Texas man convicted of using fake LinkedIn profile to ruin reputation of NC victim

NEW BERN, N.C. — A Texas man was convicted on Friday of using a fake LinkedIn profile to ruin the reputation of a person in North Carolina, federal prosecutors said.

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According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Christopher Kevin Morris, 45, could receive a maximum sentence of five years in prison and fined $250,000 when he is sentenced in May.

Morris was accused of trying to defame a New Bern man by creating a fake LinkedIn profile, WRAL-TV reported. Prosecutors said Morris used the profile to describe the victim as a “child molester and rapist.” They added that Morris sent emails to the victim’s co-workers, pretending to be a respected colleague, alleging that the North Carolina man was a convicted child molester, the news release stated.

Prosecutors also alleged that Morris, while using the fake profile, contacted the victim’s co-workers via email and sent racist language.

Morris was also accused of sending harassing emails to the North Carolina victim and two other people from a different state, WRAL reported. Morris allegedly told one victim in an email that he was a “dead man walking,” prosecutors said.

Morris also posted source code created by the victim on a public online forum on “multiple occasions,” the news release stated. The victim had worked on the code for six years, which prosecutors said was part of his job and was worth “millions of dollars.”

According to court records, from July 2021 until October 2021, Morris directed inappropriate comments toward the victim on a forum viewed by other employees. When he did not apologize, Morris lost his job, leading to the creation of the fake account, according to court records.

Records did not specify where Morris worked.