TN: Investigation into leaks of information on registrants from Clerk of Court.
According to a report by Local 3 News, a Monroe County (TN) woman, Emilee “Emma” Berger, was arrested and charged with identity theft after she allegedly posted a copy of a registered sex offender’s arrest warrant on social media. The document, shared in a Facebook group titled “Uncensored Voices of Monroe County Revamped,” contained sensitive personal information. What made the situation even more troubling was how the document appeared online in the first place. Officials determined that the version posted to Facebook appeared to come directly from the Monroe County court system’s electronic records, which are accessible only to authorized users such as court personnel, law enforcement, attorneys, and prosecutors. An audit of the system showed that two individuals accessed the file during the relevant time frame, suggesting the warrant may have been obtained through someone with legitimate access to the system.
Because the warrant contained unredacted personal identifiers protected by law, authorities concluded a criminal offense had occurred. Berger was subsequently charged with identity theft under Tennessee law and taken into custody before later posting bond. The investigation into how the document was accessed and distributed remains ongoing.
The case illustrates a recurring problem in the registry debate: the line between public information and vigilantism can quickly blur. Incidents like this demonstrate how easily they can become fuel for harassment, doxxing, or unauthorized disclosure of sensitive personal data. Perhaps most ironic of all is that, in this instance, the alleged misuse of confidential information appears to have originated from someone with connections to the very system tasked with protecting that information. Sometimes, the vigilantes targeting registrants are not outsiders at all — they are people operating within the justice system itself.
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Is it doxing if its the government that’s doing it, especially if it’s under a guise that has been proven to be inaccurate? What if the government doxes an entire segment of the population with the result of causing or attempting to cause, or would be reasonably expected to cause substantial emotional distress to a person?
What if this doxing caused or was proven to cause any person to be in reasonable fear of death or of serious bodily injury?
What if the government knew this doxing would be questioned so this same government proclaims this action to be a civil regulatory scheme “not unlike that of renewing ones driver’s license”?
What if the general population upon discovering the identity of said segment of the population not only approved but strongly supported this civil regulatory scheme?
What we allow the government to do to one, we demand the government do to us all.
Thank you for your time
This goes directly back to what is happening here and me as well, where a fake deputy calls you and says you have a warrant and you can come and pay it off. I still say there is no way in Hell they got our phone #s and info without an employee from the sheriff’s office.
It does not have to be a deputy in the department but a clerk or non-sworn employee that has access to the data bases and other information that any law enforcement department would have available to the employees. Then that person passes it on to their boyfriend, husband, brother, friend etc, to pose as a deputy and scam those on the registry.
I feel sorry for those who fell for it and glad F.A.C made everyone aware, but when one scam gets old, they will find some new way to try and trip us up and give up information, money or even getting caught up in their trap and possibly kidnapping us for ransom.
Remember, you can also call the sheriff’s / police department and ask them if said officer is legit or do like I did when they called me and offer to me in the lobby of the sheriff’s office. When I told him that, he told me it HAD to be in person where he wanted to meet. After that, I hung up, then he called my parents, who immediately called me. I told them it was a scam. And to call my elderly parents? I was not happy at all.
Not necessarily, addresses are public and often you can find a phone number associated with an address. They just call and hope for a hit. Cant out your phone number on anything these days or it will get out somehow.
I love when you call out the fake deputies and they just yell “f-you!” into the phone, like that means something. There should be a list for their phone numbers since law enforcement won’t do anything about it.
You mean a person in a position of trust violated the law against a person it shouldn’t have? Say it is not so. SMH