This was the original MeowMix Q&A, originally posted in late 2019, and presented here for current MeowMix readers. Everything below is posted as it was written originally, except “Meow Mix” has been updated to our proper branding “MeowMix”, and I’ve reverted to proper male pronouns.
Updated Dec 3, 2020.
Meow. Born from the screen name of social media user WGKitty, someone with local knowledge of Jessica Yaniv, “meow” has become a one-word Guy Fawkes mask for everyone making a statement against what Yaniv has allegedly said and done. It is both a taunt towards an unrelenting internet troll and a statement that people are united against injustice. It led to the creation of MeowMix, a tongue-in-cheek jab at Yaniv and hat-tip to WGKitty, where users can send their pictures, screenshots, chat logs, and stories. This is the first MeowMix exclusive story.
Jessica Yaniv, born Jonathan Gill Yaniv, from the greater Vancouver area of BC, has become notorious, perhaps even infamous, on social media circles for alleged predation of minors, sharing explicit content with underage girls, violent outbursts, claims of being inflicted with dozens of rare illnesses, and speculation that she’s been committing fraud against the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal system, making false reports to the RCMP, filing vexatious lawsuits that are often dropped as soon as the opposition mounts a defense, and even falsely claiming medical benefits from the BC government.
Dozens of people have come forward in recent months to share stories of being stalked, receiving inappropriate voicemails, videos, text messages, and chats. Others have reported that Yaniv has taken their pictures in bathrooms, pageants, hotels, and other public spaces. Many of these claims are supported by videos widely available on the Internet or revealing social media records from Yaniv himself.
Now, a new story is coming to light – one that tells a new side of Yaniv’s harassment and suspected abuse. From sending deliveries to their house in the middle of the night to rumours of domestic violence, we learn how Yaniv has crossed other lines and that there are more victims out there, afraid to come forward.
Yaniv operates an IT business and makes unverified claims to have clients as big as Microsoft. He’s posted pictures with the leaders of Twitter and then claims to have secret ways to get people banned, something which he has done successfully to prominent free-speech activist Lindsay Shepherd and many others. Shepherd’s ban has since been overturned, but only after weeks of outcry from the Twitter community. This is one of many examples of Yaniv using (abusing?) his tech skills and social media access to bully, if not silence, her enemies.
Yaniv has had an impact on her local community. He’s filed human rights complaints against women, usually immigrants, for refusing to provide waving services to Yaniv’s groin, allegedly due to transphobia. Some of these women have since closed their businesses. Yaniv has bragged about taking on corporate giants like Merle Norman, claiming he single-handedly had one location closed, something that was later determined to be false – the business relocated when their lease expired.
Yaniv lives in a community-owned building, a strata, where he has installed unauthorized cameras, made petty complaints to the strata board, and repeatedly called the police to report even the smallest things, such as small as birds hitting his window.
His world is closing in on him and he’s fighting back. Every time someone pipes up on Twitter against him, he threatens to take them before the tribunal, as if it’s at his beck and call. This is the same tribunal to whom he’s threatened to kill herself if they don’t rule in his favour. He’s claimed to have bodyguards, police escorts, personal security, illegal tasers and pepper spray, and even expressed desire to buy a gun.
With Yaniv’s Internet skills, alleged social media connections, quickness to file self-represented legal claims, and vast amounts of free time it’s no wonder that many of his victims are afraid to come forward. His tendencies towards violence and silencing foes at all costs are enough move on and forget what he’s done.
Meet Lisa. Her life has crossed paths with the Yaniv family for several years and she offers a unique perspective into a very secretive family.
MeowMix: Hi Lisa, can you tell us a little about yourself and how you met the Yanivs?
Lisa: I met Jessica Yaniv 10 years ago. His family moved in to the complex that I lived in at the time. I didn’t have anything to do with them until I became active on my complex’ strata council.
Jessica, still Jonathan at this time, got a job at the complex pool keeping a log of pool visitors. He didn’t work there long before the strata manager was notified by the parent of a 13-year-old girl that Jonathan had been sending her inappropriate messages via Facebook. Jonathan was immediately fired.
For years the strata complex had been trying to get the owners to approve of some renovations. It was this time that I had a run in with Jonathon and his parents, Miriam and Jack. Miriam had questions about how renovations may affect insurance costs and I agreed to look into it. I took her phone number and said I’d call her when I had more information.
I called her a couple days later after talking to the insurance company and her husband (now deceased) answered the phone. When I asked to speak with Miriam, he asked me why. When I explained, he started yelling at me. To this day I have no idea why. I do have a reason to explain this to you as now we need to fast forward to the strata’s next AGM where Miriam openly accused me of stealing her phone number and calling her about the insurance issue. At the time of this meeting people were extremely angry about a potential cost for renovations and I, along with the majority of the other members, were voted off the council.
Two years later I was back on the council and the reno issue was raised again. I avoided confronting the Yaniv’s at all costs. They were very demanding at council meetings, but the strata manager was usually able to resolve their concerns.
Soon I started getting crank calls at my home. The caller ID showed they usually came from the strata office or my own number, oddly. Crank calls soon escalated to late night pizza deliveries to our home, often several per night from various pizza businesses. I did some investigating and all pizza orders were done online and they were all delivered to me by name, using my full name which was odd. Yaniv had access to this information and my address.
Pizzas soon escalated to taxicabs. The drivers would knock on my door at 2 a.m., waking the whole family. Another council member that Yaniv disliked also received pizzas at all hours of the night.
Most harshly, someone called the government daycare licensing department to file a complaint about the daycare business I operated, despite none of my clients ever complaining.
Soon we started getting pizza deliveries to our monthly strata meetings and Jonathan Yaniv would show up at the same time. Yaniv made up a fake excuse that he needed a copy of a document that he was already given. He just wanted to be there when the pizza came so he could see the look on our faces.
I think around this time it was dawned on me that it was Yaniv doing this. Because it was affecting all of council, the strata decided to hire a private investigator. Upon completion of the investigation, the PI was convinced Yaniv was behind the pizzas, taxis, and daycare complaint.
After the next strata meeting my husband confronted him and told him that if he ever sends another pizza to our house again, my husband would take care of him. Yaniv didn’t deny anything. He and his mother just kept saying that we can’t prove anything. Neither of them ever denied what I was saying.
Coincidentally, the pizza’s, cabs, and crank calls stopped after that
MM: And was this at Greenside? I’ve heard rumours of animal abuse at Jessica’s hands there. Have you heard about that?
Lisa: This was all at Greenside. I have no idea who abused him animals, but I suspect it was him. We had a troubled, young child in the complex and he was accused of torturing some wild bunnies. He denied it vehemently. He was never accused of hurting a cat or a dog, but soon after Jonathan claimed his cat had been cut open, twice, and someone poisoned his dog with marijuana. It turned out that it was a bullshit story. I can’t prove it, but it’s my belief that he abused animals to get the attention he so desperately craves.
There was another time that he claimed his unit was egged, but when the staff went to clean it up, they claimed it was suspicious because it looked like someone had literally taken a raw egg and rubbed it against his unit, There was no splatter that one may expect from a thrown egg. Coincidentally our house was egged.
MM: This is a lot to take in! It sounds like the whole Yaniv family was a real handful. Can you tell me more about the family? Do you know what they think about Jessica?
Lisa: I’ve heard that he has two half siblings on Jack’s side who are a lot older and have nothing to do with them. Miriam had a sister when she lived at Greenside. She was deaf like Miriam and had the same health issues as Miriam (although I don’t know what those are). A neighbour of theirs that I know told me that there was always yelling in the home and that shortly before they moved, he heard a lot of commotion outside and yelling. The neighbour went to intervene and the sister told him that Jonathan had pushed her, and she twisted her ankle. She wanted to call the police, but Miriam wouldn’t let her.
MM: That’s a whole lot of drama from one family! Did any of them ever interact with your daughter’s during this time?
Lisa: No, my girls were young. They knew that strange things were happening because they were awake when the pi as were being delivered and when the crank calls came, but we kept them away from Yaniv when we knew it was him.
MM: That sounds like smart parenting, something that some say Yaniv may have been lacking. Did you see how her parents raised her? Of obviously, him, at the time.
“I’ve heard that Jack was abusive”
Lisa, referring to Yaniv’s dad, Jack.
Lisa: I’ve heard that Jack was abusive, but it was secondhand knowledge. I believe there must have been some serious problems for Jonathan to turn out the way he did. Jack seemed like a horrible man and most people who know the family think that Jonathan hits Miriam.
MM: You mentioned he was flirting with a minor at the strata pool. Do you know what happened? Is this the first instance of this type of behavior you know of?
Lisa: Yes, it is. This was about 9 years ago. He would have been 23-24. She went swimming at the pool with her friend. He would have seen her name when she signed in. He contacted her on social media and the dad found out and told the strata and he was fired.
MM: Do you know if he’s ever actually physically contacted a minor, or someone of any age?
Lisa: I just can’t see how. It takes a fair bit of grooming to molest a young child and I can’t see him getting that kind of opportunity.
MM: It sounds like the police are called quite often, as well as ambulances, these days. Did you see the same thing back then?
Lisa : No, but I didn’t live right by them. He did make that fake report that someone gave weed to his dog and they were going to come back later to rob him after the dog passed out. He was posting about it all over Cloverdale FB crime sites telling people that he was going to the media to discuss increased crime in the area. I happened to be on the same site and made a post to warn people not to give Jonathan Yaniv any info about themselves including contact information or an address due to what he had done to my family.
My post led to a floodgate of other stories and comments that people had already blocked him. At some point the page admin kicked him off the site and deleted all the posts. The next morning Miriam marched into the Greensides strata office with a printout of the posts. She was demanding that I be punished for posting things about her precious boy. They basically laughed her out of the office and told her that it had nothing to do with them or Greenside. She told them that they were going to sue me. It was maybe a week after that that she listed her place in here for sale. I like to think that I had something to do with that
MM: Moving on to present day issues, when did you notice he went from being Jonathan to Jessica?
Lisa: I didn’t know until someone told me his mother was begging people to come to Jonathan’s birthday at the Olive Garden in Langley. I heard she was knocking on neighbours doors to offer them a free lunch if they would come to the Olive Garden for Jonathan’s birthday. Everyone said no except for one neighbour who didn’t know them that well and only agreed to come because it was free.
Miriam told him that Jonathan goes by Jessica now. This neighbour and his wife went to the Olive Garden with their young child. Upon arrival, Jonathan and his mom get into a big argument about Jonathan bringing his “transition coach”. Apparently, Miriam didn’t like this person. The lunch was canceled but the neighbour still wants what he was promised and tells Miriam that she promised him a free lunch. She throws down her credit card and tells him to order it. They order a lunch to go and when they leave Miriam and “Jessica” are yelling at each other in the parking lot. That’s the story of how and when I heard that Jonathan is pretending to be “Jessica”
MM: You say pretending. I think many would agree with that assessment. I know trans rights are a hot topic right now, as are self-ID laws. Without wading into that debate, what makes you say Jessica is simply pretending to be trans? What benefit would there be?
Lisa: Look at all the lawsuits she has in progress. 90% of them are due to his assertion that he’s being discriminated against becausehe’s trans. They have always been a litigious family. Everything he does is about how he can sue people and never have to work.
MM: You say they’ve always been litigious. We know about the 15 or so claims against salons for waxing, the claim against Bill Whatcott, and his threats to sue Starbucks, NY Fries, Elections Canada, and others in recent months. Do you know about more prior to these?
Lisa: They threatened to sue Greenside if they didn’t get the special windows they wanted. They wanted these special windows due to health issues. The council didn’t even know what the “issues” were, because the letter was sent to the strata’s lawyers and the lawyer told us that we had to allow it.
MM: There are people that are afraid to speak up because of how litigious the Yaniv’s are. What do you have to say to other victims out there?
Lisa:– They must speak up. You can’t be sued for telling the truth. There are so many of us. The more we speak up, the more Yaniv loses his power. People like Yaniv like to think they are powerful because they hide behind a computer and then they are untouchable. The more people speak out, the less Yaniv can do. We, collectively, can silence him and stop his predatory behaviour. If the police can’t do it, then we must.
MM: What do you have to say about the official response to Yaniv’s behaviour, or the lack of one? There was a supposed arrest over weapons issues but that’s it.
Lisa: My hope is that the RCMP are investigating and building a case. I like to think they know where he is and they’re watching.
Social media is flooded with posts asking the same questions – Where are the police? Why are there no charges? Why is the BC Human Rights Tribunal even considering these cases? How is Yaniv getting away with this?
There’s a universal desire for justice here, and the court of public opinion is weighing in with a nearly unanimous verdict of guilty. Yaniv, of course, is considered innocent until proven guilty and deserves her day in court to defend herself, but until then, rumours abound. Every day a new story appears and every day Yaniv posts to social media seeking more attention. Are the right people paying attention?
Victims need to come forward and be heard. Internet bullies are notorious for threatening to sue or dox people to silence them while they roam freely in the darkest corners of the web. Young girls are often targeted by online predators and then scared into silence, leaving the door open for the predator to move on to new prey.
Understandably, many victims are afraid of reliving these events and simply want to move forward in their lives, leaving these monsters behind, but only by shining daylight into the darkness can we see dearly, and the bold and brave always trump the cowards and bullies. Only by exposing the weaknesses in the justice system and human rights tribunals can we see the unintended consequences of their decisions. It may not be our job to decide guilt, but it is our responsibility to provide a safe place for everyone, including transgender people.
If anyone has a story to tell about the Yaniv’s please reach out to someone, anyone. Be the next voice to speak up and tell her that you will not be silenced or intimidated. Be the next voice to tell the world that predators are gaming and abusing our legal system for their benefit and it’s hurting real people. Be the next voice to stand up for what’s right and show other young girls what Internet predators look like. Be inspiring – something Yaniv will never be.
Looking back at this article – the first MeowMix post – it’s inspiring to me to see how far we’ve come since writing this. Yaniv’s been virtually stripped of any power he thought he had, and his court cases have become a joke. He’s known only for being a predator and a cyberbully. The truth has really come to surface and things will keep bubbling up.
Check out MeowMix Merch – another great new thing MeowMix has introduced since this article was originally published!
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