Woman charged with felony over fake Facebook page
HOUSTON
Spring ISD police investigated this case and on Thursday, Lily Chau, 26, turned herself in and made her first court appearance. Her target, they say, was a fellow teacher at Westfield High School.
What started as interpersonal problems at work at the school ended in the courtroom with Chau facing a judge. According to a court document, the young teacher's aide harassed a co-worker using Facebook.
"Rather than policing the streets of Harris County, they're policing the Internet," KTRK Legal Analyst Joel Androphy said.
Spring ISD police believe sometime last week, Chau, an English-as-a-second-language aide at the school, took to the Internet to seek revenge on a 35-year-old ESL teacher. In the charging document, it says Chau set up a fake Facebook page on her home computer and posted her co-worker's financial information, photograph and address.
Both the victim and Chau referenced personal conflicts at work as a possible motive.
No one answered at her northwest Harris County apartment on Thursday. But just our visit revealed the woman accused of violating a co-worker's privacy protects her own. A note taped to her door reads in capital letters, "I do not want anyone in my apartment without my presence and verbal consent."
Recent discipline at the school was also mentioned in the court record, but Spring ISD Spokeswoman Karen Garrison wouldn't elaborate and addressed only the allegation.
"The district always responds quickly and investigates reports of this nature as soon as it's brought to our attention," Garrison said in a prepared statement.
Chau worked at the school for a year and a half. She was fired Thursday and Androphy says she now faces the more serious of the online harassment charges.
"This is a felony because the young lady is accused of using someone else's information to create a Facebook account -- that's the felony," Androphy said.
The victim's mother told Eyewitness News that she feels badly about all of this, but she had to do something.
Chau is free on a $5,000 bond. Her next court date is May 12.
