Perham woman gets probation for Facebook threats against ex-boyfriend

A Perham woman who turned a breakup fight into Facebook Messenger threats is now on probation after Otter Tail County prosecutors said the messages crossed the legal line into threats of violence.

Alyssa Marie Bell, 40, was sentenced Monday to five years on probation after pleading guilty in March. Prosecutors said Bell sent multiple aggressive messages to her ex-boyfriend in February, and when deputies contacted her, she acknowledged sending them.

Court filings say Bell was upset because she believed her ex had given her an STI, and she also accused him of being a pedophile. She told officers she had been drunk when she sent the messages, but the court record described language that went far beyond venting. Prosecutors documented statements in which Bell said she wanted to kill him and referenced a gun inherited from her father, suggesting it could blow his brains out.

That detail mattered. In Minnesota, threats of violence under state law can be punished by up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both. The statute covers threats made directly or indirectly when they are meant to terrorize another person or made in reckless disregard of causing terror. In this case, prosecutors treated the repeated Facebook messages as evidence of a prosecutable threat, not just an angry online exchange.

The sentence also fits a broader pattern in domestic-violence cases, where Minnesota court materials say the system is designed to address threats to victims, defendant accountability and repeat abuse through close judicial scrutiny and coordination with social services. Advocates have warned that the stakes remain high: Violence Free Minnesota and MPR News reported that 31 Minnesotans died in intimate-partner-violence-related homicides in 2025.

For people in Otter Tail County, the case shows how quickly digital harassment can become a courtroom matter when messages include specific threats and references to weapons. Someplace Safe, which provides domestic-violence support services in West Central Minnesota, has a Fergus Falls office and offers support groups for survivors.