HOUSTON – A woman who went viral in 2023 after claiming that a man threw a brick at her head when she wouldn’t give him her number, then raised more than $42,000 through a GoFundMe page, has been found guilty of theft by a Harris County jury.
Roda Osman, 35, had to be told to calm down several times after the jury returned the guilty verdict following about two and a half hours of deliberations.
Bank records shared during the trial revealed all of the donated money had been spent, Harris County prosecutor Keith Houston said, on trips to Jamaica and New York, at restaurants, spas, and on rideshares.
After the jury convicted Osman, Harris County District Court Judge Dan Simons sentenced her to 10 years of probation. If conditions get violated, Osman could serve a 10-year prison sentence.
As conditions of probation, Osman will have to serve 90 days in jail and undergo inpatient substance abuse treatment, Houston said. Osman will also have to pay full restitution of $42,302.
The judge also ordered her to not use social media for the 10-year period.
“I’d say it’s pretty rare,” defense attorney Joe Vinas said of the social media ban. He isn’t connected to the case.
“If somebody’s sophisticated enough ... with social media to commit a crime using social media, I imagine that it’s a pretty big part of her life. So that’s going to be difficult for her, but as I remind my clients all the time, probation’s supposed to be hard,” Vinas added.
The final judgement and probation conditions have not yet been signed, but a hearing is scheduled next week when that could happen.
“She kind of made the couple months that happened my life a living hell,” said Olan Douglas, the man who Osman told police threw the brick. “It seems like she gets on social media and just, you know manipulates and scams people.”
He is happy with the jury’s verdict and the judge’s sentencing plan.
“That’s crazy, that’s wonderful,” he said. “Usually nothing happens. I’m very much happy.”
Douglas spoke with KPRC 2 News in Jan. 2024 after Osman was charged and said he had received death threats over the made up brick-throwing.
“I wish that the crowd of people that was with her at the beginning would show themselves now. Where are they at?” Douglas said. “Are they still supporting?”
During the investigation, Houston police found surveillance video showed Osman slapping Douglas in the face before he hit her back, with what appeared to be a plastic water bottle in hand.
Court documents revealed the surveillance footage did not match what Osman told police -- that a male Uber driver threw a brick at her and tried to kidnap her -- that “she did her own investigation and was told that Douglas was the one who assaulted her.”
Exactly what happened to Osman’s face isn’t fully clear, but Houston said the leading theory is that she hit her head on the car door frame because the car door was open and she went down in that area.
Houston said Osman and her defense team expressed intent to appeal the conviction during court on Wednesday.
KPRC 2 News has reached out to Osman’s attorney for a statement.
Osman was taken into custody to begin serving the 90-day sentence at the end of the trial.
She was given a $50,000 appeal bond, but that bond was denied on Thursday morning for unclear reasons. The appeals process could take more than a year.
Records show Osman has a misdemeanor warrant out of Travis County connected to failing to appear in court for an obstruction of a highway case, in which she is represented by the same defense attorney who has not responded to multiple requests for comment.