Old National Bank is investigating an employee’s social media use after a Facebook account bearing the name of a mortgage originator in its Monona office sent aggressive and profane private messages to US Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), and several other women came forward to say the same account has been sending them unsolicited, and sometimes sexual, messages for many years.
A Facebook account bearing the name Bill Huemmer sent a string of messages to Crockett’s private account over the course of nearly a week beginning February 3. Crockett posted screen shots of the messages on February 11. The more than two dozen messages contained pro-Trump and anti-immigrant and anti-Democrat sentiments. Some messages called Crockett, who is Black, a “f**king idiot,” while others said “Go ICE” and “Deport the Democrats.”
“Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking to amazing people in Milwaukee,” Crockett wrote in the post. “Little did I know that there’s a strange old man right down the road in Madison that is a bit obnoxiously obsessed with me. Now, why do I bring him up, because I want to make sure that if you seek a Mortgage from Old National Bank, you know that you may end up encountering a prick like Bill Huemmer.”
Huemmer’s LinkedIn profile identifies him as a mortgage originator at Old National Bank.
In a LinkedIn comment on February 12, Huemmer wrote, “I have been hacked for the third time, which is frustrating for me.” That afternoon, Old National Bank posted that they were investigating and that they had reason to believe the messages Crockett received came from an imposter.
A search on Facebook reveals three Facebook profiles with the same name. Only one is active – it has more than 4,700 friends and has posted birthday messages to other Facebook users as recently as February 13.
In a video emailed to Madison365, Crockett confirmed that the messages she received came from that active account.
After Crockett posted the messages, many took to social media calling for boycotts of Old National and for Old National to fire Huemmer.
An Old National spokesperson said Monday that their investigation is ongoing and declined to provide more specific details.
Huemmer no longer appears on Old National’s website.
“A million and one other women”
Shortly after Crockett posted the messages she received, several other women posted screenshots of messages they had received from a Facebook account with Bill Huemmer’s name, some going back at least nine years.
Most of the messages are simple and seem harmless – good morning, have a nice day, stay warm today, Go Packers. A few had political messages such as “Go Trump” followed by two United States flag emojis, similar to the messages Crockett received. Some were flirtatious, and a few were sexually explicit.
Madison resident Deana Wright recognized the name, as well as the flag emojis, from Crockett’s post as someone who’d messaged her on Facebook, even though she never responded. When she went to make sure it was the same person, she was surprised to find the date he first messaged her: February 14, 2016.
The similarity between the messages she received and those Crockett received – especially the flag emojis – prompted her to post them and share them with Madison365.
“I had no idea it went back that far, to 2016,” Wright said. “I just could not believe it because I very seldom read those texts, because they’re always kind of the same thing. At first I thought, ‘What is going on with this guy? This is a little bizarre.’ And now to find out that he’s doing that he’s writing similar messages to a million and one other women is a little creepy.”
Wright said most of the messages were harmless, though some hinted at flirtation.
“It’s just very misogynistic,” Wright said. “The assumption is that I welcome inbox messages like that.”
Wright confirmed with Madison365 that the messages came from the one active Bill Huemmer account.
“I don’t know if it’s some type of mental illness or some type of he’s looking for validation as an older man,” she said.
“It’s very intrusive,” said another woman, who asked to remain anonymous and who’s received messages from Huemmer for over five years.
Kimmie Mayr also has messages going back to 2019. She said in a message to Madison365 that Huemmer took advantage of her vulnerability as a sexual assault survivor, giving his messages a sexual slant when she engaged in conversation.
“I’m a single mom and a victim of sexual assault. It’s on me to heal myself. But, the broken me wasn’t strong enough at the time (to) realize the manipulation tactics Bill used,” she wrote. “An older gentleman wanting to be a friend. He sent sweet messages, checked in on me and kept conversations light. That was very welcoming. The conversation turns sexual. I had a choice to ‘go along with it’, ignore it or walk away. When you’re broken, carrying a conversation with someone you’re comfortable with seems like the only thing you can do in order to keep the ‘friend’ you had.”
“It’s traumatic to look at these messages,” Mayr wrote. “It’s hard knowing I was in such a low state I accepted this and participated in it.”
Mayr also confirmed that the messages she received were from the main, active Bill Huemmer account.
That account contains a post that says, “Go Norskies,” likely a reference to DeForest High School athletics. A message to Mayr mentioned the first name of a son, which corresponds to an athlete at DeForest High School. In another message, he mentioned that he worked in Monona. Those details lead Mayr to believe she was getting messages from the real Bill Huemmer, not an imposter.
Hacked?
This is not the first time Huemmer has claimed he was hacked. On February 6, 2016 – just days before his account first messaged Deana Wright – he posted to Facebook, “If you get any unusually (sic) posts or comments it is not me……..I am being advised of a sign in by a MAC computer so I may have been hacked?”
A year later, on February 1, 2017, he posted, “I am temporarily blocked from sending messages……..did I get hacked?…….interesting….”
Messages and posts before and after these potential hacks reviewed by Madison365 do not show any change in style or frequency.
“I do not feel like he was hacked,” said one message recipient who asked to remain anonymous. “But if he was hacked, this is probably the longest hack in history.”
Old National Bank officials said they were in contact with Rep. Crockett as part of their investigation.
Huemmer did not respond to multiple attempts to contact him.
