handwriting sample reveals "friendly" neighbor has been sending harassing mail to gay couple for yrs
Handwriting Sample Ends Harassment For Gay Couple
A neighbor had been sending mail with homophobic slurs for years
A couple in a Boston suburb ended five years of harassment with a little creative detective work. And the neighbors who rallied around them to help have raised over $25,000 for the Milton schools Gay Straight Alliance. The harassment took the form of subscriptions sent to the gay couple’s home addressed to phony—and homophobic—names, USA Today reports. “We were being picked on because we were gay, and it had followed me into my 40s. I couldn’t believe it,” LeeMichael McLean said. McLean and his partner Bryan Furze were troubled by the intrusiveness of the mail, and were growing concerned that their son would see the homophobic slurs on the address labels.
One of the subscriptions their harasser signed them up for was the Boston Globe. But since they were already subscribers, the paper sent back the order paperwork. The subscription card, under the name “Michelle Fruitzey,” was handwritten. McLean posted an image of the subscription card to a neighborhood website along with a recap of the harassment, LGBTQNation reports.
A neighbor looked over local election records, found a name in the same handwriting, and sent the police to talk to the match. The suspect, a close neighbor and fellow member of the Town Meeting, confessed, insisting it was just a harmless prank. In an attempt to flip negative into positive, McLean and Furze sold T-shirts with the message “#iammichellefruitzey” to raise funds to fight homophobia in their local schools.
https://www.newser.com/story/307570/handwriting-analysis-ends-harassment-for-gay-couple.html
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One community member scoured town election records to find the matching handwriting. He found a match, and a suspect was arrested May 13, McLean said.
During questioning, the suspect admitted to sending the mail and called it a prank that he didn’t think would require police involvement, officers told the couple. The suspect told the detective he sent the subscriptions because he didn’t like how outspoken McLean and Furze were and how the two, both elected Town Meeting members, voted.
“This person was intimidating and trying to silence us,” Furze said.
Milton Police chief James O'Neil would not comment on the identities of the victims or suspect but did confirm that the police department has filed a criminal complaint seeking to charge an adult male with criminal harassment. No charges have been filed.
The couple said the suspect was friendly and never displayed any outward hostility.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/06/18/gay-couple-harassed-years-handwriting-analysis-suspect/7726349002/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Those back stabbers.
