Coward perpetrates hoax

The person sending a bogus email to water district manager David Barnum is a coward—and possibly a criminal.

How else does one describe someone who, rather than put his or her name on a communication, pretends to be someone else—in this case a television reporter known for his bulldog approach to shining the light on consumer problems and government waste and incompetence?

“Snake in the grass” comes to mind as another way to refer to someone who basically steals another person’s identity, emails incorrect information and innuendos to a public employee—with copies sent to the employee’s bosses—and essentially wastes public time and thus public money chasing down the lie and those innuendos.

The hoax came to light when Barnum responded to “Michael Turko’s” questions and Turko received answers to questions he never posed. We hope Turko reports this to law enforcement, since it has the potential for being identity theft.

This conniver isn’t stupid. It required some hacking, since the bogus communication came from Turko’s email address and the reply went to his computer.

It didn’t seem strange that Turko would be investigating the Ramona water district. He’s done it before in his “Turko Files” on KUSI.

The imposter started with an untruth about fire mitigation fees, then asked for a comment about $320,578 that allegedly “disappeared.”

Who knows what the imposter’s motives are. No matter what they are, something’s wrong with a person who is so deceitful.

The Sentinel, in bringing this hoax to the public’s attention, encourages anyone with information about who is responsible to contact Turko or the district office.

As Turko says during his watchdog reports—”It ain’t right!”

—Maureen Robertson

Editor