Feds: Man Reports Fake Kidnapping to Embassy

Authorities say a northern New Jersey man created a fake female identity and falsely reported the girl's kidnapping to U.S. embassies overseas.

Andriy Mykhaylivskyy, 18, of Rutherford, who is also known as Andriy Haddad, is charged with making false statements to a U.S. official and scheduled to appear in federal court Tuesday afternoon.

Authorities say Mykhaylivskyy created an Internet identity, including Facebook and Twitter profiles, for Kate Brianna Fulton and started an online relationship with a New Jersey student.

Last month Mykhaylivskyy, posing as a man named Andrei Aylivsk, told officials at the U.S. Embassy in Chisinau, Moldova, that an American teenager named Kate Brianna Fulton was kidnapped while vacationing in Bulgaria.

The man said Fulton's mother received a call saying she had one week to pay $50,000 in ransom. He said the mother, Sylvia Fulton, had contacted the U.S. embassies in both countries.

Officials had no record of a Sylvia Fulton calling about a kidnapped daughter, according to the complaint. When Mykhaylifskyy called the embassy and asked if they would pay the ransom, they declined.

Authorities say the student involved in the online relationship with Kate Fulton went to authorities and showed them Tweets from an account belonging to Kate Brianna Fulton that read, "someone help me,'' and another posted a fake, invalid Bulgarian phone number.

Authorities say Mykhaylivskyy actually operated the Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Officials were able to determine the woman in the photos was not Kate Brianna Fulton, but a high school student who was unharmed in New Jersey.

Mykhaylivskyy faces up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. 
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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