Nancy Grace Sued for Defamation

A man named Ben Siebert is suing Nancy Grace for statement that she made about him on TV after he was branded a “selfie stalker”. It all began earlier this year, in late January, when Siebert’s photo showed up on the cellphone of a Denver woman who did not know him. She called the police, fearing that the man on her phone had broken in and took his own picture with her phone. Denver Metro Crime Stoppers put out an alert. Nancy Grace picked up the story, showed Siebert’s photo on her show, calling it a “textbook serial killer’s calling card.”

The matter was cleared up after Seibert, who was actually in California, learned that his photo was all over the internet accused of a crime. He contacted the Denver police (although apparently it took him a few tries) and was able to clear himself.

The lawsuit claims also names Crime Stoppers, and claims that both the organization and Grace continued to publish defamatory and false information about him even after they were told by the Denver police that he had been cleared. Siebert is seeking $100,000 in damages.

For its part, Crime Stoppers’ board president, Mike Mills, told The Associated Press as soon as they were knew of the mistake, the alert was pulled off their online outlets.

Siebert was never charged with a crime, so we hope he wins his lawsuit, at least against Miss Grace, because that is quite a leap to show someone’s photo before they have even been charged with anything and call that person a “serial killer” on TV.