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ST GEORGE — A southern Utah man is facing criminal charges after police say he got into an online argument with another person on an NBA Facebook forum, then created a fake Facebook profile of that other person and used it to threaten the St. George Police Department.
The unusual case involving a 30-year-old man from Ivins, Washington County, began in June when the man got into an argument with another man on an NBA Facebook forum.
Ethan Lee Freier then started "harassing" the other man through private messages "and even started a fake Facebook profile that had (the victim's) ex-wife as the profile picture," according to a police booking affidavit. The fake account used a name similar to the victim's.
Using the newly created fake Facebook account, Freier — while posing as the victim — sent a message to the St. George Police Department claiming that he was being harassed by a man in Ivins and that was at his "breaking point" and was going to kill the Ivins man and "bomb" the police department, the affidavit states.
The next day, Freier contacted police again, this time as himself, claiming he had received threatening messages from the victim's fake social media account that he had created himself, the affidavit states.
As police continued to investigate the case, however, they were able to trace the messages they received to a residence in Ivins and learned that Freier "has had a history of creating fake Facebook profiles using other people's names and photographs" and that he "currently has approximately nine different Facebook accounts with his name and photos," according to the affidavit.
Investigators also determined that the man whom the suspect impersonated would have no knowledge of Freier's middle name or where he lives, even though he allegedly mentioned those items in the messages sent to police, the affidavit states.
When officers questioned Freier in August, he claimed he knew about the bomb threat to police because he read it on a public post. Police, however, noted that the threats were only made using private messages, thus showing that his "knowledge of the bomb threat is further evidence that he wrote the threatening messages," according to the affidavit.
Freier is charged in 5th District Court with making a threat of terrorism, a second-degree felony; and forgery, a third-degree felony. His next court hearing is scheduled for Sept. 12.
