Bay City: Unlawful Posting of a Message on the Internet

34-year-old Chad A. Monroe of Bay City has accepted a plea mere days before his trial was to begin. Monroe was charged with both a misdemeanor and a felony for posting naked pictures of his ex-girlfriend on Facebook in an attempt to drive her to suicide.

He appeared in the Bay County Circuit Court before Judge Kenneth W. Schmidt and pled guilty to a single count of Unlawful Posting of a Message on the Internet, which is a two-year felony under Michigan law.

In return, the prosecutors have agreed not to pursue the misdemeanor stalking charge. This plea agreement was also a little different because there was no sentencing agreement beyond the fact that the prosecutor agreed not to request any enhancement to the sentence based on Monroe’s status as a habitual offender.

But how did all this happen, and why was Monroe attempting to drive his former girlfriend to take her own life? Well, the reason he provided to police was – because she had items that he says were his, and he wanted them back.

While this treatment may seem a little extreme, it looks like Monroe has a tendency to react to situations he doesn’t like in ways that can be described as drastic. After all, Monroe responded to his former girlfriend leaving him after a three year relationship, by harassing her with daily texts and Facebook messages.

But when that didn’t get the desired result, he created a sex-for-sale ad on craigslist featuring his ex, which included all of her personal contact information, and promised sex in return for crack cocaine. He also posted nude pictures of her on Facebook and threatened regularly to make her life a living hell.

Testimony in Abuse Of Privacy

According to the testimony she provided at his preliminary examination, his ex claims that when she confronted Monroe about his abuse of her privacy, he told her he had no intention of stopping and hoped his actions would drive her to suicide.

At this point the woman filed a police report and got a personal protection order (PPO) against Monroe. But that didn’t stop him. When police contacted him to explain the PPO and confront him about his harassment, he told them that they couldn’t make him stop because until they were able to find him and serve him the PPO, he refused to change his behavior. And serving him was apparently not possible, he claimed, because he was in hiding at the home of his “crazy aunt” who apparently shoots people for trespassing.

Monroe held to his word, and continued the daily attack on his ex. But because of his refusal to handle the situation in a dignified and legal manner, a warrant was finally issued and he was arrested that same day. He is now looking at the possibility of a couple of years behind bars, all because he wanted his stuff back from his ex, and couldn’t go about it reasonably.

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