She wrote in a PDF:
"On August 5th, I was woken up by London Police Services, pointing an assault rifle in my face in my home. I was later told that at 6 AM, that morning, an email impersonating me was sent to every city counselor in London, Ontario stating that I killed my mother, I have an illegal firearm, and I plan to go to city hall and shoot every cisgender person I see. I was shown the email while I was being interrogated at the station and still in police custody.
While the emails were riddled with grammatical errors and read more like a troll than something I would sincerely say, the police took it seriously. Not only that, the email said my name was Clara Sorrenti, but also stated what my deadname was. It was an obvious attempt to make the police humiliate me. The police referred to me during the arrest by my deadname. I was booked in the station under my deadname. The police, when talking to my mother, called me “her son”.
"This is despite the fact that I have run for political office both as a Member of Parliament and a Member of Provincial Parliament under my name, Clara Sorrenti. I legally changed my name over ten years ago. The fact that a fake email – the one that made police officers point an assault rifle at me – led to London Police Services booking me under my deadname reveals the prejudice that many police have towards transgender people. This is despite the fact that the email contained my real name before ever mentioning my deadname.
*show property bags* This is one of the property bags returned to me after I was released from custody. The property bags returned to me say Roberts on them. Roberts was my last name until I legally changed my name first to Kaylie Sorrenti on January 25th 2012 and then later to Clara Sorrenti on March 7th, 2018. When I changed my name, I took my mother’s maiden name. My last name has not been Roberts for over ten years, and the only reason it was on these bags is because I was booked under my deadname.
"A search warrant was issued, which I have here *show copy*. They were looking for a handgun, ammunition, cartridges, cleaning tools, a gun case, cellphones, and computers. They seized both my personal and work phone, as well as my work computer that I broadcast on Twitch from. Not only that, the police seized my fiance's cellphones and laptop, as well as their external drive which contained the only copy of their PhD thesis as well as all their other university documents. Because of the negligence of the police, we were both left functionally unemployed and I have spent thousands of dollars replacing our phones and computers so our lives aren’t completely ruined by what happened to us.
"After the police interrogated me and realized that this is a situation that has happened to me before, they released me with no charges. Without my devices, I could not let people close to me know what had happened and they were in the dark for hours. Even after acquiring a new phone, I still cannot log into some of my accounts because the London police still hold the phone that my two-factor authentication goes to.
"This same situation happened just over a week ago, on Sunday July 31, in a city I don’t live in: gvcbToronto. On that day, I talked to Sergeant Nathan Gibson after someone impersonating me made similar threats to Toronto politicians. Sergeant Gibson chalked the incident up to a swatting attempt and I was not charged with a crime, nor made a suspect in an investigation by Toronto police.
"London Police Services should have been aware that this could happen. In fact, my brother called the London Police Services on March 27 in a conversation lasting 9 minutes and 16 seconds to see if my family could be put on a no-swatting list, only to be treated like we were wearing tinfoil hats and completely dismissed. They told my brother things would be fine. They were wrong.
"Despite getting a warrant to search my home and finding no guns, as well as finding my mother alive and well, I am still a suspect in the investigation by London Police Services. My devices, including the hard drive containing my fiances important PhD-related documents, will not be returned to us before digital forensics analyzes them. My lawyer advised me that this process could take months. Swatting is a crime. Identity theft is a crime. And because it was motivated by hatred of transgender people, it was a hate crime perpetrated against me.
"Instead of the police helping me, they terrorized me and my loved ones, traumatizing me and leaving both my fiance and I on the verge of losing everything. They victimized me for being the victim of a hate crime.
"I need your help, because I can’t do this alone. I started a gofundme to move immediately, recoup my losses and to build a legal fund to protect my rights. I have been subject to emotional damages, financial damages, blatant violations of the Human Rights Act and discrimination against me on the basis of gender identity and expression. I was also subject to unjust seizures that not only affected my livelihood, but has severely disrupted the work my fiance is doing in their doctorate program, which has the potential to impact whether or not my fiance finishes their doctorate. Because there is no policy in my city against swatting, there is no guarantee this will not happen again and my home is not safe.
"If you are a journalist or someone who works in media and would like to reach me for comment, you can reach me at [email protected]. I’ll leave all the links and additional information in the description.
I do not know when I am going to be returning to broadcasting on twitch. When I was woken up by police officers and saw the assault rifle pointed at me, I thought I was going to die. I feel traumatized. I just want everyone to know what happened and to ask for help so I can seek justice for what happened to me.
"This press kit was designed to help me disseminate all relevant details about how I was victimized by London Police Services on August 5th, 2022. Included is: video transcript from the statement I made on youtube, a copy of the youtube video itself, photos of the property bags, a photo of the search warrant, as well as contact information to reach me for additional comment or concerns.
"It would be greatly appreciated to me if journalists who plan to cover this make mention of the gofundme I released alongside the youtube video, because it is no longer safe to live at my home and I need to move immediately.
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