A civil lawsuit in Hinds County shows how William "Napoleon" Edwards dynamited himself and landed back in prison for several years. Edwards took on the role of Facebook community activist a few years ago in Jackson. His shtick was to cover Jackson politics through the use of Facebook live videos. To say that he made colorful allegations against those who drew his ire is putting it mildly. His handle was "The Cipher".
A local pastor became the focus of The Cipher's attention in 2016. Erica Stewart sued Belhaven University after she and her attorney Carlos Moore claimed at a press conference that a university employee sent her pictures of a sexual and graphic nature through text messages when she applied for a job at Belhaven. However, the judge ruled that Stewart destroyed evidence and sent nearly nude photos of herself to the employee. U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves sanctioned Moore and cleared Belhaven.
JJ is not going to post the name of the plaintiff nor the case number although the information can be found easily enough at the courthouse. Doing so would ironically aid the defendant in a sordid way.
Edwards obtained rather suggestive pictures Stewart had posted on social media account and posted them online himself. The fun began for the pastor as Edwards made numerous allegations about the plaintiff as well as Stewart in his Facebook videos. The complaint provides examples what allegedly took place:
The pastor also accused Edwards of taking his personal information from Planet Fitness and posting it online as well as using it to harass him. Edwards was a Planet Fitness employee. The complaint charges Planet Fitness with liability since Edwards allegedly took these actions while he was "on the clock" as a Planet Fitness employee.
The lawsuit charged the defendants with several counts of defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, cyberstalking, breach of contract, negligence, and several other torts.
Edwards did not even try to fight the lawsuit but instead defaulted. Planet Fitness enforced an arbitration clause. The plaintiff dismissed the Planet Fitness defendants.
The plaintiff is a Madison County resident and apparently filed a complaint in that county. A Madison County grand jury indicted Edwards for posting of messages through electronic media for purpose of causing injury to a person. Edwards was convicted and sentenced to serve five years in prison*
*Edwards is probably eligible for release upon completion of 25% of his sentence since his offense is considered to be "non-violent."
1 comment:
Thanks for redacting
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