Threats, Harassments and Craigslist Ads
Angela made a series of reports to the Anaheim Police Department (APD) in 2016, saying that Hadley had been harassing her through messages, sending threatening emails and making threats against her and her unborn child, sending her links to photos of decapitated bodies and aborted fetuses. She took out a restraining order against Hadley but continued to file police reports, asking cops to come to her house.
Angela also told authorities that Hadley had been impersonating her in a Craigslist ad and inviting men to her house to engage in a “rape fantasy.” Law enforcement stopped at least two men who were going to Angela’s house with that intent.
Hadley was arrested, released on $100,000 bail and arrested again; Angela said the threatening emails stopped upon Hadley’s arrest, but they resumed after her release and were becoming increasingly violent in nature. Responses to the “rape fantasy” advertisements also continued following Hadley’s release.
Prosecutors charged Hadley again in July 2016 on several felony counts, including attempted forcible rape and stalking. She was facing up to life in prison if convicted.
The Plot Unravels
In September 2016, authorities realized they had been duped when they traced the emails and Craigslist ads back to Angela’s condo, her cell phone and her father’s home.
Angela had routed emails to herself using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and third-party proxy servers, using around eight different accounts, to prevent her IP address from being detected. Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said it took investigators months to remove the disguise of the IP addresses.
“That was the real aha moment,” Deputy District Attorney Richard Zimmer said.
The window in which Hadley was accused of sending threatening emails after her release was one in which she did not yet have access to her email, authorities said.
Angela had also faked her pregnancy, pretended to be an attorney, falsely said she had cervical cancer, forged doctor’s notes and posed as two of Ian’s ex-girlfriends over email, prosecutors said. Separately, the investigation found that she had also altered a paycheck from her employer and forged a paycheck from the County of Orange.
Having spent 88 days in jail, Hadley was released from prison in October at the request of prosecutors and police. She was eventually exonerated and the charges against her were dismissed.
The Case Against Angela and Ian Diaz
Angela was charged on 10 felony counts: two counts of kidnapping, two counts of false imprisonment by menace, fraud or deceit, two counts of forgery, two counts of possession of a forged check over $950, perjury and grand theft. She also faced 22 misdemeanor counts relating to falsely reporting a crime.
On October 17, 2017, Angela pleaded guilty to all charges. She was sentenced to five years in state prison.
“It is unfathomable why Ms. Diaz would concoct such a diabolical scheme to hurt an innocent person,” Rackauckas said in a press release.
Angela and her husband have since divorced. Initially, prosecutors did not believe Ian was involved in the plot to frame Hadley, but on May 12, 2021–about five years after Angela’s complaints–they arrested him. He was federally charged with cyberstalking, conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and perjury, facing up to 20 years in prison.
At the time of Angela’s complaints, Ian had told police that his ex-fiancée “needs to be in f------ cuffs and in a padded room.”
On June 30, 2023, Ian was found guilty of conspiracy to commit cyberstalking, cyberstalking, perjury, and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors said that he and Angela, an unindicted co-conspirator, had sent themselves the harassing and threatening communications, lured men from Craigslist for so-called “rape fantasies” to stage a sexual assault, and staged one or more hoax or attempted sexual assaults on Angela. The couple then reported these incidents to the police, claiming Hadley was responsible for them and posed a serious threat.
Ian was sentenced to 10 years and one month in prison. Justice Department Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite said Ian “abused his position as a deputy U.S. Marshal to execute an intricate cyberstalking scheme that framed an innocent person for sexual assault.”
Where Is Michelle Hadley Now?
Hadley sued the city of Anaheim, four of its police officers and Angela and Ian in 2017 for false imprisonment. Earlier that year, police said that if they hadn’t acted fast, they were afraid it was a “matter of time” before Angela was raped or killed, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Hadley reached a settlement with the city of Anaheim and its officers for an undisclosed amount in 2021. Angela and Hadley were also in the process of finalizing a written settlement in 2021, the result of which has not been publicly disclosed.
“Obviously, this has been a huge nightmare for me, probably the most traumatic experience of my life,” Hadley told the press. Hadley lost her job and a spot as an MBA candidate.
Her attorney, Michael Guisti, made an impact statement where he shared that the case had damaged her credit and when she applies for apartments, she still gets asked questions about crimes she is innocent of. The experience has left her with nightmares and post-traumatic stress disorder, he said.
Hadley told NBC News that Ian was convicted on the same day she welcomed her first child into the world. She also started her own retail business and helped raise money for a domestic violence shelter, she told them.
