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A former deputy U.S. marshal from Brea was convicted Thursday of framing his ex-girlfriend for sexual assault reportedly to realize management of a apartment they bought collectively in Anaheim, the Division of Justice stated.
Michelle Hadley spent nearly three months in jail due to the scheme that Ian R. Diaz, 44, operated together with his then-wife, Angela Diaz, prosecutors stated. They posed on-line as Hadley and despatched themselves harassing and threatening messages, in accordance with the indictment.
Ian Diaz was convicted of conspiracy to commit cyberstalking, cyberstalking perjury and obstruction of justice. He faces as much as 20 years in jail.
Angela Diaz has not been federally indicted, however she was sentenced to 5 years in state jail after pleading responsible in October 2017 to 10 felony and 22 misdemeanor fees, together with kidnapping, false imprisonment and falsely reporting against the law to a peace officer, in accordance with the Orange County district legal professional’s workplace.
“[Ian] Diaz’s egregious actions and lies to regulation enforcement stripped a girl of her freedom and liberty,” stated Harry Lidsky, particular agent in control of the Workplace of the Inspector Normal’s cyber investigations workplace. “This type of stalking, harassment, and obstruction is unconscionable, and yesterday, the jury held Diaz accountable for his crimes.”
In accordance with the indictment, Diaz and his ex-girlfriend, recognized in court docket paperwork as Jane Doe, bought the apartment in June 2015 however the pair broke up two months later. Hadley moved out however Diaz remained and started relationship Angela in January 2016. A month later, they bought married, in accordance with court docket paperwork.
Diaz and Hadley fought over the apartment, and in Could 2016, he started conspiring together with his spouse to “to intervene with Jane Doe’s curiosity within the property,” in accordance with prosecutors. Utilizing faux e-mail and consumer accounts for web sites like Craigslist, Diaz and his spouse posed because the sufferer and despatched themselves messages with hyperlinks to pictures of aborted fetuses and decapitated our bodies, in accordance with the indictment.
“A number of the messages contained specific or implied threats to hurt” Angela Diaz, prosecutors wrote within the indictment.
The married couple additionally put private advertisements on Craigslist in an try and lure individuals to go to the apartment to have interaction in a “rape fantasy” with Ian Diaz’s spouse. They’d stage the encounter to seem as if Hadley had employed somebody to sexually assault Diaz’s spouse.
The incidents had been reported to police and Hadley was arrested, charged and jailed for 88 days.
Hadley was exonerated by Orange County prosecutors and all fees towards her had been dismissed. Had the case gone to trial, she confronted life in jail if convicted.
“This has been an enormous nightmare for me — most likely probably the most traumatic expertise of my life,” Hadley advised reporters in 2017 after the fees towards her had been dropped.
Within the fall of 2016, Diaz advised regulation enforcement officers that he believed his spouse was solely accountable for framing Hadley and tried to hide his involvement within the scheme. He deleted private e-mail accounts and altered his cellphone quantity, prosecutors stated.
Diaz and Angela have since divorced.
Diaz, who was indicted in Could 2021, is about to be sentenced on June 30.
