Motive Revealed in Dispatcher Identity Theft Case

According to an affidavit released by Calloway County officials, the victim had separated from her husband August of 2017 after learning that he was seeing Tonya Clevidence. While the divorce was being negotiated in early 2018, the victim's ex-husband informed her that he and Clevidence had been receiving harassing text messages and they believed the messages were from the victim.

The affidavit reveals, however, that the messages were actually being sent from a spoof app and fake Facebook account set up by Clevidence with the intent to lead people into believing the victim was sending the messages. The harassing messages continued for approximately two years, during which time numerous people received harassing messages, including family and friends of Clevidence.

Throughout the two-year period, the victim was repeatedly contacted by various people, including her ex-husband, accusing her of sending the messages, which became increasingly explicit. After getting a search warrant in October to help investigate the owner of the Facebook account, detectives sent subpoenas November 21 for any IP addresses associated with the account.

Law enforcement learned that the account was allegedly created from inside the Marshall County Sheriff's Department, where Clevidence worked as a dispatcher. The other IP addresses attached to the account included Clevidence's home, her church, and her grandmother's house. 

During an interview with detectives, Clevidence reportedly stated that she had originally created the fake Facebook account as a way to get information on her ex-husband. She allegedly apologized, and told detectives she couldn't stop sending the messages. The affidavit states that Clevidence told detectives that she started spoof-texting the victim's ex-husband because he had allegedly spoof-texted her ex-husband.

Clevidence was arraigned in Calloway County District Court on Tuesday on a felony charge of identity theft and a misdemeanor charge of harassing communications. You can find the background to this story at the links below.