Case of mistaken identity leads to harassment for Nova Scotia man

For as long as he can remember, horses have been a big part of Kevin Pinkney’s life.

Over the years, Pinkney has been an accomplished rider and even helped to rehabilitate hundreds of horses. Now, he’s being harassed by people he doesn’t know, who think he was charged with animal cruelty.

“It’s real hard. I can’t really describe it to be mixed up in that,” Pinkney told Global News.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's real hard. I can't really describe it to be mixed up in that," Pinkney told Global News.

On Feb. 11, 24 dogs and four rabbits were seized from a property in the Annapolis Valley. The SPCA laid a slew of animal cruelty charges against a couple and say the pair were operating a puppy mill. The names of the accused are Tessa Taylor and Kevin Pinkney.

Once the charges were laid, people found Pinkney’s name on social media and assumed it was the same person. But it’s not.

“I had a couple messages on my Facebook account there that didn’t know me, with a couple nasty things,” Pinkney said.

“I’d like to clear things up. I want people to know that’s not me doing that.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I'd like to clear things up. I want people to know that's not me doing that."

“I have animals here, come look, do whatever you want to do. I just don’t want to be connected with that.”

Mistaken identity

Lawyers say what happened to Pinkney is a case of mistaken identity.

“Now that so many things take place online and you have people that have very common names or very unique names, but not so unique that there’s only one of those people, that you will sometimes see mistaken identity take place,” said David Fraser, a privacy lawyer in Halifax.

The whole thing may seem a little unusual, but lawyers say they’ve seen this kind of thing before and unfortunately, there’s no easy solution.

“There’s probably not a whole lot that can be done other than to disconnect his phone or be proactive about saying he’s not this person,” said Fraser.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "There's probably not a whole lot that can be done other than to disconnect his phone or be proactive about saying he's not this person," said Fraser.

Despite having the same name, Pinkney wants people to know he treats his animals well and doesn’t deserve the treatment he’s been receiving.

“It’s not good. I have a stable of horses here, a lot of livestock and it’s not good for me.”