Facebook Rape Post Accuses Innocent Man, Goes Viral

A Facebook rape post targeted at Chad Lesko of Toledo, Ohio, attempted to reveal Lesko as the rapist of four victims — three girls and his young son.

According to the Toledo Free Press, the post launched May 20, and in the days since, the ever tuned-in, just, and reliable Facebook community have done their due diligence in first investigating the claims before forwarding them on to peers.

Actually, that’s not what happened at all. They shared it 26,000 times in 48 hours without a single one of them doing the least bit of research into the accusation.

Lesko told the Toledo Free Press that he believed the account of the poster, Nicole Mccarthy, belonged to the mother of his son, who was lashing out at him because he couldn’t afford to send her as much in child support this month.

“Mccarthy” sent a message to TFP stating that police had come to her and others’ doors to say that Lesko was wanted for rape. “I did want [sic] I had to do because I thought it was true. I am sorry for the false accusations but I thought it was true.”

The account appeared to have been taken down shortly after sending the message.

Toledo Police Sergeant Joe Heffernan said he believed the Facebook rape post accusation to be false and confirmed he was not aware of any active rape or sexual imposition cases against Lesko.

The viral post read: “If You See This Man, His Name is Chad Michael Lesko, He is Wanted by Toledo Police for 4 Counts of RAPE He Raped 3 Little Girls and His own son. Please Like and Share and Get the Word out. NO ONE MESS WITH HIM!!!!”

Lesko said he believed his son’s mother was behind the Facebook rape post because when he broke the news to her about his coming up short on financial support for the month, “She told me, ‘I’m gonna get you back for this,’ and ever since then it’s been hell.”

“Monique” was the name of Lesko’s ex-girlfriend, and in a recent radio interview with Toledo’s Andrew Z in the Morning, she admitted to being responsible for the post, but said it was only to warn her friends and family (even though the actual post says to “like” and “share,” but whatever).

When pressed on why she did it, Monique said, “Because I didn’t know what I was going to get myself in to. I wasn’t expecting it being that many [shares]. I’m sorry, but I admit it. I didn’t know it was going to get this far. I never knew I was going to get that much attention. I didn’t want that much attention. I just want all this to drop and be gone.”

(Good luck with that.)

The Facebook rape post finally came down on Wednesday, but not before amassing more than 30,000 shares.

To the 30,000+ who participated: seriously, people, has this phony baloney Facebook fallacy or maybe this one not painted a clear enough picture yet? Repeat after us: “Not everything someone asks you to share is true.” Don’t be idiots.

In Lesko’s case, he can take legal action, but as far as criminal charges, Monique is off the hook. Apparently, it’s not a crime to start rumors against someone.

What do you think should happen to the guilty party in the case of the Facebook rape post?

[Image via ShutterStock]