Stuti Gokhale
‘20/20: Dangerous Games’ elaborately explores one of the most startling cases of identity fraud in the past few decades to have affected the world. While only three people were primarily involved, it raised numerous questions about internet security and ethics. In 2011, Shelly Chartier impersonated NBA player Chris Andersen and teenage model Paris Dunn, AKA Paris Roxanne, to establish an online relationship between them. Besides orchestrating their conversations for several months, she even threatened and blackmailed them. Since Paris was very young then, so the ordeal surely affected her badly. So, if you wish to know how she’s doing nowadays, here’s what we found.
Who is Paris Dunn?
A native of Los Angeles, California, Paris Dunn was interested in making a career in the entertainment industry since young and began working as a teen model. Given her charming personality and beauty, she soon garnered lots of followers on various online platforms. But like any other regular teenager, Paris also loved using social media and expressing her admiration for her celebrity idols. In October 2011, she was just seventeen when she decided to interact with rising basketball star Chris Andersen online.
Therefore, Paris reportedly left her phone number in a comment on his Facebook profile, hoping to catch his attention. To the aspiring model’s surprise, Chris responded to her a few days later with his number, and the two instantly hit it off. What followed was months of flirty texts and intense conversations, with Paris gushing about connecting with the handsome athlete. Little did she know she was the victim of a major catfishing scheme. 27-year-old Manitoba native Shelly Chartier deliberately created fake social media profiles using Paris and Chris’ names.
Shelly was the one who had been messaging them both pretending to be the other. Hence, unbeknownst to Paris and Chris, it was Shelly they were talking to all those months than each other. Furthermore, they ended up exchanging their nude photos, yet she was the one controlling this correspondence. However, the catfisher did not just stop there and created a third fake profile with the fictional name Tom Taylor. Using that alias, Shelly messaged Paris and claimed to be Chris Andersen’s best friend, convincing the teen model to pay the basketball player a visit in Dallas.
Surprisingly, 33-year-old Chris was unaware that Paris was a minor and believed she was 21 like she allegedly made herself to be. Nevertheless, she traveled to Dallas in December 2011, and they spent the weekend together, supposedly getting intimate. Surprisingly, Paris later admitted that things seemed slightly off when she was with Chris, and many of their conversations didn’t add up. Yet, everything suddenly went downhill once she returned to Los Angeles, as Shelly used the Tom Taylor profile to harass her constantly.
On top of it, when the teenager claimed she would visit another basketball player, the Manitoba resident began blackmailing her in February 2012 with the nude pictures she had sent Chris, threatening to leak them. In addition, Shelly allegedly threatened Paris with dire consequences, such as “getting her raped or even killed.” Terrified of what she was going through, the young model confessed everything to her mother, and they approached the police.
Next, Shelly pretended to be the teenager’s mother and tried extorting Chris via email, resulting in his lawyer paying her to stay away. Eventually, Chris’ career was on the verge of destruction in May 2012 when the police suspected him of possessing child pornography and searched his house. Thankfully, it was soon proven that Shelly Chartier was the mastermind behind the entire catfishing scheme and that he and Paris had never spoken to each other online all this while. Once the IP addresses of the fake accounts were traced to Manitoba, Shelly was arrested and faced multiple charges.
Paris Dunn is a Successful Model Today
Once Shelly was apprehended, Paris and Chris were relieved but felt traumatized. Specifically, it took the teenager quite some time to regain normalcy and feel safe. Nonetheless, she chose to focus on her career and appeared on the TV show ‘Catfish,’ where she shared her harrowing experiences with the masses. Incidentally, that was not the last time the model appeared on the show, as later, she again got caught in a situation where her photos were being misused to mislead others online.
When Shelly was released from prison in 2016, Paris apparently feared that she would return to her fraudulent methods. The latter expressed her disappointment at the sentence handed to Shelly and hoped she would have gotten a longer jail term. Apart from her appearances on ‘Catfish,’ Paris is now a successful model affiliated with Famous Chick Agency and has several followers on her social media. Despite her traumatic past, the Southern Californian model has reclaimed the online space with her stage name, Paris Dylan, and regularly shares all her achievements with her fans.
Besides her modeling assignments, Paris is an avid traveler and passionate about music. In fact, the latter introduced her to renowned singer Don McLean, best known for his evergreen hit ‘American Pie.’ As per reports, Paris and Don began dating around March 2018, when she was 24, and he was 73. Despite the public scrutiny regarding their age difference, the couple is still going strong, and the talented model accompanies her partner on his music tours worldwide. It is commendable to see Paris flourishing after overcoming her previous troubles, and we wish her the best for the future.
Read More: Shelly Chartier: Where is the Catfisher Now?
