So, this is a somewhat bizarre story: former NBA great Ray Allen claims he was catfished by a man who claimed this week that Allen was stalking him.
Here’s what happened, via ESPN.
Allen filed an emergency motion in Orange County, Florida, on Tuesday, one day after Bryant Coleman told the court he is being stalked by the 10-time All-Star and two-time NBA champion.
Allen said Coleman is the one who is stalking.
“Coleman pretended to be a number of attractive women interested in Ray Allen,” read the motion filed on Allen’s behalf. “Ray believed he was speaking with these women and communicated with them.”
Allen’s attorney is claiming that the alleged stalker in question, a man named Bryant Coleman, cut a deal with Allen to keep details of their conversations private, but Coleman went back on the deal and is still harassing Allen and his family on social media.
“He posted about Ray’s wife, Ray’s children, Ray’s dog, Ray’s homes, Ray’s wife’s restaurant, and numerous other personal items,” read the motion. “Coleman not only posted about these things, he would actually post while physically located inside Ray’s wife’s restaurant in Orlando. And he would make sure they knew it, tagging Ray and his wife on those posts.”
[…]
“Ray regrets ever engaging with this person online and is thankful they never met in person,” Markus said. “This experience has negatively impacted Ray, and he hopes that others might use his mistake to learn the dangers of communicating online with strangers.”
Allen probably shouldn’t have shared so many personal details with multiple women online, but you can’t realistically expect one guy to be behind multiple social media profiles and for that one guy to extort you. Situations like the one Allen finds himself in are the exception, not the rule.
[ESPN]
