A California woman was jailed for 88 days and once faced a potential life sentence after authorities accused her of posting online ads meant to lure men into sexually assaulting her former fiancé’s new wife.
At first, the case against Michelle Hadley appeared to be backed by threatening emails, witness statements and men who said they were answering “rape fantasy” advertisements. But state and federal prosecutors later said the evidence had been staged — and that the people who claimed to be victims were actually behind the scheme.
Netflix’s new documentary, “A Toxic Love Story,” takes a fresh look at the 2016 case involving Hadley, her former fiancé Ian Diaz, and Diaz’s then-wife, Angela Connell, who went by Angela Diaz during their marriage.
Here are five key details to understand about the case.
Netflix’s documentary “A Toxic Love Story” details how former U.S. Marshal Ian Diaz and his then-wife, Angela Connell Diaz, fabricated cyberstalking claims and false “rape fantasy” allegations to frame Diaz’s ex-fiancée, Michelle Hadley, who was jailed before ultimately being cleared. (COURTESY OF NETFLIX)
1. Hadley was accused of terrorizing her ex-fiancé’s new wife
Hadley and Ian Diaz began dating in 2013 after meeting online, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. They purchased a condominium together in Anaheim, California, but their relationship ended in 2015 as tensions grew over the property and financial issues.
In January 2016, Ian Diaz met Angela Connell online. The two married the next month, and Connell moved into the Anaheim condominium Diaz had bought with Hadley.
By June 2016, Angela Diaz had begun reporting to Anaheim police that Hadley was sending increasingly violent emails and threatening her and her alleged unborn children. She also claimed Hadley was posing as her online and sending men to the home for “rape fantasy” encounters.
At least two men who intended to travel to the condominium told investigators that they believed they had been invited to participate in consensual “rape fantasy” encounters, prosecutors said. On June 24, Angela Diaz called 911 and claimed a man had entered her garage and tried to rape her.
Police arrested Hadley that day and released her on $100,000 bail. She was arrested again on July 14 and held on $1 million bail as the alleged threats continued.
2. She spent 88 days in jail for crimes she did not commit
Hadley faced felony charges carrying a potential life sentence as authorities initially portrayed her as a jilted former lover who had launched a calculated revenge campaign.
But there were problems with the case.
After Hadley’s first arrest, Angela Diaz reported that the emails had stopped. When Hadley was released, the threatening messages resumed even though Hadley did not yet have access to her email, prosecutors later said.
Hadley remained jailed until Oct. 7, 2016, when prosecutors released her.
Michelle Hadley spent nearly three months in jail after she was falsely accused of stalking Angela Diaz and framed for trying to have her raped. (Facebook)
On Jan. 9, 2017, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas dismissed every charge and publicly declared her “fully exonerated.”
3. Digital evidence and Angela Diaz’s other lies cracked the case
Investigators traced the threatening emails and sexual advertisements not to Hadley, but to the condominium shared by Ian and Angela Diaz, Angela’s cellphone and her father’s home in Arizona, according to the district attorney’s office.
Authorities said Angela Diaz used approximately eight email accounts, VPNs and proxy servers to hide the messages’ origins.
She sent herself threats, posed as Hadley and provided men with photographs of herself, her address and details about her daily routine.
Ian and Angela Diaz, left, were convicted of trying to frame Ian’s ex-fiancée, Michelle Hadley, right, of a twisted “rape fantasy” plot. (Orange County District Attorney’s Office/Facebook)
The investigation also uncovered a wider pattern of deception. Prosecutors said Angela Diaz had faked cervical cancer, pretended to be an attorney, forged doctors’ notes, fabricated a pregnancy and altered checks.
Angela Diaz pleaded guilty in October 2017 to charges including kidnapping, false imprisonment, forgery, perjury, grand theft and falsely reporting crimes. She was sentenced to five years in state prison.
4. Former deputy U.S. marshal was exposed as a co-conspirator
Ian Diaz insisted he knew nothing of Angela’s machinations, but a federal probe into Diaz launched in 2017 revealed that he masterminded the entire plot. He was indicted in 2021 and was relieved of his duties as a criminal investigator in Los Angeles.
A jury in the Central District of California convicted Ian of one count each of conspiracy to commit cyberstalking, cyberstalking, perjury and obstructing a federal proceeding.
Ian Diaz and Angela Connell Diaz impersonated Michelle Hadley and staged hoax sexual assaults to frame her, according to the Department of Justice. (COURTESY OF NETFLIX)
He was sentenced to 10 years and one month in prison.
“Diaz’s egregious actions and lies to law enforcement stripped a woman of her freedom and liberty,” Special Agent in Charge Harry Lidsky of the Department of Justice’s cyber crimes unit previously said in a press release. “This kind of stalking, harassment and obstruction is unconscionable.”
Michelle Hadley addresses the media after being cleared of all charges in a complicated plot to frame her in Fullerton, California, Jan. 9, 2017. Hadley was arrested and charged last year for allegedly stalking her ex-boyfriend’s pregnant wife, Angela Diaz, and impersonating the woman in rape fantasy ads on Craigslist. The DA now says the woman who was claiming to be the victim, Angela Diaz, set the whole thing up to target Hadley. (Jeff Gritchen/Digital First Media/Orange County Register via Getty Images)
5. Hadley settled her federal lawsuit against city
Hadley later filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Anaheim, four city employees, Angela Diaz and Ian Diaz over the case that led to her arrest and imprisonment.
In an April 2021 court filing reviewed by INC News, Hadley’s attorneys said she and the Anaheim defendants had reached a settlement that was approved by the City Council on April 27. The agreement would result in the dismissal of her claims against the city and its employees.
The filing also said Hadley and Angela Diaz were finalizing a separate written agreement. It did not reveal the financial terms or other details of either settlement.
INC News has reached out to Hadley’s attorneys for comment.
