Metropolitan police reported on Thursday that Jessica Nordquist was found guilty of 2 cases of stalking involving serious alarm/distress, 2 incidents malicious communications and perverting the course of public justice.
The 26-year-old American woman worked with her victim in the same company. Aside from persistently stalking her male victim, she also made malicious communications against her then employer.
She was first served with a harassment warning on 24 January 2018, lead up to her arrest two days later, when she was interviewed and released under investigation.
Woman found guilty of stalking and faking own kidnap https://t.co/dSMVgrHMe6 pic.twitter.com/GF8LoECbaW
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) October 11, 2018
When officers attended her flat in London, they found sim cards in her handbag and in her garbage bin. The investigations also revealed existence of 20 fake Instagram accounts created to stalk her victim.
A few months down the road, Nordquist's family, friends, colleagues and the victim received an electronic message from "an alleged crime group, claiming they had raped and kidnapped Nordquist." Attached to the email were images of a naked, bound and gagged Nordquist, and the alleged kidnappers claimed they broke her fingers.
The US woman was later found alone and safe by the police authorities in Scotland and it eventually was revealed that she had faked the story of her own kidnap.
"Throughout the investigation and trial, Nordquist has shown she is a compulsive liar and deeply manipulative. She was offered numerous opportunities to admit her offending and receive help, but she repeatedly refused to do so; forcing the need for a trial. Her actions diverted police resources from real victims of crime. Her lack of technical expertise and clumsy attempts to cover her tracks by "hiding in plain sight" ultimately led to her conviction, which would not have been possible without the cooperation of UK mobile phone networks and other businesses — for which the Metropolitan police are grateful," DC Joanne Farrell, formerly of the Community Safety Unit at Tower Hamlets, said.
Nordquist will be sentenced on a date to be confirmed.
