By Pat Culverhouse

A Shongaloo woman who initiated a rumor that spread like wildfire on social media, especially in the north Webster Parish area, has been arrested on a charge of criminal mischief.

Sheriff Jason Parker said Hannah Schmidt was the source of false information which claimed a person impersonating a law enforcement officer was potentially stalking individuals around Shongaloo.

Parker said the false information spread after Schmidt allegedly told her boyfriend the story. Sheriff’s investigators were told by the suspect she fabricated the story and that the vehicle she described was one she had seen broken down on LA Hwy. 159 between Minden and Shongaloo.

One posting thread which was apparently meant to alert “…all my Shongaloo friends…” claimed a man in a black Charger “…is impersonating a cop and will follow you home and ask if your dogs (sic) inside or if anybody is inside your house,” adding the man “could be armed and would assume possibly dangerous.”

“This is the kind of thing we don’t need to have circulating on social media,” said Sheriff Jason Parker. “People were frightened, especially in and around Shongaloo.”

Parker said this kind of rumor could create a panic that might have serious consequences.

“This is dangerous and totally unnecessary and we take it seriously,” he said. “This type of rumor can get out of hand quickly, especially when there are so many social media platforms.”

This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.