Prisoner Hoaxes TMZ With Phony Jodi Arias Story
Gossip site "Exclusive" just latest scam from a notorious convict
APRIL 21--In a Saturday ?EXCLUSIVE,? the gossip rubes at TMZ reported that convicted killer Jodi Arias had filed a pro se lawsuit against Nancy Grace and Sheriff Joe Arpaio, alleging, among other things, that she had contracted hepatitis C while in an Arizona jail and that the TV host had somehow intercepted her mail.
Referring to ?new legal docs obtained by TMZ,? the site noted that Arias--who was convicted last year of murdering her boyfriend--had ?filed the papers without the benefit of a lawyer? and was seeking restraining orders against Grace and Arpaio.
The Arias story was picked up by a variety of news outlets--UPI, the Daily Mail, Perez Hilton, and assorted TV and radio stations--that dutifully credited TMZ with the purported scoop.
Except, of course, that Arias did not actually file the lawsuit, which appears to be the handiwork of an inmate notorious for such fraudulent court submissions.
TMZ did not bother to mention that the Arias lawsuit--sent by mail this month to the U.S. District Court in Phoenix--carries the name of a second plaintiff, Christopher Alexander. The address given for Alexander on the lawsuit--as well as the envelope in which it was sent--is a state prison in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. In fact, the envelope itself is stamped ?Inmate Mail--PA. DEPT. OF CORRECTIONS.?
But Department of Corrections records do not show a ?Christopher Alexander? being locked up in the Centre County facility. Additionally, the prisoner ID number included on the lawsuit and envelope does not correspond to a current or former Pennsylvania state inmate. According to the lawsuit, "Christopher Alexander" is a relative of Travis Alexander, the man Arias murdered.
It is unclear why these facts did not trouble TMZ?s crack staffers, who, in their defense, may have been preoccupied with breaking stories involving wrestling figures, the Kardashian family, and the latest celebrity porn release from Vivid.
So who filed the Arias lawsuit?
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documen...xes-tmz-576432