Shelly Chartier facts for kids

Shelly Lynne Chartier (born 1983/1984) is an indigenous Canadian woman of the Chemawawin Cree Nation. Chartier became infamous for her online involvement in a catfishing scandal involving NBA basketball player Chris Andersen and a teenage aspiring model, Paris Dunn, among others.

Early life

Shelly Chartier led an isolated life as a self-proclaimed "hermit" for years, caring for her sick mother inside their small home in the tiny town of Easterville, Manitoba. Chartier obtained only a 6th grade education and had had little to no contact with the outside world, saying “I went through a period where I didn’t leave my house for 11 years”. Chartier utilized the internet to facilitate connection and communication but had little real world experience.

Chris Andersen catfishing

When Chartier was 27 in 2012, Paris Dunn, 17, an aspiring actress, commented on a public status posted by NBA player Chris Andersen, 33, leaving her cell phone number. Seeing this, Chartier messaged Dunn as the NBA player and engaged in an online relationship. Chartier proceeded to set up fake social media accounts for Andersen and Dunn, as well as reach out to the real Chris Andersen from the 'Dunn' account.

"Tom Taylor" (another fake account), a fictional friend of Andersen's, was used to facilitate a meeting between the real Andersen and Dunn, in Denver. It is unclear if Chartier is behind this account as she states she is not multiple times. ..... The online relationship continued after the meeting but fizzled out. Subsequently, Dunn continued to message the 'Andersen' account and Chartier claims that in an attempt to stop the 'annoyance' the Tom Taylor account was utilized in a blackmail scheme that threatened to release the explicit images Dunn sent, at which point the police were involved. Chartier disclosed in the episode of Catfish: The TV Show based around the case that the "Tom Taylor" profile was never her and was the creation of another participant who the police were aware of.

..... Andersen engaged in an online and in-person relationship with a 17-year-old, as she had given him the impression that she was a legal adult. ..... Andersen was not charged with any crimes.

Arrest and imprisonment

Chartier was arrested on 15 January 2013. Chartier eventually pleaded guilty on 20 August 2015 to various charges of impersonation, extortion, uttering threats, and fraud under CA$5,000, stating that she was pregnant and that she was told if she pleaded guilty she would get house arrest. A Gladue report was created, but it was barebones and did not provide the court with much information about her prior life circumstances. Chartier was sentenced to 18 months in prison on 14 October, the maximum penalty requested by the Crown, and served a year of the sentence, including 50 days in solitary confinement, at the Manitoba Women's Correctional Centre in Headingley. She was denied parole three times during her incarceration. She was released on 22 October 2016. Following the arrest, she would come to be known as the "Ghost of Easterville", occasionally still being harassed when seen in public there, and has repeatedly expressed a desire to be allowed to move on with her life after serving her time. Chartier has stated she is remorseful for the incident but has not changed her story involving another participant. The incident was called "the biggest catfish [case]... ever solved". Following her release in Canada, it was reported that she still had an active warrant for her arrest out of Colorado, and if convicted of the charges there she could face multiple decades in prison.

Derivative works

The case inspired the Law and Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Intent". Further, a 2017 episode of Catfish: The TV Show included both Dunn and Chartier. Dunn wrote into the show after Chartier served her sentence in an attempt to reinvigorate attention surrounding the incident, continuing to frame Chartier as a master manipulator with a high chance of reoffending.

Indictment: The Crimes of Shelly Chartier, a 2017 CBC documentary by Shane Belcourt and Lisa Jackson which aired as an episode of CBC Docs POV, has refocused the conversation around the case to center the isolated indigenous woman whom the media portrayed as the villain. In the documentary, psychologists stated they believed money wasn't the main goal, and that Shelly may have acted in the way she did "to have other people in her place acting as avatars so she could experience what the others were experiencing" while not having to deal with the fear of leaving the safety of her home for the outside world.

Personal life

In 2014, Chartier married Rob Marku from Yonkers, New York on Christmas Day. A documentary of her life was produced by the CBC in 2017 and she was the subject of Season 6 Episode 12 of Catfish: The TV Show.

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Until 2017, Chartier was unemployed, and as a result could not sponsor her husband for a visa to stay in Canada with her permanently. She eventually got a part-time position as a janitor in her Reserve's band office, and is now considered employed full-time as her mother's caregiver.

See also

• Catfishing