A Woman sues US government over fake Facebook page

A US woman (Sondra Arquiett) with a previous drug offence is suing the government for infringing her rights after a law enforcement agent set up a phony Facebook account in her name, without her knowledge, to trap further criminals including one that showed her half-clothed.

It displayed pictures of her posing on the hood of a BMW, another wearing little clothing, and even one of her holding her young son and niece.

Drug Enforcement Administration acknowledged that one of its agents had created the page without telling Sondra Arquiett. Timothy Sinnigen set up the profile using information and photographs taken from the woman’s phone after her arrest.

But it initially suggested that Ms Arquiett had "implicitly consented" to the action because she had granted officers access to her mobile phone.

The fake Facebook page was created after restaurant waitress Ms Arquiett was arrested in July 2010, and accused of being involved in a drugs ring.

She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, and was later sentenced to six months of weekend incarceration.

At the time of her arrest, Ms Arquiett surrendered her mobile phone and consented to officers accessing its data to help them with related criminal investigations.

Ms Arquiett said she was not, however, notified that this operation would involve the creation of a "publicly available" Facebook page in the name of Sondra Prince, an alias she used.