A MOTHER is fearing for her safety after the father of her children has started a campaign against her on social media.
Dominique Ward, the mother of two identical five-year-old twins, has been in an ongoing custody battle with her ex-partner, Micah Berkley – who has encouraged strangers on the internet to harass the mother of his children.
Berkley is a self-described computer expert who has been using Artificial Intelligence in a variety of ways to target his ex.
This includes putting up billboards up saying his daughters were “Parentally Kidnapped,” running Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and Youtube Ads with his kids photos telling them to find him, and even geotargets these ads to the children’s house and daycares.
Berkley has also paid social media influencers to post about his children.
But perhaps the most invasive technique Berkley has admitted to employing, is paying upwards of $10,000 total to strangers for photos and videos of his daughters.
On his X page, his pinned post explains that is willing to pay $200 per video, and $50 per photo through CashApp.
In the past, he has posted on Facebook also offering $100 for the address of a mother-child yoga class Ward was organizing.
He also posted that he was willing to put up $10,000 for anyone who can bring the girls to him for “a peaceful, arranged meeting.”
And these post had real power as people took Berkley up on many of his offers.
In 2022, Shortly before Christmas that year, Ward made an unplanned stop at Target to do some last-minute shopping with her then 3-year-old daughters.
She was miles from her home, in a neighborhood where she didn’t know a single person, and assumed no one there knew her or her girls either, she told the Chicago Tribune.
But what should have been a mundane errand turned into a chilling reminder of the surveillance she constantly endures.
The next day, she received a screenshot of a Facebook page belonging to the girls’ father, where he had posted “an open letter” to his daughters.
Berkley is barred from contacting without court supervision after multiple allegations of abusive behavior toward Ward.
“I got to see you the other day,” the note on Facebook stated.
“You were in a Target shopping cart wearing matching cute outfits. You were absolutely gorgeous, the most beautiful little babies I have ever seen,” the post continued.
“You were sitting next to each other playing with each other as your mom pushed you around. Your smiles were infectious and silliness was so familiar,” he said, before ending his post with an eerie message to their mother.
“What you don’t know is that there is a community of love surrounding you, sending Daddy pictures and videos keeping me updated on your progress.”
The post was a stark reminder that strangers were tracking her every move, and it underscored the ineffectiveness of authorities to stop it.
Despite seeking help from the Chicago police, Cook County prosecutors, and Facebook employees, Ward has found little relief.
And data from the Chicago police department indicates this is an ongoing systemic failure.
Data shows a dismal response to electronic harassment and cyberstalking complaints, with arrests made in only 2% of such cases over the past decade, according to Chicago police data.
Since Ward first reported her concerns in 2021, the arrest rate has been even lower, around 1%.
“How do I protect my children if I can’t even go to the store without someone following us or stalking my girls?” Ward asked.
“We have targets on our backs every time we leave the house, but no one is taking it seriously,” she continued.
“It’s like no one is going to care about this until I’m dead,” Ward said.
“And by then it will be too late.”
In a telephone interview with the Chicago Tribune, Berkley, confirmed he wrote the posts soliciting pictures of his daughters.
He described his actions as “technological warfare,” a modern way to challenge custody and child support rulings.
“I hear she’s scared,” he told the Tribune.
“She should be scared. She should be terrified. I want her to worry about who’s waiting on the corner whenever she walks outside,” he said.
Berkley’s relentless digital campaign against Ward is part of a broader issue of electronic harassment that law enforcement struggles to address.
An analysis of nearly two dozen Illinois police departments found a low arrest rate for electronic harassment complaints.
Even as these incidents increase year over year and with state laws addressing this form of intimidation, enforcement remains inconsistent.
“We have great laws on the books, but the problem is that they aren’t implemented,” said Vickie Smith, former CEO of the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
“Nobody thinks it is a big deal because they don’t understand how this kind of non-physical domestic violence can harm someone on a daily basis.”
The problem extends beyond local law enforcement too.
A 2023 Rand study found few cyberstalking cases are charged on the federal level, with only 412 cases between 2010 and 2020.
Ward says her attempts to seek justice have been no different than the experience of most, it seems.
Police reports show her filing complaints with the Chicago Police Department at least twice since 2021, only to be told it would be difficult to prove Berkley was behind the posts.
But Berkley acknowledges writing the messages, but says he has never been contacted by law enforcement regarding his social media activity.
Frustrated by the lack of action, Ward’s attorney, Lindsay Nathan, reached out to the FBI for help, but this too brought no results.
In February 2021, a police report involving Berkley’s social media behavior was closed because Ward did not want to press charges, a claim she disputes.
A July 2021 email to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office from Nathan expressed frustration with the lack of police response. Despite this, no charges were filed.
Berkley defends his actions as protected by the First Amendment, even after posting Ward’s cellphone number and the name of her therapist online, still resulting in no legal consequences.
He also used AI to create a video mimicking an NBC Nightly News broadcast, accusing Ward of being “America’s most despicable mother.”
“It took me about an hour to make,” Berkley admitted.
“This is what happens when you make a nerd mad.”
Berkley and Ward’s relationship began in 2015, and the couple moved in together in 2018.
Despite a brief reconciliation when Ward became pregnant, they split again after the twins were born in 2019.
Berkley soon began leveraging their children for his social media brand, which thrived on the image of an involved Black father.
But after their breakup, Berkley’s behavior escalated.
Police records state he showed up at Ward’s house in 2020 with a pellet gun, leading to charges of violating an order of protection and aggravated battery.
Ward later asked for the charges to be dropped, hoping Berkley would help still support his children.
As for Facebook, despite numerous reports and letters from Nathan, the social media giant only took action after political consultant Joanna Klonsky and Governor J.B. Pritzker’s office intervened.
This intervention eventually led to the deactivation of Berkley’s accounts.
But that did not stop Berkley, as he continued his harassment through other means, including creating a website called AmericasWorstMother.com. which featured Ward’s personal information, further endangering her safety.
Ward recently shared her story at a breakfast to raise awareness for domestic violence, guarded by a police officer due to Berkley’s references to the event on Facebook.
Berkley did not attend, but he had someone there taking notes, demonstrating his persistent surveillance of Ward and everything she does.
Berkley vows to continue his so-called technological war, determined to regain access to his children.
“This ends with me getting my kids back. There’s no other option,” he said.
Ward, equally resolute, refuses to remain silent about the siuation.
“One thing I won’t do? I won’t be silent about this,” she said.
“I will keep talking. I will keep telling my story.”
(source)
