Unraveling this Week's Photo-Gate Controversy

BRADENTON – In a Manatee County Commission meeting Tuesday, accusations that began on social media became public record and part of the meeting’s discussion. The issue stems from a public post shared on Facebook by Acts of Love Ministries–a nonprofit ministry associated with Commissioner James Satcher and his wife. The post shared the testimony of a woman associated with the ministry’s outreach, however, the photo included in the post was a photo belonging to a different woman who had no knowledge of, or relationship with, the ministry.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Commissioner Satcher accused members of the public on "the other side of the issue“–his raising the discussion of a possible abortion ban like that in Texas–of "coming after“ the nonprofit and seeking to harass and revictimize sex trafficking victims who have been saved by the ministry. Commissioner Satcher was previously president and director of the nonprofit organization, and his wife, Monica, served as secretary and director. As of October 25, the day before Tuesday’s meeting, an amendment was made through SunBiz to revise the board members and name Monica Satcher as president and director while removing Commissioner Satcher from the organization’s board entirely. Commissioner Satcher alleged the nonprofit ministry, and women associated with it, are under attack by those who disagree with him politically.

"People on the other side of this issue have literally tracked down women that my wife has rescued,“ Commissioner Satcher explained from the dais, " and then harassed them online, mocking them publiclyÉ“ His comments were interrupted by citizens seated in chambers who called out, "Lies, he’s lying,“ causing the commission chair to intervene in an attempt to control the outbursts. Satcher concluded by telling the public, "If you want to track someone downÉ. If I were you, I would stick with me, because my wife is way out of your league.“ The entirety of his comments from this moment can be seen HERE.

Satcher’s remarks followed numerous public comments from women who identified themselves as associated with Women’s Voices of Southwest Florida, a group that has been active in opposition to Satcher’s desire to see Manatee enact a local abortion ban.

One such public comment came from Sarah Parker who appeared visibly frustrated as she requested the board members to, "please put your heads up and pay attention to me.“ Parker continued by informing the board that her "team“ has spent hours combing through each commissioner’s available public records. Tossed curiously amongst her comments detailing her opposition to an abortion ban, Parker says, "Éthere are people sitting on your board right now who have literally gotten in trouble for posting fake photos for their 501c3 about Ôfrom tricking to trotting’ on Facebook.“ The comment likely confused most in attendance. After a few additional statements related to the abortion debate, Parker concludes by saying, "also, make sure that any of your 501c3s aren’t lying on Facebook begging for donations because that makes Manatee look trashy too.“ You can watch Parker’s entire public comment HERE.

While Parker’s comment referencing a "501c3“ may have seemed out of left field to most who were listening, Commissioner Satcher’s response provided some clarity that Parker was referring to Acts of Love Ministries.

According to the ministry’s website, Acts of Love Ministries is, "an evangelistic ministry that fights sex trafficking and sexual exploitation.“ One of the ways the ministry does this is through outreach. "Every month, AOL takes teams to local strip clubs and brothels across the United States,“ the website describes how through the use of gifts, women’s hearts are softened and more open to accepting Jesus.

On September 5, a since-deleted post was shared by AOL’s Facebook page, telling the story of "Rebecca.“ The post begins, "I met Rebecca (in the photo) in a strip club about 3 years ago. She wasn’t trafficked, hooked on drugs, or selling her body.“ Attached to the publicly shared post was a watermarked photo of a woman on a horse during the NRHA Championship. An identical version of the AOL post was also shared publicly by Monica Satcher on her personal profile that same day.

On October 18, AOL’s "Rebecca“ post was noticed by a woman who reached out to Chelsea Schneider: "I recognized the horse and picture right away as yours. Is she stealing your photo?“ The message also included a link to the post. While Schneider never responded to the inquiry, and the two never discussed the matter between themselves, she did view the post and saw AOL was using her photo but with a name and story which was not her own.

Chelsea Schneider is accomplished in the equestrian world and known not only in her home state of Texas but nationally. Schneider is a marketer and media creator, as well as a horse reigning competitor, and photographer. Social media management is a large part of what she does for a living. Her work promotes riders, corporations, and national competitions. Schneider shared with TBT that when she first saw the post using her photo it was her assumption that the ministry was a scam. A scam she said particularly angered her not only because of using the copywritten photo–a photo she herself had to purchase the rights of in order to use–but also because, "it appeared to me they were using lies and a fake story with a photo of myself to scam people, luring them to donate with the Good Lord’s name.“

When asked whether she knew the woman who reached out to alert her, Schneider said, "No. The photo in question is a photo I have shared numerous times on my Facebook business page as a promotional aid, I believed she recognized due to that. In fact, the most recent time I had shared it was the day before AOL posted it. My post from September 4, with that same photo, was shared more than eight thousand times.“ Schneider provided TBT the post and you can view it on Facebook HERE.

On the morning of October 19, at 7:54 a.m. (CDT), 8:54 a.m. in Florida, Schneider left an angry comment on AOL’s post, "Ummm first off that’s me, Chelsea, in the photo, secondly you stole this photo, and thirdly I’m sure God loves your lies.“ Approximately five minutes later Schneider also sent an angry private message to AOL, "Good Morning,“ she began, "First off you will rot in hell for lying in the Lord’s good name to make a dollar and grow your social outreach. To use a STOLEN photo, tell a lie of a story and like idiots use a photo of someone who has a well-known name in the equine industry,“ the message continues, "This post needs to be removed in 24hrs.“

Schneider provided a screenshot from her phone showing that at 8:05 a.m (CDT), approximately 10 minutes after sending, her message was seen by AOL, and "reply dots“ appeared on her end as though someone was typing a response. However, a reply never came. At 8:09 a.m. (CDT) she discovered she had been blocked from being able to send any more messages to the page. Further angered, Schneider returned to AOL’s Facebook page where she had previously left a comment and discovered her comment was deleted and she was banned from being able to interact on the ministry’s posts further.

Outraged by the lack of response from AOL, combined with the deletion of her comment and being blocked and banned, Schneider grew only more convinced of her initial assumption–that the ministry was a scam–and decided to create a public post of her own. At 8:19 a.m. (CDT), Schneider shared AOL’s post providing her account of what occurred, tagging the ministry’s page.

Schneider’s post gathered quick engagement from her Facebook "friends,“ many of whom knew Schneider personally and took to the comment section to express mutual outrage as well as an opportunity to jest at Schneider’s expense about her "secret“ life as a stripper. One commenter wrote, "I didn’t know you could dance, Rebecca“, and another, "Now we all know your stripper name."

TBT was able to independently confirm that AOL did not delete their post until shortly past 11:00 a.m. (CDT), three hours after Schneider first informed them they were using her photo. Schneider told TBT that despite the post finally being deleted, the lack of communication or apology, as well as what she described as "dodgy“ efforts to avoid her, combined with what she said she saw on the nonprofit’s website, "They accepted donations through CashApp via an account in Monica Satcher’s name, as well checks made out to her personally,“ Schneider believed the page needed to be exposed. Though banned from engaging on AOL’s page posts, she found that she was able to leave a review of the nonprofit and did so. Her review was 1-star and scathing.

At Tuesday’s regular meeting, after agenda items and regular business had concluded, the meeting returned to public comment to provide for citizens who were unable to address the board in the morning’s 30 minutes. All but one of the citizens who remained to make public comment did so in either opposition or support, of a suggested abortion ban for Manatee County.

Among the citizens who spoke was Belinda Ritchie. Ritchie began by addressing comments Commissioner Satcher made earlier, accusing members of the community of harassing the clients of AOL. Ritchie said she was personally offended by his accusation because–as she revealed–it was she who had reached out to Chelsea Schneider alerting her AOL was using her photo. Ritchie then attempted to display (presumably) a printed version of AOL’s post.

In Ritchie’s comment, she stated the name, "Rebecca“ as it appeared in AOL’s post, as well as, "Chelsea Schneider, who is actually from Texas.“ Before Ritchie could continue, she was interrupted by Commissioner Satcher who called out for the chairwoman to intervene. "This is inappropriate,“ he said as he grew visibly upset, "she is calling names of people.“ Satcher can be heard asking the county attorney, "What can I do?“

Chairwoman Baugh provided redirection to Ritchie, "Belinda, please, no names are necessary here.“ Ritchie continued her attempt to correct comments she felt Commissioner Satcher made unfairly. She concluded by sharing her personal opposition to a local abortion ban, her voice quivered near tears as she spoke of her daughters. You can watch Ritchie’s public comments HERE.

When the public comments ended, the chair opened the dais to comments from commissioners. Satcher asked the board to, "Condemn the targeting of private citizens who have been rescued out of a life of modern-day slavery and victims of human trafficking.“ Satcher reflected on the work he has witnessed by AOL and their outreach, "To have someone target literally victims seems self-serving, and I would like to move to have this board condemn that, so it will not go on in our meetings ever again.“You can watch his remarksHERE.

Satcher expressed frustration with what he viewed as a double standard concerning the mentioning of names during public comments. "I don’t know if everyone understands what just happened. I’m not talking about me, or my organization, or organizations that I’m involved with, or that my wife is involved with. I’m talking about the literal victims of human trafficking... The victim’s name got called while I was asking to mute the microphone.“You can watch these remarksHERE.

But, when AOL told "Rebecca’s“ story in their post, AOL shared Rebecca was not a trafficking survivor. The other name which was said in full – first and last – "Chelsea Schneider“ told TBT that she is not either a former stripper or a trafficking victim.

Sometime after 11:00 p.m. (CDT) the day Schneider reached out to AOL, she discovered a message request in Facebook messenger from a woman whose first name was, "Rebecca.“ The woman asked Schneider to please give her a call. Schneider responded the following morning, October 20, at 8:42 a.m. (CDT)

Schneider declined a phone conversation with Rebecca but engaged with her through messages that both Schneider and Rebecca provided to TBT. The private conversation took place from that morning, through 7:00 p.m. (CDT) that evening. During a pause in their conversation between 10 a.m and 4 p.m., a new post appeared on the AOL ministry page. This time, the post told "Rebecca’s“ story, but with several photos taken directly from the real Rebecca’s Facebook page. In a comment below the post, AOL shared a link to a YouTube testimonial Rebecca recorded for AOL a year prior. The post has since been deleted by AOL at Rebecca's request.

When the women’s conversation resumed at 3:49 p.m. (CDT), Rebecca explained to Schneider that the entire thing is a big misunderstanding; that the story told with the name "Rebecca“ attached to Schneider’s photo is a real story, and that she is a realperson. Rebecca told how she shared Schneider’s post with the photo in question from Schneider’s page to her own, and that mistakenly (based on similar hair color, Schneider’s face being hidden from view, and both women working with horses), Monica Satcher assumed the phono was of Rebecca.

Schneider was not convinced and cited how the mistake had been handled, as well as providing examples of other things she found suspicious about the ministry.

While discussing the matter in the private message, sometime late afternoon, Rebecca left a comment on Schneider’s public post about AOL, providing the same account she gave Schneider privately. "Hi everyone!“ she wrote, "I’m the girl from the story. Monica Satcher found me in a really bad place. Her group is real, and what they do is real.“ One of Schneider’s friends who saw Rebecca’s comment responded by asking, "Then why did she block Chelsea and not correct the post from the beginning when it was brought to her attention?“ Rebecca replied, "because she was trying to protect me.“

Schneider herself chimes in, "Rebecca, if her deal wasn’t a scam she would have responded to me instead of blocking me from messaging the page.“

TBT followed up after reviewing the conversation between the two women, and asked Schneider if she thought it was plausible that this was all an honest mistake. "My opinion when Rebecca told me that was, no, it’s not, because had it been then they would have responded to me, taken it down, and apologized. I messaged the page, AOL had the ability to find my profile. It would’ve taken just a few minutes to realize I had shared that photo at least half a dozen times, as well as once having it as my profile photo. If it was an honest mistake, I feel someone wouldn’t leave it up, block someone, and not respond to them. That screamed guilty to me, like the person behind the page knew they had done something wrong. Furthermore, it didn’t add up. Anyone who was trying to protect someone else, wouldn’t put a new post up with several full-faced photos attached. None of the story makes sense to me. As I speak to you now, more than a week after all of this started, there’s been no attempt by Monica Satcher or AOL to communicate with me directly. My phone number and email are on my website, my website is linked on my profile.“

TBT reached out to both Commissioner Satcher and his wife Monica to inquire about the nature of the harassment referenced in Tuesday’s meeting, and to hear their side of the story.

Both husband and wife shared a similar explanation as Rebecca provided to Schneider. The use of the photo was a mistake made when Monica saw a post by Schneider shared by Rebecca, and thought it was Rebecca’s own photo. Commissioner Satcher pointed out both women have blonde hair, ride horses, and how the face in the photo was hidden. Monica added that after asking Rebecca for permission to share her story, the main reason she chose that photo was because it did not show her face, which provided some anonymity. TBT can confirm that the similarities between the two women exist, particularly with the face obscured.

"I made this post a while ago,“ Monica explained, "and so when I got this very nasty message about it, at first I started to respond but decided better of it. I know there are people who only want to attack my husband, or AOL and myself. I felt that it might not be genuine concern over incorrect use of anyone’s photo, but it may be politically motivated. I decided it was best to not engage. Instead, I sent a message to Rebecca asking her if she could confirm the photo. Rebecca was at work so it was later in the day when she told me I’d made a mistake, and I took the post down.“

Monica Satcher said she has not reached out to Schneider since learning there was a photo mix-up because of how ugly she has been about everything. Monica believes Schneider’s agenda is to join with the voices of other women who are upset with her husband. "I know the left agenda, I don’t respond to chaos. They know the truth and they are continuing to make comments about AOL and myself. They shouldn’t have to speak to me, I have 6 children, I don’t have the time to keep up on all of the drama happening on social media, I am too busy. I was going to reach out earlier but didn’t have time, but Rebecca did and by the time I had the time to reach out myself so much meanness had happened that I decided it was better to not. I pray for them every time I get an angry comment or angry tag. They don’t know me, and they don’t know what I do. I pray the Lord will show them the truth.“

When asked about blocking Schneider from the AOL Facebook page, a fact not only provided by Schneider, but also shown in the message thread between Schneider and Rebecca. Rebecca sent Schneider a screenshot of a portion of her and Monica’s conversation, Monica references having "banned“ Schneider from the AOL page. "I honestly don’t remember exactly when I blocked her. Posts were being made about the whole thing and I was being tagged along with my husband’s commissioner’s page, and they tagged AOL. I have blocked every single person doing this because it is an agenda. I didn’t know at the time whether Chelsea was local or not, I only suspected she was part of those who are out to ruin my husband because of his strong pro-life stance. There is an orchestrated effort to hurt him and our ministry. Chelsea knows Rebecca is real now, but she is still being ugly about us, and calling the ministry a scam online. If I hurt Chelsea by not talking to her then I guess I’m sorry, but maybe she needs counseling, I don’t know.“

Commissioner Satcher added, "I understood who was behind this, and I know the opposition to my pro-life stance, but I don’t understand why you would be asking whether someone was blocked, it has nothing to do with the truth. They are trying to take a legitimate policy difference, where we disagree on the matter of protecting the unborn and turn it into a mud fight. Chelsea is not my concern, I think she was used as a pawn by these extremists, they’re using her to hurt me no matter the collateral damage, no matter who else is harmed. Someone clearly was searching for anything to make an attack on us, I don’t even know whether I believe that is actually a photo of Chelsea, or if it is only a photo she took because she is a photographer.“

On separate occasions, both Commissioner Satcher and his wife referenced a comment that appeared on Schneider’s public post as one example of the type of harassment alluded to in Tuesday’s meeting. "AKA Rebecca traded tricks for tricks, they are the only ones playing tricks here, Shame on them!“ TBT asked Schneider about this comment, she agreed it was made by someone in the equine community, but explained the comment was made before any of her contacts knew there was a real Rebecca. "That comment is really a criticism of AOL, making fun of the entire post by AOL, and playing off the fact it said I was a trick rider.“

Monica shared that it is not her belief anyone tracked down women associated with AOL, "Let’s be honest,“ she said, "they’re not going and finding other women we have outreached, this is mainly focused on this post with Chelsea and Rebecca.“ Referencing AOL’s deleted post, Monica affirmed the story included with the mistaken photo is the real story, and that Rebecca is not a sex trafficking victim, but said that other women the outreach helps are.

TBT informed Monica that we were provided screenshots showing the "Rebecca“ post with Schneider’s photo still existed on her personal profile viewable by "friends only“. Images provided to TBT documented the date the post was captured on camera, October 27, 6:45 p.m. (EST). Asked whether she was aware of the additional post, Monica said she did not realize she had posted it on her personal account as well. She admitted she often shares duplicate posts across her profile and the AOL page, but explained these posts were not recent posts. Monica assured TBT that had she recalled posting it on her profile, she would have deleted that copy also.

Concerning comments made during Tuesday’s meeting, Commissioner Satcher expanded on his accusation that individuals had tracked down and harassed, "literal sex-trafficking victims,“ Satcher said, "This hasn’t been a limited response or action, they are going after any supporters of mine and my fear is they might turn that toward other women assisted by the ministry or reveal other women’s names.“

When asked about the amended SunBiz record filed on October 25 that removed Commissioner Satcher from the nonprofit’s board, Satcher confirmed the change. He explained it was decided it would be best to separate himself and his politics from AOL. "I want to be clear, removing myself as president and director is not about trying to do anything sneaky or anything like that. It is purely about protecting the important work the ministry does, and to protect the women the ministry helps from being the innocent targets of political backlash because of my work as a policymaker.“

TBT also spoke with Rebecca who confirmed having shared Schneider’s post to her own profile. It is her belief that Monica sincerely mistook the photo as Rebecca's. She recalled to TBT that after sharing Schneider’s post, Monica asked if she could share the post. "I didn’t realize she meant to share it because she thought it was a photo of me, or that she intended to attach it to a post with my testimony. I thought she found Schneider’s post inspirational as I had and was asking to share her post. Monica being older than myself and not tech-savvy, I thought she was asking before she shared as a courtesy. In other instances, she had reached out before to ask before sharing my story, but she was not specific this time. She assumed I knew what she meant; it was a miscommunication between us really. I would have told her straight away the photo wasn’t mine if I had understood exactly what she was asking.“

Rebecca confirmed that although the photo was an error, the story was accurate. "In 2018, I was on college spring break in the Bradenton/Sarasota area staying with friends. I worked in the club for maybe 4 days while I was there. I returned over summer break in May planning to work in the same club for 10 days as a quick way to make money. I had only worked maybe 3 or 4 days when in came Monica and the church girls. I was in such a bad place, suicidal and hurting. I just knew God had sent her there for me."

"Monica is amazing,“ she continued. "I’ve seen her work; I know she is legit. I have given money to her outreach myself. From what I’m aware, she and her husband have been plenty well off on their own since before the ministry. I don’t see why they would need to "scam“ anyone. Sure, there are offset costs of running the ministry, but I doubt she is profiting off it personally. I can’t see any reason anyone would think she would need to extort money or scam anyone.“

Rebecca provided TBT copies of messages to verify that Monica did send her a message inquiring about the photo. The date and time stamp on the message from Monica is October 19, 11:29 a.m. (EST), over two hours after AOL received Schneider's message about the photo. Monica writes in part, "That photo you said I could share it’s of you, correct?“ At 12:15 p.m. Monica writes again, "I got it figured outÉ I grabbed a picture from your Facebook and didn’t realize it wasn’t you. I just deleted the post and apologized to the personÉ“ A few minutes later Rebecca responds and says, "Oh goodness, that isn’t me, I’m at work, just saw this.“

The matter of the additional post on Monica’s personal page came up in the private conversation between Rebecca and Schneider. Rebecca disclosed to TBT that she informed Monica that Schneider had mentioned there was a second post that needed to be taken down. Rebecca recalled, "When I asked about it, Monica told me she took everything down and that I didn’t have to worry.“

TBT asked Rebecca about the allegations someone was "tracked down“ and "harassed." She said, "No one reached out to me other than Monica. It was myself who reached out to Chelsea.“ When comments Commissioner Satcher made during Tuesday’s meeting were repeated to Rebecca she said, "If James said that in a meeting, that people were hunting me down, it must be a misunderstanding, not an intentional lie. I outed myself and inserted myself publicly into the situation when I commented on Chelsea’s post. No one reached out to me, and no one shared my photos except for the ones AOL had shared in the corrected post of my story. If James said that, then I believe it must have been a misconception of what happened and possibly confusion due to hearing about some of it secondhand. The Satchers have always been supportive of me, and I have no doubt they were trying to protect me. James may not have known I revealed myself on Chelsea’s postÉ and even then, no one attacked me or talked down to me about my personal story. The comments I saw were questioning why Monica was running away if she did nothing wrong or accusing AOL of being fake. I tried to explain to everyone that she wasn’t running, she made a mistake, but I’m real, my story is real, and AOL is not a scam.“

Concerning Chelsea Schneider and what she feels should happen from here, she told TBT that she wants all versions of the post containing her photo deleted. She also said that she herself had watched some of Tuesday’s meeting. Hearing some of Commissioner Satcher’s statements has brought new concerns about how she should proceed.

"My company IS my name; I’m widely known in the media equestrian business. When my full name was stated in the public record, and then your commissioner followed by associating my name as a potential sex trafficking victim, the statements said publicly could be misconstrued as though I’m hiding from a past. He stated how the women they helped are being tracked down, combined with how they have a past they may not want revealed, and all together it comes out sounding as though I’m hiding from my past. For all these reasons, and for the copyright, I’ve been looking into whether it would be wise for me to take legal action. I want it on the record these details associated with my name, are not true about me.“