BOCA RATON, Fla. — A South Florida woman says a casual dating connection turned into a years-long ordeal involving fake numbers, a restraining order and disturbing messages sent to her underage daughter.

The woman, who asked to be identified only as “M,” says she briefly dated a man named Richard Anderson who she met online in 2021.

After his name appeared in an “Are we dating the same guy?” Facebook group, she said she told him about the post because she did not believe the accusations.

Years later, ‘M’ says she was served with an injunction for stalking. Anderson accused her of sending thousands of messages from fake phone numbers. ‘M’ denied it, but says a judge initially ruled against her, forcing her to attend an evaluation and anger management classes.

“I thought somebody was impersonating me, essentially,” she said.

Davie police Detective Kenneth DeArmas later investigated the messages and found many came from TextNow numbers, gmail accounts and IP addresses tied to VPN’s. Police said they could not connect ‘M’ to the accounts or locations.

“Her cellphone records did not ever put her there though. So, I was kind of like at a dead end ‘cause I’m like, well, her phone’s never there,” DeArmas said.

Detectives eventually traced some IP addresses to a hotel in Boca Raton, where they say a woman named Gressa Dugan was living. According to police Dugan had a past connection to Anderson.

Police say ‘M’s’ underage daughter began receiving disturbing messages, including explicit altered images involving ‘M’s face. Investigators believe Anderson and Dugan worked together to target the girl.

Now, Dugan and Anderson are facing aggravated stalking of a minor charges connected to the messages sent to ‘M’s daughter. Dugan remains in the Broward County Jail.

‘M’ says the restraining order was later reversed, but the experience has been traumatic.

“This could happen to anyone,” she said.

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