Legal Question in Criminal Law in Illinois

I had an online romance going with a lady that went sour. While talking with online friends about what happened, I gave out both of our cell phone numbers to substantiate my claims. One of the listeners sent her a text message that, to my knowledge, was neither threatening nor sexually explicit. The same person sent me a text message as well. However, this is how she found out that I had given out her cell phone number, and she subsequently began texting me saying that she was going to press criminal charges for cyber harassment and cyber bullying. I never had intentions on harassing her, it was merely a lapse in judgement on my part in an attempt to "prove" my claims. Are there legal issues that I should be concerned about? I live in Illinois, if state laws are going to be the deciding factor.


Asked on 2/12/12, 8:43 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Unless she told you not to give her number out, she had little expectation of privacy that it would not be given out. However, while your intent was to "prove" something, it clearly incited others. Both your action and those to whom you gave the number were highly immature. Whether she might be able to get a restraining order against all of you will depend on much more, but a court might just find enough evidence to impose one. But instead of worrying about a legal action you should tell the people you gave her number to, to STOP IMMEDIATELY. And don't stoop to this kind of behavior in the future.

There's an old story about a kid who told tales on people, and went to his dad saying people were angry with him. His dad took the kid to the top of a hill with a feather pillow and told his son to rip the pillow open. When the kid did, the feathers blew all over the place. The dad then said, "now go pick up all the feathers." The kid said, "that's impossible." To which the dad said, "And that's exactly what happens when you tell tales on people: once you've let them out, they're impossible to take back." The best you can do is make amends.

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Answered on 4/10/12, 12:27 pm


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