Man Charged with Luring Teens on Myspace:
27 or 28-year-old Jerome Booker of West Philadelphia was arrested for luring teens to his apartment while posing as a teenage girl named Jasmine and promised the boys sexual favors.
Police are investigating to see if there have been any other victims.
A word of advice for teens from your Ol’ Uncle Trench. The hot girl on MySpace doesn’t really want to have sex with you.
Man guilty of luring teens over Internet:
25-year-old Joshua Innes of Montreal pleaded guilty to charges of luring a child under 18 on the Internet, extortion, and distributing child pornography.
Court heard in an agreed statement of facts that Innes posed as a 16-year-old girl named Nicky from Calgary on the popular social networking site Nexopia.
Innes began exchanging messages with the Edmonton girl, complimenting her and eventually turned the topic toward sex.
He sent her a video that showed a teenage girl performing a sex act which the victim believed was Nicky.
After persistent coaxing, the girl took off her clothes and performed sexual acts in front of her web camera, which Innes recorded in Montreal on his computer.
About a week later, “Nicky” asked the girl what was the worst thing she’s ever done. She said she once talked about a friend behind her back and asked Nicky the same question. He replied, “I pretended to be a 16-year-old girl on the Internet.”
Innes then demanded she perform more sex acts for the webcam or he would upload the video on the web and send it to people listed as friends on her Nexopia profile.
The victim told a friend who alerted her parents, who called police.
When an Edmonton police officer, Det. Randy Wickens, posed online as the victim, Innes aggressively demanded the girl perform again or he would send out the video.
Innes was arrested in his home, where he lived with his parents.
Sentencing will take place in August.
Sex Offender Accused Of Using MySpace:
Now that the AGs have the names of the sex offenders on MySpace, it’s time to round them up.
Our first contestant is 30-year-old Christopher Montefusco (MySpace deleted). Of course, it happens in the MySpace predator capital of the U.S., Connecticut.
Montefusco, 30, of West Haven, was convicted of first-degree sexual assault on Aug. 30, 1996. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, suspended after two and half years served. Montefuso had two years of special parole remaining on his sentence when he was picked up by state Department of Correction officials Wednesday, Blumenthal said. Special parole usually involves close supervision and sometimes mandatory participation in support programs.
While Blumenthal had no details about Montefusco’s underlying criminal charge, he said that one of the conditions of Montefusco’s parole was that he not use a computer, the Internet or access social networking sites such as MySpace without first obtaining permission from his parole officer.
Of course, Attorney General Blumenthal is using this one arrest to stroke his own ego…
“The results here demonstrate the urgent and clear need for this kind of information from MySpace and other social networking sites,” said Blumenthal, one of two attorneys general serving as chairman of a national task force on Internet safety. “Clearly, offenders like this are just the most visible tip of the predator iceberg.”
Still no word from Mr. Blumenthal’s office about what they’re going to do about parents who don’t monitor their children’s internet usage.
Sheriff Cannot Guarantee Jonesboro Shooter Andrew Golden’s Safety:
The Sheriff who represents the same county where Jonesboro shooter Andrew Golden used to live says he can’t guarantee Golden’s safety if he returns to Arkansas.
Craighead County Sheriff Jack McCann said hostility toward Golden and accomplice Mitchell Johnson still remains nine years after they opened fire on those fleeing Jonesboro Westside Middle School during a fake fire drill. The shootings were on people’s minds again Friday, as Golden turned 21 and likely left federal custody a free man for the first time.
“It’s a concern because there’s still a lot of hostility towards him and Mitchell Johnson,” said McCann, who was the county’s chief deputy in 1998. “I really don’t think any of the family members would do something to them; I think somebody out here would want to do something for the notoriety.”
Did the sheriff just serve a warning or declare open season?
Jonesboro shooter Andrew Golden likely to be released Friday:
Andrew Golden is one of the gunmen from the Jonesboro school shooting. Today is his 21st birthday, meaning that, more than likely, he will be released from jail today.
At the time of their conviction, there was a loophole in Arkansas state law that prevented Golden and cohort Mitchell Johnson from being kept behind bars longer than their 21st birthday.
Johnson was released 2 years ago. Now it’s Golden’s turn. He’ll be out on the streets with a clean slate and no probation.
It only took Johnson 18 months to get in trouble with the law again. I wonder how long it will take before Golden has his next run-in with the law.
Defense seeks gag order in police killings:
The defense attorney for accused Charlotte cop killer, Demeatrius Montgomery, is requesting a gag order on the proceedings in order to help Montgomery get a fair trial.
The lawyer, Duane Bryant, said such an order is necessary to preserve Montgomery’s right to a fair trial.
Montgomery, 25, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the March 31 fatal shootings of Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officers Jeff Shelton and Sean Clark.
Prosecutors announced this month they would seek the death penalty against Montgomery.
“This case has been subjected to substantial, pervasive publicity,” Bryant wrote in his motion.
Bryant’s motion suggests that investigating officers are responsible for the publicity. The publicity, the defense lawyer said, includes the dissemination of inaccurate information and matters that would not be admitted into evidence at trial.
Bryant did not cite in his motion the information he claims is inaccurate or the matters he claims would not be allowed into evidence.
The funny thing is, police and prosecutors have been very tight-lipped about this case. However, if Mr. Bryant wants a gag order, I say we give it to him. I want there to be no doubt if a conviction is eventually handed down.
Of course, the press is falling all over themselves with righteous indignation.
Jon Buchan, a lawyer for the Observer, said Wednesday he will file an objection to the defense lawyer’s motion. He said a hearing date has not been set.
“The public is very interested in this case, and it should be,” said Observer Editor Rick Thames. “Two police officers lost their lives. A local resident is accused of killing them. All the more reason why this motion to conceal the judicial proceedings from the public should be denied.”
Thames said he knew of no inaccuracies in news coverage that could affect Montgomery’s ability to receive a fair trial. He also noted that the courts have the means to offset the potential effects of pretrial publicity, key among them the careful questioning of potential jurors.
Yes, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officers Jeff Shelton and Sean Clark did lose their lives. And as a community, which even includes you, Charlotte Disturber, we should do everything within our power to ensure that the trial goes off without a hitch. If that means a gag order, then so be it.
I think the public will understand. I dare you to tell me that your appeal has nothing more to do with selling a few more papers.
Orange County school shooting suspect will not face death penalty:
Earlier, when I said that we’ll find out tomorrow if Alvaro Castillo will face the death penalty or not, I lied. The article stated Wednesday, and I was thinking today was Tuesday for some reason. Human error.
Anyway, District Attorney Jim Woodall said today that he will not seek the death penalty against Castillo.
Woodall says Castillo’s mother did –not– want her son to face the death penalty.
Remember that the victim in this crime is Castillo’s father. Still, justice needs to be served. The best way to do that is with a lengthy stay behind bars.
Bill on parental consent for MySpace advances:
North Carolina is slowly starting to turn into New Jersey as far as over-regulation is concerned.
RALEIGH – Children under 18 would have to get parental consent to join MySpace.com and other social networking Web sites under a bill approved today by a state Senate appropriations committee.
N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper has been pushing for the legislation, saying it would protect children from sexual predators who target victims online. Cooper is co-chairman of a group of 50 state attorneys general trying to negotiate with MySpace.com on the issue.
I have yet to hear not only how they plan on implementing this, but also how they plan on enforcing it. What do they propose happens to a child who gets on without parental permission? Will the child be prosecuted, or the parent? Will it result in jail time or fines? Will there be a special task force that will be in charge of making sure that all NC kids on MySpace have parental permission? Will this law discourage predators from trolling MySpace?
Again, I say this is nothing more than feel-good legislation preying on the fears of those that are not tech-savvy in order to gain re-election. None of it actually keeps our kids any safer.
School Shooting Suspect Awaits Fate:
Tomorrow, we should find out whether or not Rafael Alvaro Castillo will be facing the death penalty. Castillo shot and killed his father, videotaped the aftermath, then went to Orange High School in Hillsborough, NC and fired rounds at the school. Luckily, there were only a few slight injuries.
Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall is expected to announce Wednesday whether Alvaro Castillo, 19, of Hillsborough, will pursue the death penalty or time in prison.
Detectives said Castillo sent a homemade video tape and a letter to a local newspaper the same day of the incident. On the tape, Castillo seems to become animated and agitated when talking about alleged abuse at the hands of his father.
Investigators also said Castillo sent an e-mail about the alleged rampage to the principal at Columbine High School, where two gunmen shot 13 people before killing themselves in April 1999. In the e-mail, Castillo reveals his obsession with that massacre.
Personally, I’m rooting for the death penalty, but I’ll settle for life without parole. Anything less than that is an injustice.
MySpace hands over known sex offenders; how many unknown?:
One of the problems I’ve had with all the blustering from state attorneys general about MySpace is what are the AGs doing about the predators that haven’t been caught yet? I never see anyone in the American media asking that question, yet the Australian media has no problem seeing the same problems that I do.
MySpace, with 180 million registered profiles and still growing, is possibly the world’s largest social networking phenomenon. The US with a population approaching 300 million has an estimated 600,000 registered sex offenders and quite possibly some multiple of that who are unknown and unregistered. This then begs the question of how many unregistered sex offenders and potential would be predators still have profiles on the MySpace site.
In most places, there are more criminals at large than in jails. If MySpace truly is a virtual representation of the physical world, then it stands to reason that wiping the profiles of 7,000 known sex criminals may well be just lopping off the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully, that is not the case.
Yet, we still don’t hear what the AGs are doing to keep sex offenders off the streets. Personally, I just hear them pointing the finger at MySpace. Maybe they should clean up their own “house” first before worrying about MySpace.