PEORIA, Ill. (AP) — The Peoria mayor says he felt the man behind a fake Twitter account in his name had stolen his identity and threatened his reputation.

Mayor Jim Ardis released a statement Thursday in response to a federal civil rights lawsuit filed against him this week by the creator of the Twitter account.

Twenty-nine-year-old Jonathan Daniel set up the account in March and tweeted crude remarks about sex and drugs in the mayor’s name. Daniel’s home was raided and he was arrested, but prosecutors declined to bring charges.

Ardis notes that the account was not initially labeled a parody and used his official picture, city logo, address and contact information.
He says anyone reading the tweets would assume they were reading comments from the actual mayor.

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