Ok, this has taken the phenomenon of the "pageant mom" to a whole new level.
A mom in Chalfont, Pennsylvania was recently arrested after she took drastic measures to ensure her teenage daughter's success on her traveling cheerleading squad.
50-year-old Raffaela Spone created "deepfake" videos and photos of her daughter's rivals on the squad that made them look like they were smoking, drinking, and engaging in other illicit activities, and proceeded to send them to the cheer coaches as well as to the girls themselves! And if that wasn't enough, Spone encouraged the girls to kill themselves, too!
Yeah, Mom of the Year material right there. Police reports say there are no signs Spone's daughter had any knowledge of what her mother was doing.
The coaches and parents of the girls called the police, who were able to determine the photos were all fake, and they were able to trace them to Spone who was promptly arrested.
According to The Inquirer, Spone now faces a charge of cyber harassment of a child, a misdemeanor, and other and related offenses.