A café worker in North Dakota revealed how she went into ‘survival mode’ after a creepy neighbor made a fake account of her on the dating app Tinder.
Danell Phelps, a coffee shop manager in West Fargo, North Dakota, recounted her terrifying experience of having ten strange men show up at her door and the drive-up coffee shop where she works.
It was later revealed that her neighbor, Theodore Kralovic, 36, had been using her name and pictures to create a fake Tinder profile.
‘I was in survival mode, trying to get by day by day, trying to figure out what was going on,’ Phelps told WDAY.
‘They messaged me through Facebook and be like, “hey, we were talking on Tinder,”,’ Phelps said.
Danell Phelps, a coffee shop manager in West Fargo, North Dakota revealed how she went into ‘survival mode’ after a creepy neighbor made a fake account of her on the dating app Tinder
Phelps recounted her terrifying experience of having ten strange men show up at her door or the drive-up coffee shop where she works
It was later revealed that her neighbor, Theodore Kralovic, 36, had been using her name and pictures to create a fake Tinder profile
According to court documents, Kralovic impersonated Phelps and talked with 138 different people on Tinder.
Phelps graduated from North Dakota State University last year and owns a drive-up coffee shop called Ladybug Latte in West Fargo.
However, she noticed something strange earlier this year when a man knocked on the back door of the coffee shop.
‘He came to the back door and said, “are you Danell?” and I said, “yes”,’ Phelps recalled.
‘He said, “It’s Michael.” And, I said, “Do I know you?” And, he said, “Yes. We’ve been talking on Snapchat.”
‘I was like “no we haven’t”, and he was mortified.’
She decided to file a police report after ten different men showing up at her door or trying to message her on social media.
‘When the detective got all of the data from Tinder, he was talking to me and he started counting, and he got to 47 and he said, ”I am not even halfway through”,’ Phelps said.
Phelps graduated from North Dakota State University last year and owns a drive-up coffee shop called Ladybug Latte in West Fargo
She noticed something strange earlier this year when a man knocked on the back door of the coffee shop
Kralovic was accused of ‘creating a fake, unauthorized Tinder account under Phelps’ information, speaking to males, setting up dates with said males.’
He also gave the males ‘Phelps’ home address, work address, and vehicle description,’ the prosecutors said.
At least eight males came to her workplace or home, hoping to talk or meet her in person, court documents indicated.
Kralovic pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment and was sentenced to supervised probation and community service.
The case marks the first time the local state’s attorney’s office charged someone related to creating fake dating app accounts.
Phelps had to move from her old home and add security cameras at her coffee shop.
‘You can’t tell me something like this can’t be dangerous. Why does it have to get to the point where something bad happens that people actually take action?’ Phelps said.