Police arrest 26 year old woman for ‘Facebook thugging’ after posting selfie with gun during social media feud
A 26-year-old Virginia woman was arrested for a crime known as ‘Facebook thugging’ this week, after she uploaded a selfie of herself pointing a gun on her social Facebook account. The woman who has been identified as Kristin Holmes has been charged with harassment by computer on Facebook after she got into a heated verbal duel with another FB user.
The user had mistaken Kristin for somebody else and passed some comments which Kristin took objection to and the argument escalated quickly.
In an apparent try to bully the user, Kristin then posted a picture of herself smiling and aiming a gun at the camera to her social media account and captioned the picture with some violent terms.
“I’ll post a few actual pics of me so you know the difference when you come find me.”
Some Facebook users reported her to nearby Henrico police for her ‘Facebook thugging’. She was immediately taken into custody by the Chesterfield police and charged with a Class 1 misdemeanor for he Facebook thugging. If provide guilty of the charge, Kristin could have to spend as much as 1 year in prison and pay $2,600 as fine.
Later Kristin tried to justify her selfie with a gun saying that, “It wasn’t a threat. I thought it was a funny picture, and then I realized later that it was a little bit intimidating. So I took it down. What happened to freedom of speech?”
What Holmes did is illegal in Virginia, according to Kevin Carroll with the Fraternal Order of Police report. He told NBC 12 On Your Side that the state code says its illegal to use a computer to threaten anybody, or use vulgar language or commit immoral behavior.
“It’s actually against the law to say it in public. It’s a part of the disorderly conduct statute. If it’s against the law to say it in public why wouldn’t it be against the law to say it to someone through a computer?”
Holmes countered Kevin’s statement saying she was shocked at her charges and plans to appeal them.
“Be careful what you put on the Internet because you can go to jail for it. Facebook thugging is a crime.”
