A New Jersey woman is coming forward with her story after she discovered a creep posted fake nude photos of herself online.
Katie Krausz, 27, has spent the past eight years of her life telling potential employers and prospective romantic partners that there are photoshopped fake nude photos of herself on the Internet—all because she is a real victim of revenge porn.
“To have to tell your parents that there are naked pictures of you online is a terrifying experience, especially considering I know I never had a naked picture,” Krausz, of Paramus, told NorthJersey.com. “So the only thing I was able to find comfort in this whole time was that I knew that I was telling the truth.”
The suspect who allegedly posted the images—former volunteer firefighter Daniel Pfeiffer—had been arrested November 27 for stalking, cyber-harassment, and invasion of privacy for posting sexually-explicit images of another woman.
Pfeiffer, 28, has also been arrested for revenge porn crimes in 2015 and 2016. He pleaded guilty to stalking charges in both instances and had been sentenced to five years’ probation with restricted Internet access in the 2016 case.
But he was not charged with a crime in Krausz’s case because the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office claimed that there was no evidence of criminality.
“It’s an embarrassing thing to happen, but it’s something that I’ve tried taking in stride and using it to make sure something gets done about it,” said Krausz.
Krausz said she discovered the sexually-explicit images in 2011 after receiving “lewd comments” on Facebook. She originally thought she had been hacked, but then she noticed her face had been plastered on an image of another nude woman’s body online.
Krausz’s friend at the Old Tappan Fire Department told her that Pfeiffer, a family friend of hers, had been responsible.
Krausz took her case to the prosecutor’s office in the hopes the images would be removed, but they remained online.
The 27-year-old, who works in the healthcare field, says she is sharing her story in the hopes that other revenge porn victims go public with their stories.
“It’s something I’ve always been upfront about, and it’s finally at a stage where I’m not embarrassed to have this conversation with people, because I know I didn’t do anything wrong,” she said.
Revenge porn victims have faced consequences in both their careers and personal lives. Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), himself a victim of apparent revenge porn, announced that he would not seek reelection in 2018 because of the attention brought to the issue.