A New York police officer is accused of sending herself disturbing, threatening text messages she claimed were sent by her colleagues.
Ossining Police Officer Emily Hirshowitz, 36, made multiple reports to the District Attorney’s Office over the past year claiming she was sent anonymous, menacing messages.
The messages were allegedly expletive-laced texts urging her to take her own life, calling her “stupid”, “useless”, and a “reject”.
Hirshowitz said that “a fellow police officer or multiple police officers at my department are involved” in her initial report.
Local officials became aware of her report and were so alarmed by the escalating rhetoric of the messages that they reached out to the DA to investigate further.
Hirshowitz then asked to drop the complaint in August, but her superiors pressed on with the investigation and called a department-wide meeting to discuss the alleged harassment.
Investigators were quick to suspect her and say the texts were sent from phone numbers that Hirshowitz created using apps that were associated with her email address and IP address.
She is charged with three counts of offering a false instrument for filing and four counts of falsely reporting an incident and she has been suspended with pay at this time.
Former Ossining police officer Louis Rinaldi is allegedly Hirshowitz’s accomplice. He resigned from the department earlier this year over separate disciplinary matters.
Hirshowitz was a well-respected officer on the force and was awarded the Rotary Club of Ossining’s 2018 Employee of the Year.
She also represented the force at IRONMAN 70.3 Atlantic City and also completed IRONMAN Maryland.
In the age of social media, hate crime and harassment hoaxes are becoming much more visible, often garnering attention and sympathy, and often charitable fundraising, for the perpetrator.
Their motive for the hoax is not immediately clear.
“There’s a lot of mystery and confusion surrounding the allegations in this case and we’ll evaluate as we learn more,” said her lawyer.
