Florida woman says she used Claude as a diary. Anthropic reported her to the police
Users are “never truly anonymous,” the sheriff says.
Image by Getty/Cheng Xin
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- Anthropic reported Carli Michelle Heller after Claude flagged alleged threats against the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
- Police charged Heller with making a written threat of violence under Florida law.
- Heller told authorities she used Claude as a diary, according to Sheriff Carmine Marceno.
- The case highlights that AI chatbot conversations may be reviewed and shared with police for serious threats.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
The woman now faces felony charges after confiding to chatbot Claude that she planned to “shoot up” the sheriff’s office.
Carli Michelle Heller from Bonita Springs, Florida, wrote on September 26th, 2026, that she would attack the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
The following day, she wrote to Anthropic’s chatbot that she had gotten a new gun, according to WINK News.
Anthropic’s automated monitoring system flagged it as threatening content and sent the information to a human review team, which then reported the statements to law enforcement.
Police identified Heller using information provided by Anthropic and detained her at home without incident.
Heller is charged with making a written threat of violence under Florida law, although she claims she used Claude as a diary, Sheriff Carmine Marceno told WINK News.
Marceno warned that users are “never truly anonymous” when using AI chatbots or searches.
Anthropic's transparency policy states that the company processes data requests from law enforcement agencies “in accordance with applicable laws while protecting user privacy.”
The AI lab told The Wall Street Journal in 2026 that it was tracking “concerning behavior over time” to “catch escalation patterns early.” The remarks came after a man sneaked into Anthropic’s lobby and threatened to kill executives.
Reporting users’ threats, the use of child sexual abuse material, and self-harm intent to law enforcement is a standard practice across technological companies.
However, Anthropic faces accusations that it is building a system that monitors anti-AI activists, as a recent job listing classifies activism as a “global threat.”
