A 19-year-old Plymouth Township woman, Rida Rustam, was sentenced today after admitting she fabricated violent messages and emails that led to the arrests of two teenage boys and helped trigger a civil lawsuit against local police. Her plea and sentence came after independent digital forensics work determined the messages were manufactured and helped clear the accused teens.
Rustam pleaded guilty in Wayne County to false report of a felony, using a computer to commit a crime, lying to a police officer, and stalking, and received 30 months of probation and six days in the Wayne County Jail, according to The Detroit News. Court filings and reporting state that the plea resolved her criminal case but left a separate civil lawsuit and questions about the initial police investigation unresolved.
Judge Rejects Sealing Request as Defense Pushes Youthful-Trainee Status
During a hearing in Wayne Circuit Court, defense attorney Mark Haidar asked Judge Anne Maria McCarthy to sentence Rustam under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act and to keep the records nonpublic. McCarthy declined. Haidar told the judge, "You're never going to see her again," and said Rustam is in college and attending therapy, according to The Detroit News.
Digital Forensics Pulled Apart the Phony Threats
Investigators initially arrested Plymouth High students Kumayl Raza and Ibraheem Haq after Rustam showed police screenshots and emails she claimed were threatening. An independent digital-forensics expert later concluded the messages were manufactured, and Rustam admitted the deception, as earlier reporting in the case showed. The technical review flagged metadata and origin inconsistencies that undercut the screenshots and helped convince prosecutors to clear the two teens, as documented by Deadline Detroit.
Civil Lawsuit Says Cops Rushed the Case
Kumayl Raza and Ibraheem Haq have filed a civil lawsuit alleging Plymouth Township police failed to properly verify the supposed threats before making arrests, according to court records. Raza’s criminal case was previously upgraded to adult felony charges in mid-2025, a shift that attorneys say raised the stakes for the young men before the forensic work exonerated them, as noted in reporting summarized by WebProNews.
Case Becomes Cautionary Tale for Cops and Schools
Lawyers and digital-forensics experts say the episode highlights how easily screenshots, emails and simple AI tools can be used to create convincing but fake evidence when officers do not run technical checks. Earlier reporting raised concerns about whether law enforcement had the training or tools to spot such fakes quickly. Those questions are now central to the civil suit and to calls for updated verification protocols, per Deadline Detroit.
Rustam’s sentence combines probation with a brief jail term and conditions that court filings say will remain in place as the civil case moves forward. Plymouth Township Police Chief James Knittel declined to comment on the lawsuit or the investigation, according to court records and reporting.
