Georgia deputy fired over fake Facebook page targeting mother he arrested

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Georgia deputy fired after harassing mom with fake Facebook page foxnews.com

Security footage of Charles Mills speaking to Natasha Lopez on her porch. foxnews.com

Indoor security footage shows Natasha Lopez's home as she was arrested. foxnews.com

Former Cherokee County Sheriff's Corporal Charles Mills testifies in court. foxnews.com

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A Georgia sheriff's corporal has been fired after his own office's investigation found him responsible for a fake Facebook page targeting a mother he had arrested, a page carrying AI-generated images and sensitive records involving her children. The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office confirmed that former corporal Charles Mills was behind the page aimed at Natasha Lopez.

The trail to Lopez's door began, on her account, with license-plate cameras. Mills was investigating her adult son, suspected of fleeing police on a motorcycle the night before; Lopez says he used Flock automated license plate readers to follow the movements of her son's girlfriend as she traveled to the house, and tied her son to the motorcycle through a plate image captured about six hours earlier at a different location — an image she says identified no rider. Deputies were already at the home when Lopez returned from a trampoline park with her younger children. After her son was taken into custody, Mills ordered everyone out of the house; Lopez says she asked whether he had a search warrant and was arrested minutes later while her children watched.

The Facebook page followed the arrest. Lopez says it carried AI-generated images designed to humiliate her along with records involving her children. The sheriff's office disputes her account of the original arrest and of how her complaints were handled; what it has confirmed is the finding that Mills was responsible for the page's content.

Flock's cameras capture every passing vehicle, recording plates with location and time, and police can search the records to identify where a vehicle appeared; multiple sightings across an area can reconstruct a person's movements. Lopez believes those searches are what led Mills to her home. A protective order is in place, and Lopez's criminal case remains unresolved.