TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Author: Trench Reynolds

  • The NY Times on craigslist crimes

    Law Enforcement Targets Prostitution on Craigslist:

    It’s nice to see the NY Times write a sizzling expose about craigslist prostitution. Never mind that I’ve been writing about it for the past year. However, this article does have some merit as it has some great quotes.

    First, let’s hear from craigslist president Jim Buckmaster…

    Law enforcement officials have accused Craigslist of enabling prostitution. But the company’s president, Jim Buckmaster, said its 24-member staff cannot patrol the multitude of constantly changing listings — some 20 million per month — and counts on viewers to flag objectionable ads, which are promptly removed.

    “We do not want illegal activity on the site,” he said. Asked whether the company supported the police’s placing decoy ads on Craigslist, Mr. Buckmaster said: “We don’t comment on the specifics” of law enforcement.

    Like I’ve said before the problem with users policing the ads are that people who use craigslist for normal items aren’t going to venture into the erotic services section and people using the erotic services section sure as hell aren’t going to flag the ads.

    Now let’s hear from a pro-prostitute advocate…

    Tracy Quan, a member of the advocacy group Prostitutes of New York and author of the autobiographical novel “Diary of a Married Call Girl” (Harper Perennial, 2006), acknowledged that “the Internet became a virtual street for people in the sex industry,” but said that “the police are as inventive and as wily as sex workers are.” She said that the stings amounted to entrapment of consenting adults, and that “it seems like an enormous waste of time resources by authoritarian busybodies.”

    Translation: I think I’m above the law so I’m going to complain about police doing their job.

    And again from Mr. Buckmaster…

    Law enforcement officials ask why Craigslist even includes Erotic Services among its 191 categories. Mr. Buckmaster, the company president, said the site created that category “at the request of our users” for legitimate massage, escorts and exotic dancers. In an e-mail interview, he said that the police had praised the company’s cooperation, though he did not give examples.

    Letting the inmates run the asylum is never a good idea.

    And for those of you who think that prostitution is no big deal, I leave you with this quote…

    The police say the focus on such misconduct is worthwhile because prostitution is often linked to other crimes involving drugs, weapons, physical abuse and exploitation of minors and immigrants.

    But I guess you’re ok with all of that.

  • Court employee failed to supervise Shefelbine

    Court worker suspended for failing to track whereabouts of accused MySpace molester:

    You remember Scott Shefelbine don’t you? He’s the guy who was arrested a brazillion times for molesting underage girls he met on MySpace even after he was already arrested. It turns out that a court employee by the name of Joann Vaughan has been suspended without pay because she failed to keep track of Shefelbine after one of the many times he posted bail. During that time it’s believed he visited one of his victims when his bond specified he was forbidden from doing so.

  • Werribee victim may have to testify

    Trio to plead not guilty over DVD attack:

    Alleged victim to appear at DVD trial:

    Three suspects in the infamous Werribee, Australia sexual assault DVD intend to plead not guilty when they return to court in December. This ought to be good considering the suspects were caught on videotape, but it’s not like the court is going out of its way to actually punish these criminals.

    To make matters worse, attorneys for some of the suspects are planning on questioning the victim under cross-examination. normally I would say that tactic may work against them but again the courts aren’t bending over backwards to punish these teenage rapists.

    Thanks to Alan for the tip.

  • Cho’s broken dream

    Killer’s Parents Describe Attempts Over the Years to Help Isolated Son:

    I feel bad for the parents of Cho Seung-Hui. According to the article, it seems that they did everything they possibly could for their son. But that’s not what I’m here to discuss.

    The part of the article I want to discuss is what his sister thinks may have been his motive…

    Although the panel said neither it nor the police had uncovered a motive for Cho’s rampage, his sister provided a key piece of the puzzle. Cho began his college career as a business information technology major but, by the time he was a sophomore, decided to switch to English, which was one of his weakest subjects. Nevertheless, he was convinced that he could be a great writer. He had written a novel, which he described to teachers as “sort of like Tom Sawyer except that it’s really silly and pathetic,” the report said.

    Later that year, after his sister found a rejection letter from a New York publishing house, she noticed that he became increasingly depressed and detached. His English grades ranged from B’s to D’s, and his rage grew as he felt no one understood him or his talent.

    If you’ve been following this like I have you’ve read Cho’s writings. I wouldn’t exactly call what he had “talent”. It just comes down to more selfishness and arrogance from a deranged lunatic. Over 30 people dead because this assclown couldn’t form a coherent sentence If you spotted him the noun and the verb.

    if you’re one of those types that think the world doesn’t recognize your “talent” try a new craft because it’s obvious that you suck.

  • Utah MySpace rapist

    Hurricane police arrest rape suspect who met alleged victim on MySpace.com:

    Police In Hurricane, Utah arrested 21-year-old David R. Miller (no MySpace found) on rape charges. Miller met his 18-year-old victim on MySpace after she had recently moved to the area to attend school.

    The victim told police she had numerous on-line conversations with the suspect and the two agreed to meet. They drove to a remote location in Hurricane City, where the reported rape occurred.

    The alleged suspect was located and interrogated a few days later. Det. Raleigh Morris arrested 21-year-old David R. Miller on one count of rape and one count of forcible sodomy, both first class felonies. Miller was booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility on Aug. 28.

    Purgatory doesn’t quite sound enough. I wish it was called the Hell Correctional Facility myself.

  • Virginia Tech Panel’s Report

    Report: Virginia Tech could have saved lives:

    So the long-awaited report from Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine’s eight-member panel about the Virginia Tech massacre was finally delivered from on high. What does it tell us? A bunch of nothing that we didn’t already know.

    RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Tech failed to properly care for a mentally troubled student gunman and waited too long to warn faculty and students after he killed his first two victims in a shooting spree that eventually claimed 31 more lives, including his own, a panel’s report concluded.

    Let me interrupt just for a second? Why was it VT’s responsibility to “properly care” for Cho? As far as I can recall VT did all they could to help him. It was up to Cho help himself but he obviously didn’t do that.

    Had university officials not waited more than two hours to tell the campus about the initial shootings, lives could have been saved when Seung-Hui Cho later began his massacre inside a classroom building, according to the report, released Wednesday night.

    I can’t argue with that but I said that when it first happened.

    “Warning the students, faculty and staff might have made a difference,” the panel wrote. “So the earlier and clearer the warning, the more chance an individual had of surviving.”

    But the report concluded that while swifter warnings might have helped students and faculty, a lockdown of the 131 buildings on campus would not have been feasible.

    And while the first message sent by the university could have gone out at least an hour earlier and been more specific, Cho likely still would have found more people to kill, the report found.

    “There does not seem to be a plausible scenario of a university response to the double homicide that could have prevented the tragedy of considerable magnitude on April 16,” the report said. “Cho had started on a mission of fulfilling a fantasy of revenge.”

    So basically what they’re saying is even if the campus was notified of the original murders Cho would have still killed a lot of people just maybe some different people. And it took them 4 months to come to this conclusion? I’m glad I’m not a Virginia taxpayer.

    The whole boring report can be found here.

  • Then why was he there?

    Cho Advised Not to Attend Big School:

    In a conference call to wounded victims and their families of the Virginia Tech massacre the panel investigating the attack said that Cho Seung Hui was advised not to go to a large school like Virginia Tech.

    That was a key revelation in a private teleconference to brief injured students and their families on a report by a panel investigating the attacks, said Derek O’Dell, who was of the 23 injured in the April 16 attack that left 33 dead, including Cho.

    A separate call was held later with families of the deceased, hours before the public release of the report Thursday.

    “It was recommended that he not apply to school as big as Virginia Tech because he had selective mutism and also ongoing psychiatric needs that a big university probably wouldn’t address as well,” O’Dell said.

    What I’d like to know is how did this barely functioning troglodyte (Cho) even get into Virginia Tech? After reading his “plays” and hearing about all his alleged mental difficulties it makes one wonder how he wasn’t a complete drooling idiot.

  • Cho’s new paper

    Paper by Cho Exhibits Disturbing Parallels to Shootings, Sources Say:

    Details are being released that Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui had written a creative writing class paper that portrayed a student plotting a school shooting. However, in Cho’s paper, the gunman does not go through with his massacre.

    Cho wrote the paper for the “Intro to Short Fiction” class that he took in spring 2006, taught by Bob Hicok, an associate professor of English. The gunman described in Cho’s paper was in a high school. Cho, according to acquaintances and law enforcement sources, had expressed a fascination with the Columbine High School shootings while he was in middle school.

    Mama’s don’t let your babies grow up to be mutants.

    This paper, while not made public, is probably just as disjointed and as difficult to read as Cho’s “plays”.

    The reason this is making the news rounds now is that not all law enforcement agencies investigating the massacre had this paper in their possession.

    Several of the agencies probing the shootings had not been made aware of the paper’s existence, and the investigative panel appointed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine did not receive a copy until recently. The university was supposed to turn over all of Cho’s writings to the panel, but this paper was left out.

    Additionally, Virginia State Police officials, who also have a copy of the paper, said they could not give it to the panel under state law because it is part of the investigative file. Among the panel’s areas of inquiry is the sharing of information among state agencies.

    So basically what we have here is a failure to communicate. A law enforcement protocol did not allow the paper to be given to other law enforcement agencies and the investigative panel. The paper itself is probably just more of the nonsensical ramblings of a bitter, selfish, and cowardly loser who couldn’t handle the deal that life gave him.

  • Facebook lynchmob strikes again

    Facebook group made false assumption with released sketch:

    The Riley County Police Department in the area of Kansas State University released a sketch on Friday of someone wanted for questioning in connection with a serial rapist that has been plaguing the area. A Facebook group called “Catch Him 2007: We Need Your Help!” posted the sketch and stated that the person in the sketch was the actual rapist. One thing leads to another and someone finds a picture on Facebook that resembled the sketch and the guy’s name and picture were posted next to the sketch. Those postings have since been removed.

    Not surprisingly police are not happy.

    While this individual might have resembled the sketch, Swartz said, sketches are not always perfect representations because they are based on descriptions given to a sketch artist.

    “What I don’t want is people thinking this is the rapist and exclude other individuals that may appear suspicious,” Det. Carla Swartz said.

    A concerned citizen’s best option is to refer to police information on issues like the alleged rapist, because students easily can cross the legal grounds of libel or harm the reputation of someone who is accused in a public forum, Swartz said.

    Leave the sleuthing to the professionals.

  • Cassie Jo Stoddart’s killers sentenced

    Teens get life sentences for murdering classmate:

    The other day I posted about the brutal murder of Cassie Jo Stoddart. She was brutally murdered by two of her friends, at least one of which is a mutant. Her killers, Brian Draper, and Torey Adamcik were both sentenced to life without parole.

    Adamcik’s uncle gave the following statement during the sentencing hearing…

    “I feel very strongly that Torey is not a malicious person and that his life can yet be salvaged and that he can become a productive member of society,” said David Nelson, Adamcik’s Uncle.

    Does this sound like a productive member of society?

    “Just killed Cassie, we just left her house, this is not a f***ing joke,” says Brian Draper on the homemade videotape. “I’m shaking,” replies Adamcik.”I stabbed her in the throat and I saw her lifeless body just disappear,” says Draper.

    Cassie’s family disagrees as well…

    “I’ve seen no remorse, no tears whatsoever from any of you and then finally when you do say something, ‘Oh we’re sorry about what happened to Cassie.’ It was the most unsympathetic, fake sorry I’ve ever heard in my life,” said Anna Stoddart, Cassie’s mother.

    “You chose to do what you did, you chose not to walk away, you chose to cover the truth of your actions. You chose to leave Cassie dead in that house for days,” said Christie Stoddart, Cassie’s sister.

    Like most mutants, they’re probably only sorry that they got caught.