Freshman Ally Pfeiffer thought that she had escaped the world of high school drama and bullying when she came to hartford to study political science. That’s until she found out that she was a victim of cyber bullying. Someone had made a hate page, dedicated to making fun of Ally, and was adding members of the Bristol High School alumni community.
“At the beginning of october I had gotten a text from my boyfriend asking why I had requested him on Facebook. He had discovered that it was a hate page dedicated for me it had used all of my personal information, my name, my birthdate”, says Ally.
That’s when ally took to the internet and broke into the rogue Facebook account, taking control of the fake email address and running it through a free IP tracker. She then took her findings to her local police department, signing a statement that when the person responsible was found, they would be charged with impersonation, harassment, and conspiracy to commit both.
Bristol police traced the IP addresses up to UConn where they arrested Sarah Johnson, 18, and Jeffrey Martone, 19, Pfeiffer’s former best friend. Ally plans on going to law school after graduating from hartford in three years, and says she’s glad that this happened to her, and not someone else. “A lot of people could have taken this a different way. If they would have gotten someone who was unstable it could have had a completely different end result.”
UConn is aware of the charges against Marcone and Johnson, the two could face anything from a warning to expulsion for not following UConn’s code of student conduct. Hartford’s “Source” has strict policies on harassment that apply to both online and off. So what are you to do if you find yourself being bullied?
“Cyber Bullying is a socially constructed term, its just harassment…if someone feels they’re being harassed in any way…they should report that to someone who works here…they could report it to an RA, resident director, to me” says VP of Student Affairs Lee Peters.
As for Ally she says, “Bring it to whoever you need to just to get some help, don’t make a page about them don’t fight them, just fight for yourself.”
Martone and Johnson were arraigned in Bristol Superior court on Monday, and have a court date set for Decemer 23rd.
