Netflix documentary highlights framing plot involving U.S. Marshal Ian Diaz
Michelle Hadley speaks out after surviving a framing scheme orchestrated by a former U.S. Marshal
Former U.S. Marshal Ian Diaz framed his ex-fiancée Michelle Hadley for cyberstalking and attempted rape solicitation in an elaborate plot to retain full ownership of their shared California condominium.
PEOPLE reported that the complex revenge scheme features in the Netflix documentary A Toxic Love Story. Hadley met Diaz in 2013 and moved into an Anaheim condo with him after getting engaged. Facing abusive control and trauma, Hadley ended the relationship in August 2015. Under a property agreement, Diaz had six months to assume the $459,745 mortgage or sell the property and split the proceeds. Unable to secure the mortgage independently due to his finances, Diaz devised a revenge plot alongside his new wife, Angela Connell, whom he married in February 2016.
Diaz and Connell created fake online personas under the moniker "LilithIsTruth" to send terrifying threats to Connell, including fake warnings about stealing unborn children. Connell also falsely claimed she was pregnant with twins. The couple accused Hadley of sending the messages and posing as Connell on Craigslist to solicit men to carry out rape-fantasy scenarios at their residence. Local police arrested Hadley in July 2016, charging her with stalking and threatening sexual assault, which carried a potential life sentence.
Hadley spent three months in jail before investigators uncovered the deception. During the probe, Diaz turned on Connell after discovering she faked a sonogram. Connell subsequently pleaded guilty to 10 felony counts in 2017 and received a five-year prison sentence.
Hadley proactively contacted the U.S. Department of Justice to report that Diaz was framing her. A federal investigation ultimately identified Diaz as the mastermind behind the cyberstalking scheme. A court convicted Diaz in 2023 of stalking, perjury, and obstruction of justice, sentencing him to 10 years in a Texas federal prison. Hadley, who did not recover her initial down payment, now works in marketing, raises her three-year-old daughter as a single mother, and advocates for domestic abuse survivors.