GREENSBORO, N.C. — Two viral posts lauding the good deeds of Winston-Salem policemen are false, the Winston-Salem Police Department said.
"While the Winston-Salem Police Department applauds the respective law enforcement officers and agencies for the good work, it is apparent the stories were altered to include Winston-Salem Police Department involvement," WSPD said in a release Monday morning.
Late last week, two posts from a Facebook page called "North Carolina Breaking News" went viral. Winston-Salem police said both stories actually happened in different states and years earlier.
The North Carolina Breaking News Facebook page posted the first on February 14, 2020. It tells the story of a man named LaVonte Dell, claiming to have been pulled over by a Winston-Salem police officer named Joshua Johnson. The post says Johnson purchased a car seat for Dell instead of writing him a ticket.
North Carolina Breaking News' account claimed to have spoken with Johnson at the Winston-Salem Police Department the previous day:
The thing is, the Winston-Salem Police Department says they don't have an Officer Joshua Johnson, and no one was ever interviewed for the story on February 13, 2020. WSPD says the post isn't true.
The North Carolina Breaking News' False Facebook Post:
After investigating, officials said North Carolina Breaking News' post is based on a real story that happened years ago in another state.
A police officer in Michigan in the Westland Police Department named Joshua Scaglione did, in fact, purchase a car seat for a man in need. The story was covered by ABC News in 2016:
The second viral story follows a familiar tune. North Carolina Breaking News' Facebook page posted a story lauding the exploits of "Winston-Salem police officer Josh Smith" claiming Officer Smith helped an injured dog.
Winston-Salem police confirmed the story is not factual. The Facebook post is based on details of a different real Facebook post from December 16, 2018. Osceola County Sheriff's Office in Florida shared this story about their deputy named Josh Fiorelli, officials said.
Both posts received more than 30,000 shares.
Winston-Salem police said it reported the "North Carolina Breaking News" page to Facebook after officials attempted to reach out to the page's administrators and were met with responses in Russian.
The North Carolina Breaking News page has more than 50,000 followers. The page is listed as a "Satire/Parody" account in its "About" section.