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‘Catfishing’ over love interest might have spurred U-Va. gang-rape debacle
Washington Post ^

Posted on 01/12/2016 8:29:49 AM PST by outpostinmass2

Ryan Duffin was a freshman at the University of Virginia when he met a student named Jackie.

Both teenagers were new to campus in September 2012, and the pair quickly became friends through a shared appreciation of alternative rock bands such as Coheed and Cambria and Silversun Pickups. Early on, Duffin sensed that Jackie was interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with him. Duffin valued her friendship but politely rebuffed Jackie’s advances for more.

Just days after he met her, Duffin said, he was goaded into a text message conversation with a U-Va. junior named “Haven Monahan,” whom Jackie said she knew from a chemistry class.

What followed was what lawyers for Nicole Eramo, an associate dean at U-Va., described in new court documents as an elaborate scheme to win Duffin over by creating a fake suitor, Monahan, to spark romantic interest — a practice known as “catfishing” — that morphed into a sensational claim of gang rape at a U-Va. fraternity that Jackie said was instigated by the fictitious upperclassman, and finally a Rolling Stone story that rocked the U-Va. campus and shocked the nation.

A Charlottesville Police investigation later determined that no one named Haven Monahan had ever attended U-Va., and extensive efforts to find the person were not successful. Photographs that were texted to Duffin that were purported to be of Monahan were actually pictures depicting one of Jackie’s high school classmates in Northern Virginia. That man, now a student at a university in another state, confirmed to The Post that the photographs were of him.

Police ultimately determined that no gang rape occurred, and Rolling Stone retracted its story.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: coeds; emilyrenda; jackie; jackiecoakley; rapeculture; rapehoax; rollingstone; uva; virginia
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‘Catfishing’ over love interest might have spurred U-Va. gang-rape debacle

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By T. Rees Shapiro January 8 

Students stand to have their pictures taken in front of the Rotunda at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.(Photo by Joel Hawksley/For The Washington Post)

Ryan Duffin was a freshman at the University of Virginia when he met a student named Jackie.

Both teenagers were new to campus in September 2012, and the pair quickly became friends through a shared appreciation of alternative rock bands such as Coheed and Cambria and Silversun Pickups. Early on, Duffin sensed that Jackie was interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with him. Duffin valued her friendship but politely rebuffed Jackie’s advances for more.

Just days after he met her, Duffin said, he was goaded into a text message conversation with a U-Va. junior named “Haven Monahan,” whom Jackie said she knew from a chemistry class.

What followed was what lawyers for Nicole Eramo, an associate dean at U-Va., described in new court documents as an elaborate scheme to win Duffin over by creating a fake suitor, Monahan, to spark romantic interest — a practice known as “catfishing” — that morphed into a sensational claim of gang rape at a U-Va. fraternity that Jackie said was instigated by the fictitious upperclassman, and finally a Rolling Stone story that rocked the U-Va. campus and shocked the nation.

A Charlottesville Police investigation later determined that no one named Haven Monahan had ever attended U-Va., and extensive efforts to find the person were not successful. Photographs that were texted to Duffin that were purported to be of Monahan were actually pictures depicting one of Jackie’s high school classmates in Northern Virginia. That man, now a student at a university in another state, confirmed to The Post that the photographs were of him.

Police ultimately determined that no gang rape occurred, and Rolling Stone retracted its story.

The Rolling Stone U-Va. story: What went wrong   

Play Video1:59

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Columbia University has released its report on Rolling Stone's retracted story detailing an alleged rape at a U-Va. fraternity. The Post's T. Rees Shapiro - who first reported inconsistencies in the Rolling Stone article - explains the key findings in the report. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post)

“All available evidence demonstrates that ‘Haven Monahan’ was a fake suitor created by Jackie in a strange bid to earn the affections of a student named Ryan Duffin that Jackie was romantically interested in,” Eramo’s lawyers wrote in court papers filed this week.

1 posted on 01/12/2016 8:29:49 AM PST by outpostinmass2
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To: outpostinmass2

Let’s hear again about how we need the MSM because pajama bloggers lack credibility.


2 posted on 01/12/2016 8:37:23 AM PST by Steely Tom (Vote GOP: A Slower Handbasket)
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To: outpostinmass2

3 posted on 01/12/2016 8:43:16 AM PST by Baynative (If socialist democrat ideas are so good for people why must they be mandatory?)
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To: outpostinmass2

The internet has done SOOOOOO much to destroy society.

Frankly I’m about ready to hop in the DeLorean and head back to the 80’s right now.


4 posted on 01/12/2016 8:47:24 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: outpostinmass2

If ever there was a transparently fake name a girl would use to make her desired suitor is jealous it’s Haven Monahan.


5 posted on 01/12/2016 8:51:34 AM PST by nickcarraway
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To: outpostinmass2
She could have just sent herself flowers like the protagonist of Clueless, but she created a whole drama that sparked a national incident. Women amaze me sometimes. A male might have done something stupid and gotten himself in trouble.
6 posted on 01/12/2016 8:54:46 AM PST by nickcarraway
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To: Steely Tom

A+ response.


7 posted on 01/12/2016 8:56:32 AM PST by sjm_888
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To: nickcarraway
she created a whole drama that sparked a national incident. Women amaze me sometimes

Because science. "...every woman is at least 4 crazy." We have graphs and everything.


8 posted on 01/12/2016 9:36:08 AM PST by Nervous Tick (There is no "allah" but satan, and mohammed was his demon-possessed tool.)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

How did the internet cause this problem?


9 posted on 01/12/2016 10:09:39 AM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

I completely agree!


10 posted on 01/12/2016 8:02:19 PM PST by ConservativeMind ("Humane" = "Don't pen up pets or eat meat, but allow infanticide, abortion, and euthanasia.")
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