Editors Note: This article has been updated several times as new accounts have been exposed. Colin Curtis, campaign manager of Attorney General Brian Frosh’s campaign for re-election, changed some of the names of his accounts to new ones to hide from the identity theft issue. The new ones include: “America First Coalition Maryland” (Twitter Account Number 2427688698, previously @DLewis_MD) and “Change Annapolis PAC” (Twitter Account Number 2447173040, previously @BigKenMD), an illegally operated social media account that imitates an actual PAC. By posting up a fake campaign account without a real treasurer, Curtis violates multiple Maryland laws against such fake campaign accounts.

Here are all of the previous fake accounts proven to be operated by the same individual: “Lori Wagner”, “Desmond Lewis”, “Tammy Wilson”, “Debra Grant”, “Kenny Frazier”, “Steve Molten”, “Corey Kaplan”, “MD Political News”, “Elizabeth Fitzgerald”, “Mat Rothschild”, and “Maggie Thomas”. Confirmation that the registration of these accounts came from the same email domain was obtained by the Change Annapolis PAC. That domain is to “mixedmedia.com,” the site owned and operated by Colin A Curtis when he ran “Mixed Media” political consulting. He is currently working for “Our Maryland,” a Democrat PAC, and is running the campaign of Attorney General Brian Frosh (D).

Twitter and Facebook are strange places. They allow unidentified people to say whatever they want, regardless of the potential illegal or unethical behavior. There are no real reporting mechanisms to allow someone to show that an account is fake, and no research or comment is accepted. Their business model is built on the abuse, allowing people to create dozens (or even hundreds) of accounts simply to inflate their numbers.

Both have purged fake users in the past as a way to appease advertisers who threaten to take social media companies to court for false reports of few. However, they have done so reluctantly. This article will primarily focus on Twitter, because the fraud is easier to dissect.

The MD Democrats, with their associated troll organizations (like Our Maryland), specialize in creating accounts and using them to boost up their likes and retweets. They know how to game the system, providing fake support to help get a higher visibility in certain feeds while false spam flagging any opposition to trick the Twitter system into shadowbanning their accounts. They can be found pushing fringe issues and attacking Republicans, including President Donald Trump, various members of Congress, and Maryland’s Governor Larry Hogan. But the Democratic Party activists are extremely sloppy.

There are three obvious fake accounts that are big offenders: A “Lori Wagner” from Annapolis, a “Desmond Lewis” from Baltimore, and a “Tammy Wilson” who identifies only by “crab cakes.”

All three were created at the same time in 2014 (as a lead up to the previous election), and all three take their photos from stockphoto websites.

The most abusive of these is “Desmond Lewis,” because they stole a photo to pretend to be African American and stir up racial issues. “Desmond” can also be known as “Sujit Ghosla” or “Clinton Jackson” on other sites that used the same stock photo to create a fake profile. There is one Desmond Lewis in the MD/DC region with a history of living in Baltimore, but it is not the owner of the Twitter account.

The “Lori Wagner” account is derived from a stockphoto used mostly by offices and human resources. There is one Lori Wagner from Annapolis, but he (yes, a man) worked for Anne Arundel Medical Center and now lives in Pennsylvania.

“Tammy Wilson” is the most laughable of the fake accounts. The picture is a cropped version of a stockphoto used mostly for school advertisements. A search shows that there aren’t any Tammy Wilsons in the MD/DC region who look anything like the stockphoto.

It is clear that these accounts are all operated by the same person or the same group of people within an office. They are coordinated, often responded to each other and liking each others’ tweets. They also happen to like and retweet out the Maryland Democratic Party’s tweets and those from associated groups.

The fake accounts are the majority of the few supporters for 2018 Democrat Candidate for Governor Ben Jealous online. This should make any Democrat question the validity of their own party. If the Maryland Democratic Party really believed in their candidate, then why would they have to resort to fake accounts to get any traction? The answer is that the Maryland Democrats have rejected their candidate and their own state party. Dozens of prominent Democrat officials are actually backing Republican nominee Governor Hogan for re-election.

But more research showed the scandal went far, far deeper. For example, a recent tweet these accounts liked and shared from the MD Dems (seen here) suggests there are more fake accounts operating on their behalf. A “Debra Grant” is an egg account (no profile picture) that was created at the same time and merely re-tweets Democrat officials. “Kenny Frazier” has a stock photo profile picture with a head cut off, making it hard to track down the original photo. He was also created at the same time as the others, and the only Kenny Frazier from Baltimore that could possibly match is heavier and older. Eventually, someone found the original stock photo, proving it was another faked identity.

These are just the obvious fake accounts that steal other people’s identities or just fabricates a new identity to troll on Twitter, and there are just as many abuses on Facebook. There are many more accounts that use gibberish pseudonyms without any identifying features that are just as trollish. Not only should Twitter and Facebook do better to ensure that only real people are using their sites, they should make sure that they purge their systems of abusive political operatives.

The hypocrisy runs deep, and the Democratic Party has said a lot on Russia doing this very thing. They have also gone to court to demand that Governor Hogan be unable to block these accounts, which shows the malicious intent and the desire to game the democratic process through fraud. At the very least, the Maryland Attorney General, Brian Frosh (D), should investigate this issue and require Facebook and Twitter to hand over IP address data on these accounts. Then, he should have their operators prosecuted for fraud and campaign violations.

Update:

In response to our article, an account called “MD Political News” tweeted, “Oh we don’t work for the Dems, we will expose them too. We are here to end the corruption that plagues this beautiful state. We can start with Petey:” with a picture of Peter Franchot, Maryland’s Democrat Comptroller.

Peter Franchot is an ally of Governor Hogan and who came out against Ben Jealous. The use of “we” is in response to the accusation regarding the accounts being fake and working together, admitting that it is part of the organization. The attacking of Franchot is further evidence that they are Democratic Party operatives, who have been trying to silence Franchot for years.

Within the first two minutes of the tweet, it received likes from Lori Wagner, Tammy Wilson, Kenny Frazier, and Desmond Lewis, all fake accounts listed above. It was also liked by a “Steve Molten” that was created at the same time of the others and claims to be from Annapolis where no Steve Molten is a resident. His image is a Raven’s NFL team logo. Additionally, it was liked by a “Corey Kaplan” created at the same time and also claims to be a resident of Annapolis where no Corey Kaplan is a resident. His photo is also a stockphoto.

We’ve also reached out to the company “Furniture Expert Movers,” whose two Twitter accounts (here and here) are part of the ring of likes. It seems to our board that the operator of the Twitter accounts is connected to the operation of the other accounts, and the company can provide us with an identity.

Update Again: More sock puppet troll accounts have come to light after the Change Annapolis PAC account began to fight with the accounts. “Elizabeth Fitzgerald,” aka Dr. Liz Fitz claims to be a PhD student while calling herself a Doctor (major “no no”) and created at the same time of the others. She is from “Maryland” and has the other half of the image used by Tami Wilson from the school advertisements. There is also no “Elizabeth Fitzgerald” in a PhD program or once in a PhD program with ties to Maryland.

Another account is “Mat Rothschild,” created at the same time and also from “Maryland.” His image is from a man named Matt Doherty of Industrial Fabrication Services and who lives in Minnesota. We notified him as to the stolen image.

Using the same technique as used by Change Annapolis found many more accounts created at the same time in 2014 with the same email. This led us to finding “Maggie Thomas”, who has not yet been activated in the current set of tweets but follows each of those involved.

A Twitter Audit report on Colin A Curtis, the sock master behind these illegal accounts, shows that 91% of his own Twitter followers are fake. He has indulged in every single illegal an unethical social media activity.

Additional information shows that Colin Curtis is part of a staff that trains Democrat campaign operatives on how to behave. This problematic and illegal conduct is probably throughout the United States.

We have reached out to the National Democratic Training Committee to see if they support Curtis’s conduct.