The False Arrest of Dennis Toeppen

In the 2000-teens, a detractor by the name of Jeremy Leval came onto my radar. 
I responded to his social media gyrations with this page: Jeremy Leval

In summer of 2014, I was suddenly arrested and charged with a misdemeanor: 
"Harrassment by Electronic Communications". To me, that sounded like Reddit's 
mission statement more than something one could be arrested for.

Here are the charges:

Count 1:

5 The first count alleges that on
6 September 23, 2013, in response to the question,
7 "Students of UIUC, where is your favorite place to
B study on campus and why?", the post, "i like to
9 studie in the bathroom so I can masterbate without
10 making a mess all over the apartment," posted by
11 the username Jeremy-the-prick, appeared on Reddit.

Count 2:

12 On January 10, 2014, the username Suburbin
13 Eggpress, S-u-b-u-r-b-i-n E-g-g-p-r-e-s-s, posted
14 on Reddit, in all caps, "KATHERINE CHI TRIES TO
15 HUMP JEREMY LEVAL, FINDS HE HAS NO PENIS."

Based on the file I received from the Highland Park Police Department, it seemed 
clear that Leval's father and Leval had lobbied HPPD for months to do something 
about the page above where I pushed back against Leval's attacks. HPPD seemed to 
tell Leval what was needed for a charge, and Leval eventually produced it.

At trial, Leval produced screenshots of posts that I could not find anywhere on 
Reddit. I don't believe there was any other authentication of the posts, other 
than Leval stating he'd taken the screenshots. Reddit witness was unable to 
provide any information about the posts, other than IP address from which the 
supposedly-involved accounts were created.

The judge ruled as follows (excerpt):

21 One might argue that one cannot use a
22 username established by someone else other than
23 with their password, but there are allegations, and
24 I have no reason to disbelieve them, in the
8
1 complaint that the State asked the Court to take
2 judicial notice of that Mr. Leval had been boasting
3 that it was easy to access the defendant's accounts
4 because his passwords were amateur and easily
5 decipherable.
6 With respect to the posting on January 1
7
8 MR. GOLDMAN: January 10th, I believe.
9 THE COURT: Thank you.
10 -- January 10, not only is there no
11 evidence that the defendant himself made the post,
12
13
an essential element in a criminal case, and that
any posting made at that IP address wasn't easily
14 accessible by anyone else at that place of business
15 or apartment or town home as defendant.
16 For all of those reasons, I would find
17 that there has not been proof beyond a reasonable
18 doubt that the defendant himself made those posts.
19 I'm left with the conclusion I'm left with
20 in many criminal cases, which is if I was not
21 required to rule beyond a reasonable doubt, would
22
23
24
my opinion be otherwise? And it certainly would be
in this case. But it's a criminal prosecution with
the threat of jail time and loss of personal
9
1 liberty, and the State in these cases is held to a
2 higher burden and must prove beyond a reasonable
3 doubt that it was, in fact, the defendant who made
4 these postings. And I would find that that has not
5 been shown. For all of those reasons, I'm entering
6 a finding of not guilty.
7 MR. GOLDMAN: Thank You


It's somewhat amusing that judge appeases Leval by saying she might have ruled 
otherwise if there was a different standard of proof, right after she just 
seemed to acknowledge that Leval was logging into accounts that were not his 
and making posts.

The taxpayers of Lake County spent tens of thousands of dollars litigating this 
case. They went so far as to fly in, lodge, and feed a witness from California.

This was an interesting adventure. The media never reported the real story. They 
just spouted nonsensical melodramas.

When the smoke cleared, the court ordered that records, files, and mugshot be 
destroyed or turned over to me. The order specifically directed anyone publishing 
mugshot to cease doing so. To date, neither Google nor various scummy online 
purveyors of slimy news have complied with the order.

Expungement Order

Eventually, politicians will figure out that digital mugshots and expungement 
orders are sort of mutually exclusive, and they'll either restrict publication 
of digital mugshots or grant copyrights to defendants along with expungement, so 
that DMCA can be used to remove them mugshots from websites.

Leval also tried to get the Jeremy Leval page down by filing a defamation suit.
That was an interesting ploy, but Leval settled when a counterclaim was filed.
The counterclaim is here. The last count is most interesting, but draw your own
conclusions.

Counterclaim - Skip to Page 10