Albert first attracted attention in the fall as the blogger behind "Staph Meal," a blog ostensibly written to give voice to mistreated restaurant workers in Philadelphia. The posts were incendiary, anonymous, and laced with profanity.
He attacked chef after chef, and the blog gained notoriety before noted chefs Georges Perrier and Shola Olunloyo took legal action that led to Albert's outing himself. With anonymity came interest; when his identity was revealed, Albert began to fade from the public eye.
With his new Facebook pages, Albert is again trying to stir the pot, and it seems to be working. Several of his pages have led to opposition pages formed in response - "Remove the Kill John McNesby Facebook Page," "Remove the Kill Mitt Romney Page" - that soon had more likes and members than the original pages.
"You know, as a cop, you're always getting threatened. But nothing put up like this, on social-media networks," McNesby said about the page dedicated to him. But he said he was more concerned with the support for alleged killers of police.
"My concern more was toward the page he had in support of the two thugs that killed Officer Walker," McNesby said. "I didn't like that, and it was our goal to get it down, and it did come down, so we accomplished our mission."
McNesby said he first heard about the pages on Saturday, when he began receiving calls from some officers on the street. He contacted Williams and then rallied officers to contact Facebook and report the pages. McNesby spoke with Williams several times over the weekend, he said, but did not realize initially that Williams himself was the subject of a page. But he never talked to Albert directly.
"I wouldn't even dignify him with any type of conversation," McNesby said. "He's a professional antagonizer. He's just a little punk. His day's coming."
Albert will "be in handcuffs" soon, McNesby said, adding he believed he crossed a legal line. Tasha Jamerson, a spokeswoman for Williams, confirmed that the District Attorney's Office was investigating the pages.
A spokesperson said the Secret Service was aware of the "Kill Mitt Romney" page, now removed, and was "taking the appropriate investigative steps."
A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment about specific pages or situations, according to its company policy.
Albert did not respond to calls, e-mails, or text messages seeking comment. He has indicated on "Staph Meal" that he is behind the pages.
McNesby said he didn't feel threatened by Albert, but is worried about the potential repercussions of the story's going viral.
"You don't want to give this guy too much notoriety," McNesby said. "I think he was putting it out there to see if he would have any bites. You've got to take it as a threat, but is it really a serious threat? Especially from someone like him? But you never know who's reading that."
Contact Jonathan Lai at 215-854-5151, jlai@philly.com, or follow on Twitter @Elaijuh.
