Kendra Gail Licari, a 42-year-old woman from Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, has been charged with felony charges after an investigation revealed that she had been cyberbullying her own teenage daughter for an entire year. The investigation began when Beal City Schools received a complaint about cyberbullying in December 2022. Licari used virtual private networks (VPNs) to hide her location and made it look like the messages were coming from other teenagers. She was charged with two counts of stalking a minor, two counts of using a computer to commit a crime and one count of obstruction of justice. If found guilty, she could face up to 10 years in prison. Licari is scheduled to appear in court on 29 December for a hearing to determine if there is sufficient evidence for a trial.
The messages began in early 2021 and continued until December, when Licari was working as a girls’ basketball coach at her daughter’s school. District officials were unable to trace the culprit, so they asked for assistance from law enforcement in January 2021. The FBI’s computer crime division eventually became involved and was able to lock down the IP addresses used to send the messages, which linked to Licari.
Licari is accused of having used virtual private networks (VPNs) to hide her location and make it look like the messages were coming from other teenagers. She also used slang and abbreviations to try and make it look like the messages were coming from another teen. After she was tracked down, Licari reportedly made a full confession about her actions.
Licari was charged with two counts of stalking a minor, two counts of using a computer to commit a crime and one count of obstruction of justice. She was released on a $5,000 bond following the arraignment and is scheduled to appear on 29 December for a hearing that will determine whether sufficient evidence exists to bind her over for trial. If convicted, Licari could face years behind bars.
