In 2005 Benton County Sheriff's Deputy Christoper Gore came to my door and said that if I didn't sign a document admitting to forgery that he would take me to jail and seize my computer. I couldn't sign such a thing because I didn't forge anything and even if I did I had every right to ask to speak to a lawyer before saying anything else. He then handcuffed me and I asked to put some pants on because I was in my underwear. He let me go into my living room to put some pants on and seized my computer saying that the fake fliers I had sent out were obviously made by a computer, and the computer was in plain view.
My lawyer eventually explained to me that plain view does not justify the seizure of a computer because seeing a PC tower on the floor does not tell anyone what is on the hard drive. Plain view applies to things in plain sight that are clearly illegal. For instance, if there was a pile of cocaine on top of the computer, then they could seize the cocaine, but not the computer. A computer itself does not qualify. As a result I had to get a new computer for school in the meantime because I didn't get the other back for several months.
As for the fake sex offender notices. They were not forgeries because, as my lawyer successfully convinced the prosecutor, they were signed with an original artist's signature in the form of the year, my fraternity nickname, and the fraternity letters. That signature was there to give the guys in the house an easy way to show the sororities I had sent it to that it was not real. All the sororities knew what the fraternity letters were and even though they were in small print, a quick phone call or dinner time announcement would have made it obvious to anyone that had not already noticed the letters that it was a fake. Embarrassing? Yes, but not felonious. I eventually spent 7 days in the county jail for harassment, but I have never been able to escape the misleading news coverage that to this day makes me look like a forger.
Eventually I talked to the guy on the flyer and other members of the house about it. They said that they were mostly concerned about additional attacks on their names and that is why they called the police. They had threatened to do so and I responded with a bogus advertisement in which people seeking free STD testing were directed to call the house phone. That was what really motivated them. I eventually apologized.