HOUSTON – What’s known as revenge porn can rob a person of their privacy, reputation, even their job, by using the internet as a weapon. And it’s a growing problem in Harris County.
Case in point, Kristoffer Metcalf, 43. According to police, Metcalf went after a former lover online, a man who had broken up with him.
He is accused of setting up a fake profile on a social media app called MeWe using the victim’s name and a nude photo of the victim.
The victim was employed by a marketing company that worked exclusively for the Houston Chronicle. According to police, an email containing the photo was sent to a large number of Chronicle employees inviting them to connect with the victim on MeWe.
As a result, the victim lost his job.
Prosecutor Steven Belt said it’s not a minor crime.
“It’s a felony. It’s one of the most serious crimes that we have in the state of Texas. It’s a way of weaponizing the internet to hurt, injure, humiliate,” Belt said.
He also said it’s becoming more and more common in Harris County
“Think about what that means to the person. That’s their safety, their trust, their everything. They’re trusting that person not to do anything with those photos. And then when they break that trust, it’s not just their personal trust. It also goes further to it affects their job, affects their family. Affects everything,” Belt said.
It’s become so common, in the last few years the legislature passed new laws to combat it. Kristoffer Metcalf is charged with two of them: Online Impersonation, a third-degree felony. And Unlawful disclosure of intimate visual material, a state jail felony.
Metcalf is still at large. Houston Crimestoppers is offering a reward for his arrest.