Threat Suspect Hijacked Hockey Enforcer’s Photos For Phony Facebook Profile

The college professor arrested this week for using Facebook to stalk and threaten a New Orleans cop created a phony profile stocked with photos of a journeyman hockey player best known for his epic on-ice brawls, The Smoking Gun has learned.

“Michael LovesMayhem,” the phony online persona allegedly created by suspect Gary O’Bireck featured photos of a barrel-chested tattooed man toting a rifle and bayonet. Posing as the strongman, O’Bireck sent e-mails to an officer he accused of once raping his girlfriend, according to a felony criminal complaint.

In fact, as pointed out by a TSG reader (apparently with an encyclopedic knowledge of obscure minor league hockey players) Mr. LovesMayhem is actually Mike Sgroi, a 6’ 4”, 240-pound forward currently playing for the Texas Brahmas of the Central Hockey League. In ten CHL games this season, the 32-year-old--who also competes as a mixed martial arts fighter--has accumulated 51 penalty minutes and one goal.

Sgroi, who can be seen scrapping in this YouTube video, is pictured above.

In an interview, Sgroi said that he was unaware that his photos had been hijacked and placed on the fake Facebook page central to the case against O’Bireck. Sgroi said that he does not know O’Bireck, adding that he believed the photos of him were lifted from his actual Facebook page, which boasts over 2000 friends.

Though he initially seemed amused that his image had been misappropriated, Sgroi did express some concern that O’Bireck’s victim (and his cop friends) could come after him because of the photos. “Facebook has become more trouble than it’s worth,” he said.