Fake News: Roy Moore's Accuser NOT Arrested And Charged With Falsification

Fact Check

  • by: Maarten Schenk

The ironically named website nofakenews.online published a hoax article (archived here) titled: "BREAKING: Roy Moore's Accuser Arrested And Charged With Falsification". It opened:

After it was discovered that Roy Moore's accuser is a liar and a Democrat, Alabama Attorney General John Simmons filed charges of falsification, a 1st-degree misdemeanor. Mary Lynne Davies, who said Roy Moore seduced and molested her when she was 14-years-old and he was in his early 30s, now faces a year in prison and $10K in fines.

The revelation came after the yearbook inscription that Moore supposedly wrote in the 1970s turned out to be a forgery. Davies, who tried desperately to convince anyone who would listen that Moore raped her, is now in hiding after posting $500 in bail money. Her attorney says she sticks by her story:

"My client's main concern is that because of the yearbook thing, nobody will believe her story. She fabricated the yearbook because nobody would listen in the first place. She's a victim and now she'll be prosecuted while her abuser goes to the US Senate.

Nothing about this is right. Nothing."

Nothing is right about this story indeed. First of all John Simmons is not attorney general of Alabama, Steve Marshal (R) is. And there have been no media reports yet about a "Mary Lynne Davies" accusing Roy Moore of anything. There is a Beverly Young Nelson accusing him of sexual misconduct and she indeed tried to prove her case with a yearbook inscription that media reports now say she altered by "adding notes" to it. But so far she hasn't been charged with any crimes or misdemeanors in connection with that.

accuserarrested.jpg

In addition to all of that the site nofakenews.online carries a disclaimer at the bottom of each page:

PAY ATTENTION:

sat·ire ~ˈsaˌtī(ə)r
noun
the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, OR ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
If you disagree with the definition of satire or have decided it is synonymous with "comedy," you should really just move along.

The owner and main writer of the site is self-professed liberal troll Christopher Blair, a man from Maine who has made it his full time job to troll gullible conservatives and Trump supporters into liking and sharing his articles. He runs several other websites such as reaganwasright.com, thelastlineofdefense.online and potatriotpost.com. Sometimes he is also known under his nickname "Busta Troll". He has at least one accomplice who writes under the pen names "Freedom", "Captain Jellypants", "Butch Mannington" or "Captain Buck Atlantis".

Articles from Blair's sites frequently get copied by "real" fake news sites who often omit the satire disclaimer and any other hints the stories are fake. Blair has tried to get these sites shut down in the past but new ones keep cropping up.

If you see one of his stories on a site that does not contain a satire disclaimer, assume it is fake news. If you do see the satire disclaimer it is of course also fake news.

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  Maarten Schenk

Lead Stories co-founder Maarten Schenk is our resident expert on fake news and hoax websites. He likes to go beyond just debunking trending fake news stories and is endlessly fascinated by the dazzling variety of psychological and technical tricks used by the people and networks who intentionally spread made-up things on the internet.  He can often be found at conferences and events about fake news, disinformation and fact checking when he is not in his office in Belgium monitoring and tracking the latest fake article to go viral.

Read more about or contact Maarten Schenk

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