Stuti Gokhale
The internet can be a scary place, and ‘20/20: Dangerous Games’ proves just that by chronicling the shocking story of Shelly Chartier, who orchestrated an elaborate catfishing scheme in 2012, drastically affecting the lives of teenage model Paris Dunn and rising NBA star Chris “Birdman” Andersen. The show elaborately delves into what started as a mindless experiment and eventually became a major scandal involving fake identities, extortion, and even child pornography allegations.
Who is Shelly Chartier?
Born in the early 80s, Shelly Chartier is a native of the Chemawawin Cree Nation in Manitoba. She had an extremely isolated childhood in Easterville and spent most of her time at home caring for her mother, Delia, who was suffering from debilitating ailments. Consequently, Shelly was raised by her aunt, but she passed away when the former was eleven. This loss deeply impacted her, and she became even more reclusive, which resulted in severe bullying from her schoolmates. Hence, Shelly was pulled out of school after finishing sixth grade and remained confined to her home for eleven years.
This period of isolation pushed Shelly toward the internet in 2011 to seek a connection with the outside world. Apart from playing XBox, she allegedly made several fake Facebook pages during this time and impersonated renowned YouTubers, Playboy models, and reality TV stars. However, this supposedly harmless activity took a dangerous trajectory in October 2011 when 27-year-old Shelly came across Dallas-based NBA player Chris Andersen’s Facebook page. There, a specific comment that caught her interest was from Paris Dunn, AKA Paris Roxanne, an aspiring teen model from Los Angeles, California.
According to reports, the 17-year-old had left her phone number in a fan message on Andersen’s Facebook page and asked him to call her. Thus, Shelly decided to meddle and created a fake profile, posing as the 33-year-old basketball player and messaging Paris. On the other hand, she somehow obtained his phone number and, pretending to be the model, messaged him on another app. While Andersen thought Paris had gotten his number from Facebook, she believed she had finally caught his attention. Regular correspondence between the two followed, with both unaware that it was actually Shelly conducting the conversations as a “catfisher.”
Not only that, the Manitoba resident created a third false profile under the name Tom Taylor, claiming to be Andersen’s best friend to Paris. As the NBA player and the teen model grew close over the next few months, they eventually began exchanging flirtatious messages through Shelly, which further escalated into an exchange of nude photos. Eventually, she used Tom’s fictional persona to facilitate a meeting between Andersen and Paris, convincing the latter to fly to Denver for the weekend in December 2011. Interestingly, all this while the Denver athlete believed that his online friend was 21 and not 17.
What followed was a fun weekend, where the two allegedly got sexually intimate. Yet, Paris later shared that many things didn’t add up during their time together, including various gaps and inconsistencies regarding their online conversations. After Paris’ weekend with Andersen, Shelly began bombarding her with constant messages from Tom’s profile. Furthermore, when the 17-year-old shared she was going to meet another pro athlete, the Manitoba native used the nudes that the former had sent to the basketball player’s fake profile to blackmail her as Tom in February 2012.
Not only did Shelly threaten to leak the photos, but she reportedly threatened Paris with dire consequences, like getting her “raped and murdered.” Petrified, the young girl revealed everything to her mother, and they contacted the police. On the other hand, Shelly pretended to be the teen model’s mother and emailed Andersen on February 22, 2012, threatening to ruin the NBA player’s life and allegedly attempting to extort money from him. Worried about the same, he reported the matter to his attorney, who responded to the email and finally paid Shelly $3,000 to stop harassing them.
Sadly, the basketball star’s woes were far from over, as in May 2012, he was being investigated for possessing child pornography. As the accusations threatened to ruin his life, the police somehow concluded that the online interaction between him and Paris was all through fake accounts. Once he was cleared of the allegations, the detectives traced the IP addresses for the imposter profiles to Shelly in Canada. Consequently, she was arrested in January 2013 and charged with possession of child pornography, distribution of child pornography, extortion, personation, and uttering threats.
Shelly Chartier is Leading a Quiet Life Today
After Shelly was arrested, she met an avid gamer named Rob Marku while gaming online in 2013. Originally from Michigan, he lived in Yonkers, New York, and love quickly blossomed between them. In November 2014, Shelly was released on bail with strict release conditions like an internet ban, and Rob came to Easterville to visit her. Despite meeting in person for the first time and her impending trial, they instantly connected and tied the knot on Christmas of the same year. In August 2015, Shelly stood trial and pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraud, impersonation, extortion, and uttering threats.
Consequently, the Manitoba native was sentenced to eighteen months behind bars, out of which she served twelve months, including 50 days of solitary confinement. In October 2016, Shelly was released and ordered to serve two years of probation, coupled with supervised and limited internet usage. Though she began working in prison, she was unemployed as of 2017. In addition, she shared on the show that she was facing severe dental problems. In the meantime, she and Rob had to be in a long-distance marriage, with the latter visiting her periodically as they couldn’t get a permanent visa for him.
Shelly also stated on the show that she was remorseful for what happened and that her time in prison changed her for the better, teaching her how to socialize. Since her release, she has barely any social media presence and has seemingly embraced privacy. That said, reports suggest that she began working part-time as a Janitor in her Reserve’s band office. From what we can tell, she is now considered full-time employed as her mother’s caregiver and still lives in Easterville.
Read More: Paris Dunn: Where is the Model Now?
