The real reason prosecutors dropped three out of five charges against catfish mum Kendra Licari

People have been left horrified since Unknown Number: The High School Catfish released the story of Kendra Licari, the catfish mum who sent threatening messages to her 13-year-old daughter, Lauryn, and her then-boyfriend, Owen, for almost two years.

In October 2020, Lauryn and Owen started receiving suspicious texts from an unknown number. At first, the messages were weird and upsetting, but they quickly escalated. They received up to 40–50 messages a day. They included threats, insults about Lauryn’s body, and even messages telling her to hurt herself.

The messages also mentioned Lauryn’s nickname, Lo, and details only a family member would know. Investigators initially suspected friends, but it turned out to be Kendra Licari.

Kendra admitted that she began sending the messages to try and see who had started them in the first place, but the situation “spiralled” out of control.

After her arrest, Kendra faced five charges. According to ABC News, she was released on a $5,000 bond following her 2022 arrest. In March 2023, she pled guilty to two counts of stalking a minor, as per The Morning Sun. Three of the charges were dropped, including one count of obstruction of justice and two counts of using a computer to commit a crime.

So, why did prosecutors drop the charges?

via Netflix

Prosecutors explained that they wanted to prevent Lauryn and the other victims from going through a long, stressful trial. Isabella County Prosecutor David Barberi said the plea deal would allow justice to be served without forcing the victims to relive their trauma in court.

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He added that the dropped charges did not mean Kendra was getting off lightly. He said that she still faced serious consequences for her stalking convictions, which were the most serious aspects of her case.

Kendra’s defence team also spoke up. One of her lawyers told the court that Kendra has been actively working to address her mental health and understands the harm she caused.

Basically, the charges were dropped to protect the victims and recognise Kendra’s rehabilitation efforts.

Kendra was sentenced in April 2023 to 19 months to five years in prison for the stalking counts. She served just over a year and was released in August 2024.

Unknown Number: The High School Catfish is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news and drops, like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.