US Marine Mistakenly Named In Cornell Rape Case Now Family Facing Threats
After being mistakenly served a lawsuit meant for one of the suspects in the alleged 2024 gang rape at Cornell University, a U.S. Marine staff sergeant and his family are facing threats.
Jillian Butler · Oct 5, 2026 · 2 min read
After being mistakenly served a lawsuit meant for one of the suspects in the alleged 2024 gang rape at Cornell University, a U.S. Marine staff sergeant and his family are facing threats.
On the evening of Sept. 26, Victoria Ingalls heard a knock on the door of her New York home and was handed a 101-page lawsuit intended for someone with the same name as her son, 23-year-old Staff Sergeant Matthew Ingalls. However, Ingalls never attended Cornell University and was serving as an active duty Marine during the alleged 2024 sexual assault.
The intended recipient of the lawsuit — also named Matthew Ingalls — was one of the seven Chi Phi fraternity members accused, the Free Press reported.
Shortly before the lawsuit was served, Ingalls and his family members began receiving bizarre messages.
“[Matthew] started getting a lot of messages asking him if he ever went to Cornell, calling him a rapist, all kinds of crazy aggressive messages … Then my daughter was getting messages as well, and she didn’t know what was going on,” Mrs. Ingalls told military news outlet Stars and Stripes.
The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune but did not immediately receive a comment.
Ingalls currently serves as a machinist with Combat Logistics Battalion 26 at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, according to the outlet. Officials at Camp Lejeune released a statement to personnel and families clarifying that Ingalls was not the individual in the suit and was serving “honorably” at the time of the alleged assault.
However, the harassment of the wrong Mr. Ingalls has not ceased. According to his mother, “The people that are posting his address, that are saying, ‘I will find you. I will end you. I will kill you,’ types of things are the scariest,” according to Stars and Stripes.
She also told the outlet that trash and other items are being thrown at their family home. The Ingalls family has since sought legal counsel.
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All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.