TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Author: Trench Reynolds

  • Michael Ramos pleads guilty

    Michael Ramos pleads guilty

    Man accused in MySpace luring agrees to plead guilty:

    This is a follow-up to the story of Michael Ramos, the man who was stung by a group of teenage boys…

    FONTANA – A man arrested after traveling to a park to allegedly have sex with an imaginary girl conjured up by teens on MySpace.com agreed to a very real deal with prosecutors on Wednesday.

    Fontana resident Michael Ramos, 48, was taken into custody in early March after trying to meet who he thought was a 15-year-old girl named Jessica. He’d been chatting with ‘her’ for weeks on MySpace.

    The girl actually was a fake account set up by a group of boys looking to cheer up a friend who recently had broken up with a girlfriend.

    After the boys spied on Ramos at the park, they called police, who arrested him.

    On Wednesday, Ramos agreed to plead guilty to one count of an attempted lewd act with a child aged 14 or 15 and will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

    He will be sentenced July 26, at which time a judge will rule on the details of the plea as well as a probation officer’s recommendations, said Prosecutor Karen Martinez of the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office.

    Other terms of the agreement that could be imposed include five years of probation and a list of prohibited search terms on his home computer, she said.

    There’s a link to his MySpace on the original entry, and it’s still up.

  • Another Lawsuit?

    Another Lawsuit?

    TIME.com: A Countersuit in the MySpace Case?

    A 14-year-old girl is suing the social networking site, where she met the man charged with sexually assaulting her. Now the man she says assaulted her may pursue his own legal case against MySpace.

    It has been an unlikely legal wrangle from the start. First, a 14-year-old Austin, Texas, girl and her mother filed a $30 million lawsuit against MySpace.com, where the teenager claims she met a man who assaulted her. Now, the college student charged with the sexual assault also is considering suing the popular social networking site.

    The defense attorney for Pete Solis, the 19-year-old Texas community college student charged with sexually assaulting the girl dubbed “Julie Doe” in her lawsuit, told TIME that if the Texas courts accept the premise that MySpace is liable because the two met there, then his client also has a claim, since the alleged victim falsely portrayed herself on the webiste as 15 years old.

    “He’s been, in effect, just as much a victim — if not more,” says Adam Reposa, the attorney for Solis, who is facing up to 20 years in prison on charges of second degree felony sexual assault. Since the lawsuit against MySpace also names Solis as a defendant, Reposa said he will “cross-file” and also sue MySpace and its owner, News Corporation. “MySpace wasn’t there when they went to Whataburger. MySpace wasn’t there when they went to the movie and MySpace wasn’t there when they climbed in the backseat,” Reposa said. “Meeting on MySpace — if that alone is enough, then we can make the same claim for damages.”

    This has officially gotten ridiculous.

  • As Mid-Michigan Turns

    As Mid-Michigan Turns

    New details come in Katherine Lester case:

    MID MICHIGAN (WJRT) – (06/22/06)–There were new developments Thursday in the case of Katherine Lester. The Mid-Michigan teen flew halfway around the world two weeks ago to meet with a Palestinian man she met on MySpace.com.

    Thursday her mother’s attorney asked a judge to rescind a decision made Monday in which her father was granted temporary custody.

    That petition was filed in Tuscola County’s Family Division of Judicial Court Thursday morning.

    The judge in the case, Judge W. Wallace Kent, denied the petition, and she will remain with her father until a hearing is scheduled.

    In the petition, Lester’s mother’s attorney states numerous reasons of why she should be returned to the custody of her mother.

    One of those reasons is an interview ABC12’s Bill Harris had with Lester, her father and stepmother.

    Am I just dense? Because I don’t remember any article mentioning her parents were divorced. Not that it matters. But if this situation was a television show, I’d turn it off for being too corny.

  • James Zarate goes to adult jail

    James Zarate goes to adult jail

    Teen charged in Randolph murder moved to adult jail:

    The 15-year-old charged with helping his brother murder and sever the legs of 16-year-old neighbor Jennifer Parks in Randolph last year was ordered held in the Morris County jail this morning on $1 million bail.

    Superior Court Judge Salem Vincent Ahto approved the transfer of James Zarate from the county Juvenile Detention Center to the county jail since the youth on June 7 was “waived up” from juvenile status to be tried as an adult.

    Defense lawyer Joseph Ferrante said it would “be a tragedy” if the teen — who was 14 when he allegedly helped his then-18-year-old brother kill Parks on July 30 — was moved to the adult facility. Ferrante characterized the state’s evidence against James Zarate as weak and based upon the statements of a co-defendant and DNA from a piece of chewing gum found in a bag containing supplies used to clean up after the murder.

    “My view is it would not be appropriate for him to be amongst other juveniles,” Ahto said, saying he believes it is in the public’s interest to hold the teen in an adult facility.

    One of the mantras here says if you commit an adult crime you deserve adult time. Have fun in Morris County Lockup.

  • Osantowski due back in court

    Osantowski due back in court

    Teen who plotted school massacre faces new charges:

    Our favorite racist from Threat Central Michigan is due back in court…

    A teenage boy convicted of threatening a Columbine-style attack at a Clinton Township high school will face trial in August for unrelated criminal offenses.

    Andrew Paul Osantowski, who turned 19 earlier this month, is scheduled to go on trial Aug. 29 in front of Judge Matthew Switalski in Macomb Circuit Court, charged with burglary of a building, larceny and receiving and stealing stolen property. Police say these incidents occurred before his arrest in September 2004 for making a terrorist threat.

    Osantowski was convicted about one year ago in circuit court for making a threat of terrorism, use of a computer to further a terrorist act and possession of stolen weapons in connection with his online threats of a massacre at Chippewa Valley High School. He was sentenced in July to 4 1/2 years to 22 years in prison.

    One of the offenses for which he is currently charged is for stealing a golf cart from Fern Hill Golf and Country Club in Clinton Township.

    About four months ago, the state Court of Appeals reversed Switalski’s throwing out of the bulk of Andrew Osantowski’s confession to police. The statements will assist the county Prosecutor’s Office in pursuing the latest charges against Osantowski.

    County Prosecutor Eric Smith previously said his office would not offer the younger Osantowski a plea bargain because of his prior felony convictions.

    These charges are considered juvenile charges. No word yet on how this would affect Osantowski’s current adult sentence.

  • Reaction to the lawsuit

    Reaction to the lawsuit

    Public reacts to MySpace.com lawsuit:

    Local reaction, from Austin, Texas, about the MySpace lawsuit…

    Reaction was mixed Tuesday after reports that MySpace.com is being sued for not doing enough to protect young users from predators.

    Some say the girl’s parents should have known better.

    Lowell Coleman likes to have coffee at the Spider House and frequently checks his MySpace.com account.

    “It’s a friendly networking-type thing,” he said. “What’s great about it is you’re able to prescreen before meeting a person.”

    But Coleman says he knows not everyone on MySpace.com is who they say they are.

    “Then again, if you’re a sexual predator, it does give you the accessibility to go ahead and prey on a particular person.”

    David Deschodt, who has an 11-year-old, wonders were the girls’ parents were.

    “What was that kid doing on a website without any supervision?” he said.

    Other parents KVUE News spoke to said children should always be supervised when using the Internet. Many weren’t blaming MySpace.com.

    “I don’t know if MySpace.com can be accountable. I really think it’s up to the parents to monitor.” said Lacey Cominsky who has an 11-year-old. “There needs to be more personal responsibility. I think I know there’s punitive damages that encourage a corporation that makes a lot of money to change their policy. It’s not about the plaintiffs just getting that money.”

    Your thoughts?

  • The Journals MIGHT be released

    The Journals MIGHT be released

    Sheriff plans to release Columbine killers’ diaries, not tapes:

    LITTLETON – The Jefferson County sheriff said Monday he plans to make the Columbine High School killers’ journals public, but will not release their video and audio tapes.

    The teens’ journals include expressions of anger and dissatisfaction, the filing said. It said portions with bomb-making instructions would be withheld.

    Other documents planned for release include messages Klebold and Harris wrote each other in yearbooks and Wayne Harris’ journal, the filing said. But it said the bulk of the documents were “largely irrelevant and innocuous, consisting mostly of school work.”

    Wayne Harris’ journal is the one I’m most interested in seeing. I’m curious to know just how much he did or didn’t know what was going on under his roof. Especially considering that while the shootings were going on, Wayne Harris had called 911 stating that he thought one of the shooters might have been his son.

    Realistically though, I’m sure the appeal is being worked on as we speak.

  • More on Katherine Lester’s legal woes

    More on Katherine Lester’s legal woes

    Michigan teenager involved in Web romance charged with being a runaway:

    She’s not being criminally charged, but this article clarifies some things regarding Katherine Lester…

    DETROIT — Authorities have filed a runaway juvenile petition against a Michigan teenager who flew to the Middle East to be with a man she met on the MySpace.com social networking Internet site.

    The paperwork was filed Monday in Tuscola County Family Court by the county sheriff and prosecutor against Katherine Lester of Gilford, said Kyle Jaskula, the court administrator.

    At a hearing on Monday, Judge W. Wallace Kent Jr. ordered Lester to give up her passport and undergo counseling. He did not rule on the validity of the petition, and further hearings have not been scheduled.

    If the judge finds that Lester is a runaway, she could be placed under court supervision until she turns 18. Such supervision usually means she would be monitored by a probation officer and made to undergo counseling, Jaskula said.

    The petition is not a criminal offense, Jaskula said Tuesday.

    So it’s like being on parole but without having committed any crimes. And for those of you who are whining that it’s not fair, then she should have thought of that before she ran away.

    Think about it for a second. If they had succeeded in getting married, do you know what kind of international incident this would have caused? She should be thankful that she was stopped before they did.

    And here’s some advice from Ol’ Uncle Trench to the teenagers who are supporting them. 99.999% of the time, the guy or girl you date at 16 will NOT be the person you spend the rest of your life with.

    Get over it.

  • Katherine Lester’s parents use courts to keep her home

    Katherine Lester’s parents use courts to keep her home

    Tuscola County teen’s family trying to keep her home:

    Remember when I posted the article that said Katherine Lester’s parents could use the courts to prevent her from running away again? It seems that’s what they’re doing…

    TUSCOLA COUNTY (WJRT) – (06/19/06)–The family of a Tuscola County teen is making an attempt to keep her home. Katherine Lester, 16, of Gilford, recently flew to Jordan where United States authorities caught up with her.

    Lester was on her way to Israel to meet a man she met on MySpace.com. A runaway petition has been filed in Tuscola County that could put limits on any of her future travel plans.

    If granted, the court system will intervene to help the family deal with this Internet and international love story.

    The runaway petition was submitted to the probate court and requested by the Akron-Fairgrove junior’s family in the hope of trying to keep her home.

    “At this point, of course, the young lady leaving the country in the way that she did, obviously there’s tremendous concerns of her not following the reasonable and really legitimate commands of her parents,” said Tuscola County Prosecutor Mark Reene.

    MySpace.com is a social networking Internet site. Her family found out about her plans and FBI agents in Amman, Jordan, persuaded her to return home.

    But the family worries she may try this again, and Reene says the probate court could help in trying to keep her in the county.

    “The probate court can do a variety of things,” Reene said.

    “One thing is counseling. It can provide certain things that the girl has to do at different times to keep track of her and be sure — again, help her — evaluate all the considerations in her life at this point.

    While Lester turns 17 on Wednesday, the parents have legal supervision until she turns 18.

    “But the family probate court can still intervene up until she turns 18 in an effort to keep her on the right path, provide her with counseling and intervene again to hopefully ensure her safety,” Reene said.

    While the probate court judge did not sign the runaway petition this morning, that is expected, which would mean Lester and her family will be back in court soon.

    Can you blame them?

  • $30M MySpace lawsuit

    $30M MySpace lawsuit

    Teenager and her mother sue MySpace.com for $30 million:

    A 14-year-old Travis County girl who said she was sexually assaulted by a Buda man she met on MySpace.com sued the popular Internet social networking site Monday for $30 million, claiming it fails to protect minors from adult sexual predators.

    The lawsuit claims the Web site does not require users to verify their age and calls the security measures aimed at preventing strangers from contacting users younger than 16 “utterly ineffective.”

    “MySpace is more concerned about making money than protecting children online,” said Adam Loewy, who is representing the girl and her mother in the lawsuit against MySpace, its parent company News Corp. and Pete Solis, the 19-year-old accused by police of sexually assaulting the girl.

    Solis contacted the girl through her MySpace Web site in April, telling her that he was a high school senior who played on the football team, according to the lawsuit. She told him she was a freshman in high school and gave him her cell phone number, the lawsuit said.

    In May, he picked her up at school, took her out to eat and to a movie and then drove her to an apartment complex parking lot in South Austin where he sexually assaulted her, police have said. He was arrested May 19.

    A month before Solis initially contacted the girl on MySpace.com, representatives of the Internet site told CBS News that they protected users younger than 16 from being contacted by people who didn’t know them, according to the lawsuit.

    “That is obviously false,” Loewy said. “There are ways to contact them.”

    The lawsuit includes news reports of other sexual assaults in which victims were contacted through MySpace. They include a 22-year-old Wisconsin man charged with six counts of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a 27-year-old Connecticut man accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.

    Why do I get the feeling that this attorney is going to be the Jack Thompson of MySpace?