Darby Man Named ‘Casey Anthony' Harassed

A 43-year-old man has been getting backlash for the infamous Casey Anthony

Casey Anthony is undeniably one of the most unloved names in the news as of late. Unfortunately for one Darby, Pa. man -- he bears that name.

Forty-three-year-old Casey Anthony has lived his life proud of his name. Then came along the highly publicized Casey Anthony who was acquitted of killing her 2-year-old daughter by a jury -- but convicted by public opinion.

“After the verdict that day, it went crazy,” Anthony told NBC Philadelphia’s Marisa Brahney. “It was like everybody wanted to know and wanted to comment on this Casey Anthony situation.”

Strangers began bombarding Anthony last week on Facebook, with hundreds of friend requests, messages, wall posts, and -- because his profile included his number -- phone calls.

“[They were] making comments about the verdict; who am I to take a child’s life,” Anthony said. “And then I’m sitting back like, excuse me? I’m not the Casey Anthony you think.”

After the first few Florida area-code phone calls came in, Anthony just stopped answering his phone.

Anthony is not the only one suffering for the name he bears. He has two sons that also have the name Casey Anthony.

“It went from being comical and scary to just being outright, make you mad as--you know,” Anthony told NBC Philadelphia. Cause these people don't even know you, they don't have a clue."

Facebook responded Monday night with ways people can prevent experiences like Anthony's:

Facebook offers a number of tools for people to prevent unwanted contact. We provide report links across the site, including on friend requests and messages, and have automated systems and a trained team of reviewers to block and warn people who may be violating our policies. This team treats reports of harassing messages as a priority.

People can also use our extensive and granular privacy settings to control who can find them in searches, as well as who can send them friend requests and messages. Finally, people can use our blocking tool to prevent specific people from accessing their profile or contacting them in any way.

While only a small percentage of people will ever experience harassment on Facebook, we're concerned about any abusive behavior and have made these efforts to promote an environment where everyone on Facebook can connect and share comfortably.  We encourage those who notice harassment to immediately report it to us.

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