Mount Pleasant woman charged with assault, sending threatening Facebook messages

A prospective model from Mount Pleasant was accused Tuesday of sending threatening Facebook messages and assault in federal court.

Jenny Strong, who has auditioned for modeling jobs in Lansing and Flint, allegedly sent multiple threatening messages to a woman on Facebook throughout the fall, culminating in an incident on M-20 last November. She has been charged with assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily injury and sending threatening messages.

“You’ve got hell coming your way, be ready,” read one message, according to the complaint.

Strong’s motives are not clear, but the threats continued throughout the fall. On Halloween, Strong allegedly threatened to kill the woman by running her over with a vehicle.

“My mom won’t be there to hold me in the car but I’d run you over and go to prison for that,” Strong wrote according to the complaint. “I’d love to kill you.”

In late November, Strong noticed the woman while driving her Chevrolet Tahoe on M-20. She pulled onto the right shoulder to wait for the woman to approach.

Just as she was approaching, Strong turned into traffic in an attempt to “hit or scare” her, according to the complaint.

She narrowly avoided a crash by swerving out of the way and veering off the road. She quickly got back onto the road and sped away.

Strong continued to follow her.

“(The woman) thought Jenny was going to ram (the woman’s) car with her car and hurt her,” according to the complaint.

Mount Pleasant Police Department Public Information Officer Jeff Browne said cases like Strong’s, in which threats made over social media like Facebook turn into real violence, are rare, but the police department takes them seriously.

“As you can imagine, with the growth of social media use, cases (like Strong’s) are on the rise,” Browne said. “It is sometimes hard to discern between sarcasm (or) playful banter and legitimate threats.”

Browne said the police department did not have venue over the case.