text: A California woman accused of impersonating her ex-boyfriend’s new wife in Craigslist “rape-fantasy” ads has been exonerated, after spending nearly four months in jail for a crime she never committed, authorities say. 
   
   Orange County prosecutors say 30-year-old Michelle Hadley was framed. Now they’ve charged the wife who falsely accused her with a slew of felonies, including 22 counts of falsely reporting a crime to Anaheim police. 
   
   Angela Maria Diaz, 31, faces kidnapping, false-imprisonment, and forgery charges in connection to the elaborate setup. She was also charged with one count of perjury for lying in a petition for a restraining order against Hadley. 
   
   Diaz was arrested in Phoenix last week and will be extradited to California, prosecutors said Monday. If convicted, she faces as much as 12 years and eight months in a state prison, and 11 years in a county jail. 
   
   “It’s often said that true life is stranger than fiction. The facts of this case make that statement spot-on,” District Attorney Tony Rackauckas told reporters. 
   
   “When a person who’s committed a crime gets arrested and charged, that’s a bad day. But when someone who’s innocent gets arrested and charged with a crime, that’s not just a bad day. It’s a nightmare. 
   
   “This is the tale of a woman who faced such a nightmare,” Rackauckas said. 
   
   Hadley was first arrested in June 2016, when police accused her of violating a restraining order obtained by Diaz, who also goes by the name Angela Connell. Back then, Hadley was released on $100,000 bail. 
   
   But cops cuffed Hadley again in July, after police claimed she was posing as Diaz in Craigslist ads soliciting “rape fantasies.” She was held on $1 million bond. 
   
   But authorities would soon learn that Diaz was sending herself the threatening emails, which included links to graphic images of dead and decapitated human beings, as well as aborted fetuses, Rackauckas said. 
   
   Hadley was finally released from jail in October, when prosecutors were already reexamining Diaz’s accusations. 
   
   The convoluted Gone Girl-style drama made national news, with Hadley’s mugshot plastered across the web. At the time, she faced life in prison for charges including six felony counts of attempted forcible rape. 
   
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   Prosecutors had claimed Hadley repeatedly sent threats to Diaz, who was identified only as “Jane Doe” and as the pregnant new wife of Hadley’s former fiancé, a deputy U.S. Marshal whom authorities have not named. 
   
   During Monday’s press conference, Rackauckas said Hadley is “an innocent victim of a diabolical scheme.” 
   
   “This is a very detailed case. I wanted to make sure, however, that Ms. Hadley is cleared in every possible way—in the courtroom and in the court of public opinion. It should be clear in the media and in cyberspace,” he said. 
   
   Rackauckas identified Hadley’s ex only as “John Doe,” and said there is no evidence that he was involved in Diaz’s plot. 
   
   Diaz and John Doe were married in February 2016. Hadley dated John Doe from August 2013 to August 2015, investigators said. 
   
   Still, Rackauckas did not provide a motive in Diaz’s alleged frame-up. 
   
   “I don’t think we have a clear statement of what her motive might be,” the DA said, before adding, “You have a love triangle. Maybe a [desire] to put the dagger into the older relationship, but all that’s just speculation at this time.” 
   
   Diaz faces a host of other frightening accusations, including “faking a pregnancy” with John Doe, prosecutors say. 
   
   Police say Diaz altered a paycheck to give herself an extra $2,000 in April 2016. She also allegedly faked a cervical-cancer diagnosis, pretended to be an attorney, forged doctor’s notes, and impersonated two of John Doe’s ex-girlfriends over email. 
   
   According to prosecutors, Diaz sent emails to herself to make it appear Hadley was the author of the messages. She allegedly used Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and third-party proxy servers to avoid detection, authorities say. 
   
   From June 1 to July 13, 2016, Diaz allegedly made false reports with police, claiming Hadley threatened her and the life of her unborn child. (A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office said authorities do not believe Diaz was ever pregnant with John Doe’s child.) 
   
   An MBA student at Chapman University, Hadley was accused of providing men responding to the Craigslist ad with Diaz’s photos and details of her daily routine. Hadley was also accused to telling them “to have forcible sexual intercourse with [Diaz], even if she screamed or resisted,” the district attorney claimed at the time. 
   
   Now the DA says Diaz posted the ads herself, luring at least two men to her residence and calling 911. Cops “intercepted” the men intending to participate in the “rape fantasies”—incidents that appeared to bolster Diaz’s ruse. 
   
   Anaheim police also noted a visibly distraught Diaz had redness on her neck and breast area when she claimed a man tried to rape her, Rackauckas said. 
   
   “The police did a very thorough investigation,” Deputy District Attorney Richard Zimmer told The Daily Beast in July of last year. “What was presented to us… we have enough evidence to prove this case to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.” 
   
   “This case just shows some of the dangers of social media and the online world we live in now,” Zimmer added. 
   
   Diaz’s story began to fall apart after Hadley’s defense attorney, Michael Guisti, worked closely with authorities to reinvestigate the source of the messages. They learned Diaz was sending herself emails from her hubby’s condo, her cellphone, and her father’s home in Arizona, Rackauckas said. 
   
   Guisti said Hadley is relieved by the dismissal of charges against her. “She was going about her business, getting her MBA, when all of a sudden this literally came out of the blue,” he told reporters Monday. 
   
   Hadley has been living at home since her release from jail and “laying low,” Guisti said. 
   
   Meanwhile, Michael Hadley had always declared his daughter’s innocence. Last year, he told The Daily Beast that he believed Michelle’s 38-year-old former flame was sabotaging her and accused Anaheim detectives of shoddy policework. 
   
   He said the ex-boyfriend was seeking revenge because his daughter filed a lawsuit to boot him from their condominium. “The marshal knows her email address,” Michael Hadley said in a July phone interview. “They were going to get married. They got the condo and everything else and it all fell apart.” 
   
   Hadley scoffed at portrayals of his daughter as vindictively jealous of her former beau’s new relationship. “What they’re saying is totally contrary to what’s going on,” Hadley told The Daily Beast. “My daughter could [not] care less.” 
   
   The ex-fiancé filed for a restraining order against Hadley in September 2015. His petition included a series of wacky emails that Hadley allegedly sent him, and that included biblical references and accusations of sexual assault. 
   
   “She frequently tells me ‘I fucking hate you’ and insults my manhood and sexuality,” he wrote in the document. He added, “most of our arguments end with [Hadley] self-medicating with an entire bottle of wine.” 
   
   One September 2015 message, which carried the subject line “Gone Girl,” included the rant: “You know exactly how God, the Word of God, the Spirit of God are involved with the condo. We both do.” 
   
   “Your end will come, and you will relinquish the keys to the earth,” Hadley allegedly wrote. 
   
   Her ex-boyfriend replied, “I am not sure how God, the Bible, or again, my childhood, has any relevance to the condo and mortgage.” 
   
   In June 2016, Diaz requested a restraining order against Hadley. 
   
   “Ms. Hadley has been emailing me for over one week, repeatedly threatening my life, my marriage, my safety, and slandering my husband,” she wrote in her filing. Diaz accused Hadley of using “over six different email addresses” to harass her. 
   
   “I am now fearful of leaving my home, have had to delete my online presence, and am incredibly emotionally distressed,” Diaz wrote. 
   
   “I am fearful of being ‘raped,’ ‘attacked,’ ‘killed.’ I have had to completely uproot my life, including missing work at a new job to quash this issue,” she added. “The tone and tenor of these emails escalates and there seems no sign of stopping.” 
   
   Diaz attached a collection of biblical-themed missives, which she claimed Hadley sent her via LinkedIn under the pseudonym “Jason Ray.” 
   
   “There are legends that Adam had a wife before Eve who was named Lilith, but this is not found in the Bible,” one May 2016 message began. 
   
   “YOU ARE NOT PERFECT, BUT YOU ARE THE EVE TO HIM… MICHELLE WAS THE TRUTH——HIS LILLITH [sic] BUT SHE AND THE OTHER WOMEN WOULD NOT SUBMIT TO HIS CONTROLLING WAYS,” the email continued. 
   
   Days later, another phony email warned Diaz that her new husband “is using you for everything.” 
   
   “Don’t you see this?” the message stated. “He is obsessed with me, I am his treasure princess, you are nothing.” ||||| Please enable Javascript to watch this video 
   
   An Ontario woman who was jailed after being accused of harassing, stalking, pretending to be the wife of her ex-fiance, and placing ads online soliciting “rape fantasies” was in fact framed by the woman she was accused of impersonating, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday. 
   
   Michelle Hadley, 30, was behind bars for several months following her arrest in July, according to inmate records. She was charged with felony stalking, attempted forcible rape, violating a protective order and assault, facing a sentence of life in prison if convicted, prosecutors said at the time. 
   
   But on Monday, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas announced that Hadley was the victim in the case. She has been exonerated. 
   
   Instead, another woman -- identified as 31-year-old Angela Maria Diaz of Phoenix, Arizona -- faces a slew of charges after allegedly framing Hadley for stalking and attempted rape, the DA's office said in a news release. 
   
   Diaz has also allegedly faked cervical cancer and a pregnancy, pretended to be an attorney and forged doctor’s notes, the release stated. 
   
   Hadley walked out of court in Fullerton Monday after the case against her was dismissed. She teared up as she spoke to gathered news media. 
   
   "Obviously, this has been a huge nightmare for me," Hadley said. "Probably the most traumatic experience of my life, and I'm glad it's finally over." 
   
   At a news conference, Rackauckas described Hadley as an "innocent victim of a diabolical scheme." 
   
   “As important as the filing of charges against Ms. Diaz, is the dismissal of the previous complaint and full exoneration of Michelle Hadley,” Rackauckas said in the release. “This is a very detailed case. I wanted to make sure, however, that Ms. Hadley is cleared in every possible way – in the courtroom and in the court of public opinion. It should be clear in the media and in cyberspace. Ms. Hadley is an innocent victim of a diabolical scheme.” 
   
   Diaz has been married to a man, identified only as "John Doe," since February 2016. Hadley had a relationship with the same man, described over the summer by the DA's office as an agent with the U.S. Marshals Service, from August 2013 to August 2015. 
   
   Diaz and Doe married after meeting via a dating website in January 2016. In May, Diaz told her husband that she was pregnant with twins, the DA's office said. 
   
   About two weeks after announcing her pregnancy, Diaz went to the Anaheim Police Department and allegedly falsely reported harassing messages that she said were from Hadley. Diaz is accused of sending herself those emails in an effort to make it appear they were sent by Hadley. 
   
   Diaz then allegedly applied for, and obtained, a restraining order against Hadley by signing under penalty of perjury that she had been threatened by the other woman, according to the release. 
   
   "On many occasions from June 1, 2016, to July 13, 2016, Diaz is accused of falsely filing police reports with APD, calling for officers to respond to the home she shared with John Doe. The defendant is accused of making false claims that Hadley made threats against her life and the life of her unborn child," the release stated. 
   
   Also in June, Diaz allegedly posed as Hadley to respond to online advertisements that she wanted to engage in sex acts resembling rape, according to prosecutors. Diaz is also suspected of posting an ad stating she wanted to engage in "rape fantasies." 
   
   Diaz allegedly sent responders photos of herself and details about her own daily routine. She is also accused of telling them to have forcible sex with her, even if she screamed or resisted, the release stated. 
   
   At least two men who planned to travel to her residence to participate in the "rape fantasies" were intercepted by law enforcement, authorities said. 
   
   Diaz allegedly told Anaheim police at the time that she was being stalked by Hadley, and was not involved in the solicitations. 
   
   Later that month, in an apparent effort to bolster her claims against Hadley, Diaz called 911 and allegedly falsely reported that a man had entered her garage and attempted to rape her, prosecutors said. She showed police redness around her neck and breast, and arrived with a torn shirt, the DA's office said, providing photos of Diaz at the time she made the report. 
   
   Hadley was arrested by Anaheim police later that day -- on June 24 -- and then released the next morning on $100,000 bail. 
   
   After Hadley's arrest, Diaz allegedly reported that the threatening emails stopped. However, after the victim's release, she began repeatedly sending threatening herself emails and -- pretending to be Hadley again -- resumed responding to "rape fantasy" ads, according to the release. 
   
   The language in the emails became more violent, and the defendant tried to make it appear her life was being threatened by the victim, the DA's office said. 
   
   Hadley was again arrested on July 14 and held on $1 million bail. Her re-arrest and increase in bail were allegedly due Diaz's false statements regarding the latest round of alleged email threats. 
   
   Hadley said her friends and relatives supported her, never believing she was guilty of the crimes of which she'd been accused. 
   
   She remained in jail until Oct. 7, "at which point sufficient evidence had been ascertained through extensive investigative efforts and the cooperation of the victim’s attorney," according to the DA's office. "OCDA and APD sought the victim’s immediate release on her own recognizance from custody while continuing to investigate Diaz." 
   
   Meanwhile, Diaz is also suspected of forging a paycheck from Orange County on Sept. 6 and trying to cash it, authorities said. She allegedly altered another check from her employer, trying to add $2,000 to the total, on April 22, the DA's office said. 
   
   Diaz was arrested on Jan. 6 in Phoenix. 
   
   Diaz was charged last week with the following: two felony counts of kidnapping; two felony counts of false imprisonment by menace, fraud, or deceit; one felony count of perjury; one felony count of grand theft; two felony counts of forgery; two felony counts of possession of a forged check over $950; one misdemeanor count of falsely reporting a crime to a police agency; and 21 misdemeanor counts of falsely reporting a crime to a peace officer. 
   
   If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 12 years and eight months in state prison, plus 11 years in county jail. 
   
   Diaz is still awaiting extradition from Arizona, and a court date has yet to be set. 
   
   KTLA's Melissa Pamer contributed to this article. ||||| When officers arrived at Angela Diaz's condo last June in response to her 911 call, police say, they found her in tears, with a ripped shirt and red marks on her neck. A man had just tried to rape her in her garage, she said.
target: – It's a convoluted story and, it turns out, a "diabolical" one. A California woman arrested over the summer and charged with posting "rape fantasy" ads on Craigslist that invited men to violate her ex-fiance's new wife has been cleared. It turns out the wife was allegedly behind the twisted caper, and now she's in jail, the Los Angeles Times reports. Michelle Hadley, 30, "is an innocent victim of a diabolical scheme," Orange Country DA Tony Rackauckas said Monday. The case made national headlines after Hadley was accused of posting ads urging men to rape Angela Maria Diaz, the pregnant wife of her ex, and ignore Diaz's screams and protests. Last June, Diaz called 911 tearfully telling cops that a man tried to rape her in her garage. Cops busted Hadley, who spent 88 days in jail, but now say Diaz, 31, was behind it all. The break in the case came when authorities were able to determine the IP addresses associated with the ads led to Diaz's and her father's homes; Diaz allegedly used software that made the emails look as if they were sent by Hadley. The Daily Beast reports the emails contained links to images of aborted fetuses and headless humans; one email allegedly read, "I am his treasure princess, you are nothing." Another member of the DA's office calls Diaz a "serial con artist" who allegedly faked being pregnant and having cervical cancer. Authorities don't believe Diaz's husband—an unnamed US marshal who married Diaz in February after meeting her via online dating the month prior, per KTLA—was in on the plot. Now Hadley, who once faced life in prison, says she'll go back to her MBA studies. Diaz faces up to 12 years, 8 months in prison and 11 years in county jail if convicted. (This woman was cleared in a zookeeper love triangle.)