Hunter
04/05/22
A North Liberty woman who allegedly set up social media accounts to make her appear as a police officer was taken into custody.
The arrest report says that 33-year-old Jyoti Butler Mills on Main Street created a Yahoo email account on March 21st using a North Liberty Police officer’s name, badge number, police department address and phone number that she admitted came from the PD’s website. She then found a voluntary statement form, filled it out with her statement and then created a statement from the officer as well. She reportedly signed the officer’s name on the statement.
Butler Mills then emailed the statement using the fake Yahoo account to an ex-boyfriend, claiming it was from the officer. After the ex hadn’t responded after a couple of weeks, Butler Mills allegedly sent another email, again claiming to be a police officer. She also reportedly set up an account through an app on her phone to create a phone number to send and receive text messages. She then allegedly sent the number to the ex-boyfriend indicating it was from a North Liberty police officer.
Butler Mills told authorities that the way the app was set up, if the ex tried to contact the number it would go directly to her phone. Butler Mills gave a voluntary and written statement admitting to the incident, saying that she knew what she was doing was illegal and could land her in legal trouble.
Butler Mills was arrested Monday and charged with Impersonating a Public Official, an aggravated misdemeanor punishable by a jail sentence of up to two years if convicted.