Verizon faces lawsuit over release of stalked NC woman’s phone records

Verizon Wireless faces a federal lawsuit filed by a Wake County woman who says the telecommunications company wrongly handed over her cellphone records to a stalker portraying himself as a police detective.

Filed by a woman only identified by the initials M.D., the action says Verizon recklessly and negligently inflicted emotional stress on the plaintiff and violated the Stored Communications Act, which protects electronic communication from unauthorized third parties, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported.

The claim arose after a man identifying himself as Cary police Detective Steven Cooper submitted a bogus search warrant to Verizon for M.D.’s phone records, saying that she was a slaying suspect.

In reality, the request was submitted by a New Mexico man, Robert Glauner, who was stalking M.D. after meeting her online, The N&O reported.

Through information Verizon released, Glauner was able to learn M.D.’s full name, phone number and address, all of which he used to increase his harassment of her, M.D.’s attorney, Amanda Dure of Pangia Law Group in Washington, told the newspaper.

The information was used to contact M.D. and her family members and co-workers.

“This was a systemic failure on the part of Verizon,” Dure said in an interview with The N&O.

Raleigh police arrested Glauner on Nov. 6 while he was standing in M.D.’s neighbor’s hard. He was indicted in January on federal charges of obtaining confidential phone records, making false statements, obtaining phone records by claiming to be a police detective, and submitting a false search warrant with a judge’s forged signature.

In addition to the federal charges, Glauner was named as a defendant in M.D.’s lawsuit, which was filed in federal District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Verizon did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday, The N&O reported.