A River Falls woman is facing felony charges after allegedly stalking a former co-worker for over a year via hundreds of texts, emails and fake social media accounts.

Rebecca Ann Hedeen, 32, was ordered to pay $2,500 cash bond in St. Croix County Circuit Court Jan. 23 on felony stalking, felony misappropriate ID info – harm reputation, computer message – threaten obscenity, sending obscene/sexually explicit electronic messages and harassment charges. If convicted, she faces a maximum penalty of 3.5 years in prison and/or fines up to $10,000.

According to the complaint:

St. Croix County deputies met with the complainant at 5:52 p.m. Sept. 14 at a rural New Richmond home where they heard a detailed account of cyber harassment that had been going on for more than a year. It began with text messages from an anonymous person wanting to have sexual encounters with the victim and soon escalated to continuous contact through emails, social media and texts, fake appointments at his job, and more. The person sent him nude photos of women and asked him to perform sexual acts.

Things quieted down for a while until he started receiving Amazon packages with gifts from someone calling themselves “cute stalker girl” sent to his parents’ home. He also received several text messages telling him to break up with his girlfriend; the person knew her name. Police suggested he change his phone number, which he did. The texts came from multiple different virtual phone numbers which were untraceable. He had been blocking all the numbers and asking them to leave him alone, but more texts kept coming.

The suspect also set up fake social media accounts and fan pages in the victim’s name and left fake reviews using those profiles on various local businesses, including his employer, WESTconsin Credit Union. The suspect also contacted his brother, asking for his new phone number after he changed it. The victim said he has had to reach out to numerous corporations, asking them to remove the fake reviews using his name or fake social media pages that are slanderous and inappropriate.

Around February 2024, the suspect began posting on his employer’s social media sites and setting up appointments with him online using fake names but never showing up. He received pornographic materials in the mail and the suspect set up a Zola account, creating a fake divorce party for the victim and his girlfriend.

An example of a message received: "I see that you keep reporting the fan page chat so I'm going to block you on the main fan page, but the fan page will stay up forever (Laughing emoji) you still have the Pinterest page to deal with too (Laughing emoji)” A Facebook message from "Molly Peterson" read "I told your future father in law that you cheated on his daughter. Have fun at all your future family gatherings with her side of the family (quiet emoji).”

He also received hundreds of emails to his work and personal accounts from fake email addresses, some using his own name in them. Most of the emails were either sexual in nature or threatening his girlfriend. Others were taunting him for all the fake social media profiles set up with his name.

On Jan. 16, the victim informed police that the suspect had generated so many fake appointments on the WESTconsin website that actual customers could not set up any appointments, costing the business money and potential business. He felt the suspect’s actions were seriously harming his reputation and his employer’s reputation.

Police were able to track down Hedeen’s name through a payment she made on Amazon to send things to the victim. When they asked the victim if he knew Hedeen, he identified her as a former co-worker. Officers responded to her home on Golf View Drive in River Falls on Jan. 22, where she told police she was reaching out to the victim because she had a crush on him. She admitted to everything, including sending gifts, texting, emailing, setting up fake social media accounts and fan pages, posting fake reviews using his name and making fake appointments at his employer’s office. She said she was just trying to be “flirty and playful.” She described herself as “a bored rich girl” who drove by the victim’s home a few time.

Hedeen told police she had no intentions of physical harm or kidnapping, but wanted to have a sexual relationship with the victim. She got his parents’ address off Google. She said he never told her he was going to call the police or she would’ve stopped. She claimed he liked the attention and she enjoyed riling him up, seeing how far she could push him. Hedeen felt she had done nothing illegal, saying “Most guys would love a beautiful girl to stalk them."

Officers received a search warrant and seized Hedeen’s phone. Her response was asking police, "Why does he hate beautiful women so much?" Police explained to her the victim did not know who it was, he was feeling threatened and harassed, and WESTconsin was very frustrated with all the bookings that were being made.

When police came back later to arrest Hedeen, she asked them if they’d talked to the victim and she wanted to know what he said. She also asked if the victim was going to be at the jail or the courthouse for her court appearance.

A pre-trial scheduling conference is set for 9:30 a.m. March 20 in Court Room 1.