Woman behind CrimeWatchMpls Twitter account sues conservative think tank for copyright infringement

The operator of a widely followed Twitter account focused on crime reporting in the Twin Cities is suing a conservative think tank for embedding her dispatches on its website without permission.

Shelley Jo Leeson, identified in a federal civil complaint filed Monday as the owner of the CrimeWatchMpls Twitter account, is accusing the Golden Valley-based Center of the American Experiment of copyright infringement for posting a real-time feed of her tweets on a page dedicated to crime news on its website.

Leeson is alleging eight counts of copyright infringement, one each for a series of singled-out tweets from September, and is asking the court to order the think tank to pay damages of $150,000 for each of the eight posts, as well as attorney fees and costs of filing the lawsuit.

John Hinderaker, president of the Center of the American Experiment, said in a statement Monday that the lawsuit "has no merit and we expect it to be dismissed."

He added: "It is particularly disappointing, since we informed Ms. Leeson on March 9, 2022, at 9:50 a.m. that we intended to embed the Minneapolis Crime Watch Twitter feed on one of our pages, as is common practice, and Ms. Leeson's response at 9:54 a.m. was, 'Thanks so much. I'll try to remember to tag you or message when I post about one.'"

According to the lawsuit, Leeson has maintained the CrimeWatchMpls Twitter account — which has attracted more than 72,000 followers — for more than 13 years. She "spends hours most days listening to police scanner broadcasts and reviewing citizen reports" that she summarizes into frequent posts, attorney Nathan Hansen wrote in the complaint.

Leeson runs the account on an "unpaid and independent basis," Hansen added, "with the substantial amount of time she devotes to her citizen reporting being compensated only through voluntary contributions from her followers."

The center began embedding her posts on its website starting in early 2022 and "without requesting nor receiving [Leeson's] consent or license."

The center's website does not state that Leeson is unaffiliated with the think tank nor does it disclose that the posts were not the result of any work done by the center.

On the same page where the embedded posts appear, the lawsuit added, the center had a link soliciting donations to its nonprofit. But there are no solicitations for any reader to contribute to CrimeWatchMpls, and the Center of the American Experiment has never licensed nor offered Leeson compensation for reproducing her tweets on its website.

Hansen wrote in the complaint that Howard Root, a former board member for the center, started emailing Hinderaker, and chair Ron Eibensteiner in August informing them that the center was "blatantly violating" Leeson's copyright. Root concluded his email by requesting that Hinderaker and Eibensteiner "address this issue promptly and with contrition, while its resolution still can be handled efficiently."

Hansen added that the only response Root received was an email from Eibensteiner stating, "With contrition?? Haha – love the wording. I feel as though I am back as a 10 year old serving Mass for Fr. Redizk!"

The lawsuit states that Hansen later emailed Hinderaker a draft of the civil complaint on Dec. 6. Three days later, Hinderaker replied via email stating that he was "surprised to learn that Ms. Leeson does not want the Center to help publicize her work."

Hinderaker added, according to the complaint, "I do not agree with your legal theories, but as a courtesy to Ms. Leeson we have deleted the Twitter feed from our HighCrimeMN.com page."

The center deleted the embedded Twitter feed on Dec. 8, and Hinderaker refused to discuss entering into a license agreement "or otherwise resolving American Experiment's actions in reproducing and displaying [Leeson's] copyrighted works."

"The Center of the American Experiment is using the diligent reporting from Crime Watch Minneapolis to raise money for themselves, and that's not right. The facts of this case are in the complaint as filed with the court," Hanson wrote in an email to the Star Tribune on Monday.