FBI Locates Woman Accused Of Torching Police Cars Through Etsy Profile, LinkedIn Account

FBI agents inspected a Philadelphia arson suspect’s Instagram, LinkedIn accounts to track her before she was arrested and charged for setting at least two police vehicles on fire during the protests over the death of George Floyd.

Cops referenced television camera footage of May 30 demonstrations where Lore Elisabeth Blumenthal, 33, was seen wearing a light blue T-shirt along with a bandana while torching a police vehicle, The Philadelphia Enquirer reported.

The FBI spotted the shirt, that read “Keep the immigrants deport the racists" on Etsy, where they found a user by the name of "alleycatlore" left a five-star review for the product, ABC News reported, citing a criminal complaint.

The username turned out to be Blumenthal’s and an online search for her led the authorities to her LinkedIn profile where she was listed as a massage therapist. Police reportedly examined the videos her employers posted on the company’s website, with a woman in the video matching a driver’s license photo of Blumenthal. A tattoo of a woman in the videos also matched with that of Blumenthal’s.

The address available on the website was as same as that in the sales record provided by Etsy after a subpoena was issued, and the cops were finally able to reach her doorstep in Germantown.

She is facing two counts of felony arson, WCAU-TV reported, citing U.S. Attorney William McSwain’s office.

“We at the U.S. Attorney’s Office fully support the First Amendment right of the people to assemble peaceably and to petition their government. But torching a police car has nothing to do with peaceful protest or any legitimate message. It is a violent and despicable act that will be prosecuted in this District to the fullest extent of the law,” Attorney William McSwain said in a statement.

Blumenthal is currently being held in federal custody and if convicted, she is likely to face up to 10 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and a fine worth $250,000, the publication reported.