BALTIMORE _ A Baltimore man has been charged with more than 20 counts of harassment and trespassing stemming from incidents that allegedly occurred while he was filming videos to go on his viral social media accounts, according to police and city officials.
Marquel A. Carter, 20, of the 2400 block of E. Madison St., was charged Thursday with five counts of harassment and 16 counts of trespassing, according to court records.
Carter did not have an attorney listed as representing him in court documents. He could not immediately be reached for comment, but acknowledged the charges publicly on his Twitter account Thursday night in a tweet that has since been deleted.
On Twitter and Instagram, Carter allegedly goes by the handle "Plainpotatoess" and has generated hundreds of thousands of followers. The accounts frequently share videos of a man, who authorities say is Carter, approaching people on the street or in businesses and making fun of their appearances and responses. At least one video ends with the man being thrown to the ground by a person he was ridiculing.
Most of the videos appear to be filmed in locations around Mount Vernon and other neighborhoods in Baltimore. On Twitter, most of the videos receive thousands of favorites and retweets each.
Court records show Carter has two petitions for peace orders filed against him, one of which was granted for the owner of Baby's On Fire cafe in Mount Vernon. The complaint states that Carter came into the cafe Oct. 19 and harassed customers while recording them on his phone.
City Councilman Eric Costello, who represents Mount Vernon, received a dozen complaints in the fall about Carter, leading him to reach out to Baltimore Police, he said in a social media post Thursday.
Costello referred to the video's "disgusting behavior" in the post.
Since the videos started appearing on the internet, some Baltimore residents have taken to social media to condemn "Plainpotatoess" as an internet troll.
A person identifying himself or herself as Marquel Carter started a Change.org petition addressed to Maryland U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings titled "Let plainpotatoess continue to make videos in Baltimore Maryland."
The petition, which garnered more than 300 signatures, states "Plainpotatoess is the alias of a guy that makes Instagram videos of him walking up to random strangers and asking strange questions. It's all a joke and he's not hurting anyone but they are trying to stop him."
