Report: Twitter group warned girls about Weiner

A band of self-described conservatives on Twitter reportedly kept a close watch on which users New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner followed on the microblogging service and even discouraged some "schoolgirls" from forming a relationship with the congressman in the weeks before his admission of engaging in lewd online relationships with six women.

The New York Times published in its print editions Wednesday an article on the group that operated under the label #bornfreecrew.

The group's leader was the same user who discovered the lewd photo that Weiner mistakenly sent publicly to 21-year-old Seattle college student Gennette Cordova, the Times reports. The user was known as Dan Wolfe, which the Times reports is a false name linked with the now-defunct handle @PatriotUSA76.

Wolfe opened the PatriotUSA76 account Jan. 6 and published messages about Weiner and wife Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Times reported. Soon Wolfe focused on which Twitter feeds Weiner followed.

"Weiner's new follow is a high school girl. LMAO! Freak!" read one post Wolfe published, according to the Times.

The Times talked with a bornfreecrew member who wasn't as discreet about his identity, Michael Stack, a 39-year-old New Jerseyan who uses the Twitter handle @goatsred. Stack said Wolfe once told him in a private message that Weiner followed the updates from adult film actress Ginger Lee.

"He tweeted about it and then the porn star was gone," Stack told the Times before referring to Weiner. "He was paying attention."

Last month, Stack sent a 16-year-old California girl who wanted Weiner to escort her to her prom a message discouraging her from contact with the congressman.

"If you're a minor and he's following you, well, seems a little creepy if not in ny," the message read, according to the Times.

Stack copied Weiner on the message. The girl posted the next day that Weiner unsubscribed from receiving her updates.