A Florida woman is facing felony charges after using Anthropic’s Claude chatbot as a diary and writing about plans to attack a Sheriff’s office.
According to an arrest report, Carli Michelle Heller of Bonita Springs wrote on September 26 that she would attack the Sheriff’s office. She later explained to authorities that she uses Claude like a personal diary.
Anthropicís safety systems automatically flagged the entry, prompting escalation to a human reviewer. The reviewer determined the threat was credible and reported it to law enforcement.
Deputies located and visited Heller at her home, detaining her without incident. An LCSO intelligence detective subsequently took over the investigation.
Heller faces a charge of making a written threat of violence under Florida Statute 836.10, a second-degree felony. The statute applies to anyone who sends, posts, or transmits a written or electronic record threatening to kill or injure someone, carry out a mass shooting, or commit an act of terrorism, provided the communication may be viewed by another person.
Anthropicís policy permits sharing user information in what it considers limited emergencies if the company believes disclosure is necessary to prevent death or serious physical injury.
The case reflects escalating scrutiny of AI companies’ threat-reporting practices. Last month, OpenAI and Sam Altman were sued by British Columbia over claims the company could have prevented a mass shooting. The shooter, eighteen-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, had been flagged by OpenAIís safety team for conversations about gun violence, but OpenAI did not alert police because the conversations did not meet the threshold for legal referral.
Florida also sued OpenAI and Altman in June, alleging that ChatGPT contributed to real-world harms, including the 2025 Florida State University shooting.
The incident underscores that chatbot interactions are not private. Recent reports also revealed that human contractors reviewing Microsoft Copilotís image editor can view usersí prompts, uploaded photos, and AI-generated edits, including material that is sexual, disturbing, or potentially illegal.
Key facts
- Carli Michelle Heller wrote on Claude on September 26 about planning to attack a Sheriff’s office
- Claude’s safety systems automatically flagged the entry and escalated it to human review
- A human reviewer determined the threat was credible and reported it to law enforcement
- Heller faces a second-degree felony charge under Florida Statute 836.10 for making a written threat of violence
- Anthropic’s policy allows sharing user information in emergencies to prevent death or serious physical injury