or about, another person. The victims and their mothers testified they were scared when the texts were sent, because they did not know who was sending the messages.

Hilltown police said Spone used different phone numbers to text the girls' coaches and their mothers about the girls' behavior seen on social media. When asked who the messages were from, the sender did not identify themselves, according to authorities.

The first people texted were the coaches, followed by the first victim's mother, the second victim's mother and the third victim's mother, police allege. The first victim's mother reported it to police, and told them her daughter had also reported receiving threatening messages and voice messages earlier.

Birch pointed out that those threatening messages were never investigated, however Wilkins said those messages had been deleted long before police became involved in July 2020. Birch didn't understand why the messages weren't investigated.

"It just doesn't add up why someone wouldn't do that," he said.

Birch also noted that, in the affidavit, former Officer Reiss made claims of deepfake technology, which was later recanted.

"If that was false in the affidavit, sworn to by a police officer, how can you believe anything else in the affidavit?" he said.

Reiss, who was the originally the lead investigator, resigned from the department after he was charged in Montgomery County with possessing child pornography. He has since been charged with more than 1,700 counts of felony child pornography possession. His case remains active in Montgomery County.

The former Hilltown officer testified during the trial that he believed the initial video was "deepfaked" because of his research into the topic. He admitted to never running a program on the video to test the theory.

"It seems choppy and it seems like digitally altered," Reiss said.

Prosecutors alleged the texts were sent to the cheer coaches in July 2020. The texts were about the first victim and the activities she shared photos with on social media, including the video of her vaping. The team has strict no-vaping policy, according to testimony. She denied the video was of her. The coaches showed the texts to the first victim's mother.

A few weeks later, the first victim's mother also received texts about her daughter's activities on social media. She received additional messages a few weeks later. Scared, the first victim's mother reported it to police.

"She was very distraught," the victim's mother said of her daughter.

"I was really scared because I did not know where they were coming from," the victim testified about the messages.

In August, the second victim's mother received a text, which the sender did not identify themselves. A little over a week later, the third victim's mother was texted about similar content.

"I was really weirded out by it," the second victim testified.

The first victim's mother forwarded information from the texts all the mothers received to police.

Hilltown Detective Louis Bell testified that the unknown numbers belonged to a company that provides other numbers for people to use on their electronic devices. That company gave police information, along with an IP address, that matched an address at Spone's home.

Additionally, police searched Spone's phone and found that she had, at one point, the application associated with the numbers on her phone, according to testimony. Prosecutors alleged she also had images that were sent in the text messages, stored on her phone.

Wilkins said Spone knew all the mothers and could have texted them individually, on her own number. She also mentioned that Spone did not initially go to the parents first, instead went to the coaches.

"She wasn't concerned about what those girls were posting online," she said.

Spone, Wilkins said, was not a concerned parent.

"This was done with the intent to harass these girls," she said.

Spone remains free on $150,000 unsecured bail. A sentencing date has not been set yet.

She faces a maximum of 6 to 12 months in prison and a $2,500 fine, but could get a lesser sentence, authorities said.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Chalfont mom found guilty of harassing teen cheerleaders on Vipers team