MAITLAND, Fla. — A Maitland police officer and a 911 dispatcher are accused of stalking and harassing another 911 operator for more than a year.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators wanted them both charged for making fake online profiles and sending sexually explicit mail to her home, but prosecutors declined and the dispatcher quit due to the stress.
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Dispatcher Heather O’Bryan worked for Apopka Police for 15 years, but said one message back and forth with Maitland Police Officer Steve Mendez changed everything.
O’Bryan said she sent a direct message to Mendez about a complainants’ behavior over the phone, but the officer sent a message back saying that text was unauthorized and she had no idea why.
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She said that led to rumors and then to what O’Bryan described as a year of mental anguish in the workplace.
O’Bryan told FDLE investigators that someone was creating fake social media accounts and making memes of her and her fiancé, some of them sexual in nature.
She also told them she was getting things like condoms in the mail.
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O’Bryan said she suspected it was her coworker Erin Van Nordstand.
O’Bryan said she went to supervisors to complain, and the chief told investigators that he thought the accusations might be criminal in nature and turned it over to FDLE.
The FDLE agent found Van Nordstrand made three fake social media accounts about O’Bryan and found posts talking about beating O’Bryan up and putting bleach in her gas tank.
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But investigators said she declined to interview with them, but Officer Mendez agreed.
He told investigators he admitted to getting her personal information online and setting up subscriptions in her name, but couldn’t remember to what.
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In the end, FDLE found that the two should be charged with stalking and harassment, but the state attorney declined to prosecute.
Mendez retired from the department shortly after and Van Nordstrand was put under an internal investigation.
