Self-Styled Crime Reporter Charged with Mis-Using Information (ABA Journal)
A Texas woman, who is a self-styled, Facebook news reporter was charged last month with broadcasting the name of a man who committed suicide prior to the Laredo Police Department releasing the information.
Priscilla Villarreal Trevino was charged last month with two counts of misuse of official information, which was allegedly leaked to Trevino by a Laredo, Texas police officer. Trevino has claimed the charges are a violation of her right to free speech.
Trevino who goes by the name “Lagordiloca,” which translates into “The Crazy Fat Lady,” drives to crime scenes in her used Dodge Ram (that she bought for $700) and posts whatever
Video footage she is able to record on her Facebook page, which boasts 86,000 followers.
Trevino has been criticized for other stories she has posted. A daycare center won a default defamation judgment against Trevino for a story she posted about the alleged abuse. She was also chastised by police after she sent people scurrying to gas stations by warning her Facebook followers of gas shortages related to Hurricane Harvey.
The suicide victim whose name Trevino published was an agriculture program manager with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The Laredo Police Department said in a statement that the investigation into Trevino’s news reports is ongoing.
