The girl whose picture was used as the face of Lennay Kekua to fool Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o has received an apology from the man behind the scheme. Diane O'Meara told NBC News that she was deceived by Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, a high school classmate, and had no idea that her picture was being used for the purpose of deceiving the Fighting Irish star until the story broke. O'Meara described the ordeal as "twisted and confusing," and did not pull any punches when talking to NBC:
Face of ‘Lennay Kekua’ gets apology from Ronaiah Tuiasosopo
The former high school classmate of Ronaiah Tuiasosopo said she received an apology from him for stealing her pictures in order to deceive Manti Te’o.
Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
”The past five years, (Tuiasosopo) has literally been stalking my Facebook and stealing my photos,’’ O’Meara said. “Ronny has called and not only confessed, but he has also apologized. I don’t think there’s anything he could say to me that would fix this.’’
O’Meara claims that she received a Facebook message from Tuiasosopo out of the blue, where he asked if she could take a picture for his cousin that had just been in a car accident because the cousin thought she was pretty. She complied with his request, and the picture she took was used as part of the hoax.
Te’o, who spoke with ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap over the weekend, maintains that he had no idea that he was being scammed until recently, and had no part in the execution of the hoax.
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