Crime & Safety

Ex Accused of Faking Email to Win Custody Fight

Catasauqua man accused of creating fake email account and message to gain advantage in child custody battle with ex-girlfriend.

 

A Catasauqua man is accused of setting up a fake email account in his ex-girlfriend’s name and using it to send a fake threatening message to himself in an effort to win a child custody case, according to court records.

Instead, Ricky Pagan is in jail and facing multiple criminal charges including identity theft, obstruction of justice and unlawful use of a computer and other computer crimes, a felony. filed the charges against Pagan on Monday.

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According the arrest affidavit:

  • Bethlehem police received a complaint from Pagan’s ex-girlfriend, who lives in South Bethlehem, on May 18. She said she and Pagan had reached a court-approved custody agreement in Lehigh County Court days earlier. But she had now received a Motion to Dismiss Custody Agreement letter with a copy of an email purportedly sent by her to Pagan making “false and threatening statements.”
  • The ex-girlfriend told police she does not have that email account and never sent that email. She said she believed that Pagan created the account and sent the email to “disrupt custody proceedings.”
  • Bethlehem police obtained a search warrant to get information on the email account from the Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, Wash. The resulting records showed the Internet Protocol address from where the email account was created.
  • A search of the American Registry of Internet Numbers, www.arin.net, showed that the IP address belong to R.R. Donnelley & Sons. Pagan is employed at the R.R. Donnelley & Sons distribution center in Breinigsville.
  • Bethlehem police confirmed with an R.R. Donnelley representative that the IP address belongs to the company.
  • In an interview with Bethlehem police on June 29, Pagan admitted that he had created the Internet account himself.

Pagan, 29, of 405 Walnut St. in Catasauqua, was also with harassment and terroristic threats for allegedly making a series of threatening text messages to the same ex-girlfriend on June 28 and 29.

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The charges in this separate case are:

  • Unlawful use of a computer and other computer crimes
  • Obstruction of justice
  • Tampering with Records or Identification
  • Securing the Execution of Documents by Deception
  • Identity Theft
  • False swearing
  • Making unsworn falsification to authorities
  • Tampering with or fabricating evidence

Pagan was committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $75,000 bail following his arraignment before .


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