{"id":8773,"date":"2013-01-21T06:41:28","date_gmt":"2013-01-21T13:41:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/?p=8773"},"modified":"2017-02-08T22:13:23","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T05:13:23","slug":"teo-was-pranked-it-appears-he-was","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2013\/01\/teo-was-pranked-it-appears-he-was\/","title":{"rendered":"Te’o was Pranked? It Appears He Was"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
Manti Te\u2019o<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The weird story of Manti Te\u2019o and the girlfriend who wasn\u2019t gets even weirder.<\/p>\n

It appears he may have been pranked \u2014 which is too mild a word for it \u2014 by a serial hoaxer. The man who committed this hoax had evidently piled up at least six other victims besides Te\u2019o. This hoaxer enlisted friends, including his sister, to help him carry on this hoax.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s technology makes it easy for people to lie convincingly about themselves, which is a warning for all of us.<\/p>\n

Trying to make sense of this is a little like trying to untangle a spider\u2019s web. If you\u2019d like to try, you can find video and text with details from ESPN at the ABC News web site\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The ABC News article says in part:<\/p>\n

This timeline of the Manti Te\u2019o hoax appears to begin when Tessi Toluta\u2019u, a Polynesian beauty queen, says she was contacted by \u201cLennay Kekua\u201d in 2008 in what she now believes was a \u201ccatfish\u201d scam.<\/p>\n

Te\u2019o, Notre Dame\u2019s star linebacker, began his online relationship with \u201cKekua\u201d sometime in 2009. But he wasn\u2019t the first person to be contacted online by the fictitious woman.<\/p>\n

2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

A person named \u201cLennay Kekua\u201d sends a Facebook message to Tessi Toluta\u2019u, a Polynesian beauty queen, requesting advice on entering beauty pageants, Toluta\u2019u told ABC News.<\/p>\n

Middle of 2008: Toluta\u2019u says she continued to exchange Facebook messages with Kekua. Toluta\u2019u believes Kekua is embellishing her story, saying, \u201cshe\u201d is a Stanford volleyball player who is dating then-USC quarterback Mark Sanchez.<\/p>\n

WINTER 2009<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manti Te\u2019o tells ESPN,<\/p>\n

Kekua befriends Te\u2019o on Facebook in the winter of his freshman year in Notre Dame, he tells ESPN. He messages her back saying, \u201cI\u2019m Manti.\u201d At this point they would begin an on-again, off-again relationship that would resume later with texts and phone calls<\/p>\n

SEPT. 27, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\n

Te\u2019o writes Toluta\u2019u, a family friend, Facebook message asking about Kekua, writing, \u201cShe keeps talking like she knows everyone and I\u2019m like thinking it\u2019s a prank,\u201d according to his Facebook messages.<\/p>\n

Toluta\u2019u responds on Facebook: \u201cSo many people are asking about her. Is she causing drama?\u201d (Read more here<\/a>.) <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The weird story of Manti Te\u2019o and the girlfriend who wasn\u2019t gets even weirder. It appears he may have been pranked \u2014 which is too mild a word for it \u2014 by a serial hoaxer. The man who committed this hoax had evidently piled up at least six other victims besides Te\u2019o. This hoaxer enlisted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1155,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,516,1],"tags":[2301,2298,2300,2287,2299],"class_list":["post-8773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-america","category-culture","category-uncategorized","tag-abc-news","tag-manti-teo","tag-notre-dame","tag-teo","tag-teo-hoax"],"yoast_head":"\nTe'o was Pranked? It Appears He Was<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The weird story of Manti Te'o and the girlfriend who wasn't gets even weirder. It appears he may have been pranked -- which is too mild a word for it --\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2013\/01\/teo-was-pranked-it-appears-he-was\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Te'o was Pranked? It Appears He Was\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The weird story of Manti Te'o and the girlfriend who wasn't gets even weirder. It appears he may have been pranked -- which is too mild a word for it --\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2013\/01\/teo-was-pranked-it-appears-he-was\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Public Catholic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T13:41:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-02-09T05:13:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/files\/2013\/01\/Manti-300x225.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rebecca Hamilton\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rebecca Hamilton\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2013\/01\/teo-was-pranked-it-appears-he-was\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2013\/01\/teo-was-pranked-it-appears-he-was\/\",\"name\":\"Te'o was Pranked? It Appears He Was\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-21T13:41:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-02-09T05:13:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/e8d2778109308e0e776e5c16eae7b67d\"},\"description\":\"The weird story of Manti Te'o and the girlfriend who wasn't gets even weirder. It appears he may have been pranked -- which is too mild a word for it --\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2013\/01\/teo-was-pranked-it-appears-he-was\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2013\/01\/teo-was-pranked-it-appears-he-was\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2013\/01\/teo-was-pranked-it-appears-he-was\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Te’o was Pranked? It Appears He Was\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/\",\"name\":\"Public Catholic\",\"description\":\"Catholic in the Public Square\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/e8d2778109308e0e776e5c16eae7b67d\",\"name\":\"Rebecca Hamilton\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6253ced313d53e0b7bfa51e5c9eb56d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6253ced313d53e0b7bfa51e5c9eb56d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Rebecca Hamilton\"},\"description\":\"During her tenure in the Oklahoma Legislature, Rep. Hamilton has been an advocate for human rights, believing that government must support and defend the sanctity of all human lives, from conception to natural death. Representative Hamilton: Authored the original Victim\u2019s Protective Order to protect battered women, Obtained funding for the first statewide program for adult day care and the first statewide program of domestic violence shelters, and she She has also passed legislation to prevent law enforcement officials from publicly posting the private information of rape victims, Rep. Hamilton authored a 2005 law hailed as the most significant piece of pro-life legislation in Oklahoma in 30 years. She also passed the bill outlawing elective abortions in state-funded hospitals She has passed pro life bills requiring informed consent, parental notification, and limiting forced abortions. She also passed a law allowing prosecutors to file criminal charges against anyone who intentionally causes the death of an unborn child by harming the mother. Rep. Hamilton has also authored legislation ensuring taxpayers are not forced to subsidize elective abortions Rep. Hamilton was one of six original co-founders of first rape crisis center in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma City Democrat has worked to bring a wide range of groups together to fight on the behalf of abused women, including the creation of the Annual Day of Prayer for an End to Violence Against Women at the Oklahoma Capitol. Rep. Hamilton has been married for 30 years to her husband, Rodney, and the couple has two grown sons. She attends St. James Catholic Church, and is a long-time volunteer at Birth Choice of Oklahoma.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/author\/rhamilton\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Te'o was Pranked? It Appears He Was","description":"The weird story of Manti Te'o and the girlfriend who wasn't gets even weirder. It appears he may have been pranked -- which is too mild a word for it --","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2013\/01\/teo-was-pranked-it-appears-he-was\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Te'o was Pranked? It Appears He Was","og_description":"The weird story of Manti Te'o and the girlfriend who wasn't gets even weirder. It appears he may have been pranked -- which is too mild a word for it --","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2013\/01\/teo-was-pranked-it-appears-he-was\/","og_site_name":"Public Catholic","article_published_time":"2013-01-21T13:41:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-02-09T05:13:23+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/files\/2013\/01\/Manti-300x225.jpg"}],"author":"Rebecca Hamilton","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rebecca Hamilton","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2013\/01\/teo-was-pranked-it-appears-he-was\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2013\/01\/teo-was-pranked-it-appears-he-was\/","name":"Te'o was Pranked? It Appears He Was","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-01-21T13:41:28+00:00","dateModified":"2017-02-09T05:13:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/e8d2778109308e0e776e5c16eae7b67d"},"description":"The weird story of Manti Te'o and the girlfriend who wasn't gets even weirder. It appears he may have been pranked -- which is too mild a word for it --","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2013\/01\/teo-was-pranked-it-appears-he-was\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2013\/01\/teo-was-pranked-it-appears-he-was\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2013\/01\/teo-was-pranked-it-appears-he-was\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Te’o was Pranked? It Appears He Was"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/","name":"Public Catholic","description":"Catholic in the Public Square","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/e8d2778109308e0e776e5c16eae7b67d","name":"Rebecca Hamilton","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6253ced313d53e0b7bfa51e5c9eb56d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6253ced313d53e0b7bfa51e5c9eb56d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Rebecca Hamilton"},"description":"During her tenure in the Oklahoma Legislature, Rep. Hamilton has been an advocate for human rights, believing that government must support and defend the sanctity of all human lives, from conception to natural death. Representative Hamilton: Authored the original Victim\u2019s Protective Order to protect battered women, Obtained funding for the first statewide program for adult day care and the first statewide program of domestic violence shelters, and she She has also passed legislation to prevent law enforcement officials from publicly posting the private information of rape victims, Rep. Hamilton authored a 2005 law hailed as the most significant piece of pro-life legislation in Oklahoma in 30 years. She also passed the bill outlawing elective abortions in state-funded hospitals She has passed pro life bills requiring informed consent, parental notification, and limiting forced abortions. She also passed a law allowing prosecutors to file criminal charges against anyone who intentionally causes the death of an unborn child by harming the mother. Rep. Hamilton has also authored legislation ensuring taxpayers are not forced to subsidize elective abortions Rep. Hamilton was one of six original co-founders of first rape crisis center in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma City Democrat has worked to bring a wide range of groups together to fight on the behalf of abused women, including the creation of the Annual Day of Prayer for an End to Violence Against Women at the Oklahoma Capitol. Rep. Hamilton has been married for 30 years to her husband, Rodney, and the couple has two grown sons. She attends St. James Catholic Church, and is a long-time volunteer at Birth Choice of Oklahoma.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/author\/rhamilton\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1155"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8773"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8812,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8773\/revisions\/8812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}