The Weiner Scandal Continues
June 20th, 2011 | by Jen |At least three months before the revelation that former congressman Anthony Weiner was sending lewd messages and photos to women online, a small group of self-described conservatives was monitoring his exchanges with women on Twitter.
Now there is evidence that someone else created two false identities on Twitter in order to collect information to use against him.
A Twitter user employing a fake name posed as a 16-year-old California high school girl in May and tried to get Weiner to be her prom date, according to interviews and a review of documents. Another Twitter user who also used a fake name claimed to be her classmate and offered to provide the group with incriminating evidence about Weiner.
Weiner, who resigned on Thursday after admitting he had sent explicit photos and messages to multiple women on social media sites, had already been the subject of intense focus on Twitter by this small group, which calls itself the #bornfreecrew.
One of the students the group observed on Twitter seeking to interact with Weiner was called “Nikki Reid.” She started an online campaign to get Weiner to be her prom date at Hollywood High School in May, using the account name @starchild111, which now turns out to be a fake, documents show.
Within days after Weiner started following her, another Twitter user, using a fake name and pretending to be her classmate, Marianela Alicea, contacted a member of the #bornfreecrew and said she had information about Weiner, but never provided any.