A West St. Paul man has been charged with four counts of felony harassment and stalking after he allegedly created a fake e-mail account and Facebook page in the name of a Dakota County sheriff's deputy.
Shawn Paul Amick, 44, used the Facebook page as a personal vendetta against the deputy who had arrested him in the past and who had his car towed on two different occasions. It contained "derogatory homosexual and racist comments as well as personal information of the deputy," according to the criminal complaint filed Monday in Dakota County District Court.
Investigators traced the e-mail account's IP address to Amick's home and seized a laptop and a desk computer. The deputy's name, address, home phone number, his wife's name, her maiden name and her e-mail address were found in a deleted file on the computers. Another file contained pictures of the deputy's home.
Amick denied creating the Facebook page, but relatives told investigators that Amick had done it. The relative also said that after Amick was arrested in 2010, he began talking about "how he was going to pay back or humiliate a deputy," the complaint said.
Amick has a lengthy criminal record that includes domestic assault, burglary, credit card fraud, drunken driving and numerous traffic infractions.
His first court appearance on the harassment and stalking charges is scheduled for Feb. 25.
PAT PHEIFER
