Police said that they are powerless to help a 12-year-girl after an imposter impersonated her and attacked her friends online, because impersonating someone is not a crime in Arizona.
According to KNXY, Reve Osheel's mother Brooke Barr found out that her daughter’s friends were being bullied online by someone they thought was her daughter. But the 12-year-old did not post the comments, so her mother decided to contact the authorities who told her that the young girl was not a victim.
ABC News noted that police said although the imposter harassed the young girl’s friends, the impersonator did not target Osheel herself, therefore she cannot be considered a victim.
"It's a pretty crappy thing to do, but it's not criminal in nature," said Sgt. William Sanger of the Gilbert Police.
The girl’s friends were relentlessly called everything from little brats to profanities.
Before the revelation of the imposter, Osheel was blamed at school for the mean comments. Her mother said she had already experienced some prior bullying as well because she suffers from Tourette's syndrome.
Barr is glad that people now know it was not her daughter behind the harassment, but she desperately wants to know who impersonated her and why.