• Laura Rose Carroll, 50, and her daughter, Emily Rose Grover, 17, were arrested in Pensacola, Florida, on March 16 after an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement found the duo had allegedly stuffed the ballot box with votes for Emily for homecoming queen last fall.
Suspicions were raised when the Escambia County School District reported illegal accessing of hundreds of its students' digital accounts.
Authorities said Carroll, an assistant elementary school principal, had access to the district student information system, and investigators traced unauthorized entries into the system to Carroll's cellphone and computers, where nearly 250 votes were cast.
Fox News reported that investigators also said students reported being told by Grover about her mother's activity.
Each of them was charged with offenses against computers and other cybercrimes, along with conspiracy. [Fox News, 3/15/2021]
• Raffaela Spone, 50, was arrested in early March in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, after prosecutors say she created "deepfake" videos and photographs of at least three girls on her daughter's cheerleading squad in an apparent attempt to embarrass them and force them off the team.
Prosecutors said Spone allegedly sent the manipulated images to the girls -- shown drinking, smoking and naked -- anonymously and suggested they kill themselves, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Parents of one of recipients contacted police, and detectives traced the IP address where the messages originated to Spone's home.
Investigators believe Spone's daughter was unaware of what her mother was doing. [Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/12/2021]