TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Author: Trench Reynolds

  • The latest MySpace lawsuit

    The latest MySpace lawsuit

    MySpace.com, News Corp. sued in assault cases:

    I’m surprised that this isn’t happening more often. Anyway, MySpace and its parent company News Corp. are being sued by families from New York, Texas, Pennsylvania and South Carolina who had children that were sexually assaulted by MySpace users. The suit alleges MySpace of negligence, recklessness, fraud, and negligent misrepresentation.

    Call me callous if you want, but as far as I’m concerned, this lawsuit is frivolous. The people who are really responsible for the attacks are already behind bars. It’s like suing the car manufacturer if your child was hit by a drunk driver.

    This lawsuit reeks of greed. The kind of greed that can only come from ambulance chasing attorneys.

    Pat from Belchspeak has a differing opinion.

  • Gill scouted other schools

    Gill scouted other schools

    Dawson College killer scouted other schools:

    According to Canadian officials, Kimveer Gill scouted other schools before picking Dawson College for his rampage. According to the article, Gill had scouted 3 other schools. Those schools being Universite de Montreal, Vanier College, and a Laval high school. It’s unknown why he settled on Dawson.

    Police recovered a notepad from his car that contained hand-drawn sketches of routes leading to all four schools, Cmdr. Richard Dupuis said.

    On the page with directions to the Universite de Montreal, Mr. Gill had scribbled the words “too big.”

    “There are indications he may have considered other schools,” Cmdr. Dupuis said. “Did he go inside (them)? We don’t know. They were rough plans he had designed, but nothing too detailed. Just what roads to take to get there.”

    It has been known that Gill did enter Dawson College weeks prior to his assault. So it’s a not a stretch that Gill probably did enter the other schools.

  • Letavec pleads guilty

    Letavec pleads guilty

    Man pleads guilty to assaulting girl he met on MySpace.com:

    One of the first sexual predators ever mentioned on this site, Stephen M. Letavec, has pleaded guilty in Connecticut to one count of using the Internet to persuade a minor to engage in sexual activity and one count of traveling in interstate commerce for the purpose of attempting to have and having illicit sexual conduct with a minor.

    If you recall, Letavec, at the time of his arrest, was a 39-year-old father of two from Elrama, Pennsylvania who met a 14-year-old Connecticut girl through MySpace and traveled to Conn. to have sex with her. The girl said on her MySpace that she was 18, but later told Letavec that she was 14 prior to his visit. That scores high on the big ol’ ‘Eww’ scale. Further child molester creepiness…

    “I showed you what love is and how it feels,” Letavec wrote in an e-mail found in the girl’s school locker, according to an FBI report. “I want to show you how making love feels too, not just sex because there is a difference.”

    I feel like I need a shower just after copying and pasting that.

    Sentencing is scheduled for April 9th, and he’s looking at a max of 60 years.

  • Sometimes you don’t

    Sometimes you don’t

    Minnesota Supreme Court upholds Rocori shooter’s convictions:

    A few months back, I posted that the attorneys for Rocori High School shooter John Jason McLaughlin were trying to have his conviction overturned.

    The attorney argued that Minnesota’s insanity law, known as the M’Naghten Rule, is outdated and that it doesn’t apply to teens. If you remember, McLaughlin shot and killed Aaron Rollins and Seth Bartell with Seth being the intended target.

    Attorneys for McLaughlin argued that he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and only intended to wound Seth Bartell. In my unprofessional opinion, he only suffered from “I’m faking it”-itis.

    Anyway, the Minnesota Supreme Court has refused to rule on the appeal, stating that the defense did not argue this point at trial.

    McLaughlin is serving consecutive life terms in prison.

  • Teen prostitutes uncovered in Chicago

    Teen prostitutes uncovered in Chicago

    Women charged with offering girls for sex:

    I’ll give you 3 guesses of which website they were advertising on. I’ll give you a hint. It rhymes with gregslist.

    Cook County Sheriffs in Illinois conducted a Craigslist prostitution sting which resulted in finding prostitutes ages 14, 15 and 16-years-old. Those charged in separate incidents were Tamara Cotton, 25, who was charged with keeping a place of prostitution and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and one count of pimping and child endangerment. Christina Holt, 19, who is charged with keeping a house of prostitution. Holt’s boyfriend, Montrell Knight, 34, who was storing guns and drugs for the Gangster Disciples, was charged with nine counts of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, armed violence, and three drug-related charges.

    The teen prostitutes themselves are not being treated as criminals, and Cook County is trying to get them help.

    So what does craigslist have to say about this?

    Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster wrote in an e-mail Thursday that illegal activity is prohibited on the site, and that the erotic services page is intended for use by “legal escort services and sensual massage providers.”

    “It was added at the request of our users, who wanted these ads separated from our general personals categories,” he wrote. “We appreciate and are fully cooperative with law enforcement efforts.”

    Legal escort services and sensual massage providers? Take it from someone who grew up in a town rife with prostitution, there is no such animal as “legal” escort services and sensual massage.

    Once again, craigslist is turning a blind eye to illegal activity on their site. They say that they’re fully cooperative with law enforcement, but it seems to me that it’s after the fact.

    Thanks to Tim for the link.

  • Portland craigslist predator sentenced

    Portland craigslist predator sentenced

    Offender sentenced for Craigslist teen sex charges:

    I originally posted about Douglas French here. He’s the 36-year-old jackhole that put an ad on craigslist for models aged 16-19 and had sex with a 17-year-old girl who applied for the ad. He also supplied her with drugs and alcohol.

    French had a previous arrest for shacking up with a 16-year-old runaway in Montana. He pleaded not guilty back in August, but a judge found him guilty of using a child in a sexual display and sex abuse. He was sentenced to 15 years.

  • Robin Kittrell sentenced

    Kittrell, 17, sentenced to 10 months detention:

    Robin Kittrell, the 17-year-old who was arrested for bringing guns to school in order to prevent a Columbine, has been sentenced. Kittrell has been sentenced to youth boot camp for 3 to 4 months, then 3 to 6 months in a detention center. Then, when he’s released, he’ll get a year on intensive probation, followed by nine years of regular probation.

    Now, this is an actual example of where a kid needs help and not too much jail time. His intention was not to hurt, but to protect. He just went about it in a misguided way.

    I hope at least that he’s able to get help somewhere.

  • Jonesboro shooter arrested

    Jonesboro shooter arrested

    Jonesboro shooter found with gun, pot, while with crossbow killer:

    Back in August 2005, I posted an entry about one of the Jonesboro shooters, Mitchell Johnson, being released at the age of 21 due to a loophole in Arkansas law that has since been closed. At the time, I wondered how long would it be before he was back in jail. Apparently, that answer is one year and five months.

    Johnson was arrested on New Year’s Day for possession of marijuana and a loaded 9mm handgun. Also arrested with him was Justin Trammell, who killed his father with a crossbow when he was 15.

    Johnson was released on $1,000 bond.

  • Not the first time suspect brought gun to school

    Not the first time suspect brought gun to school

    Shooting suspect allegedly had gun at school before:

    It seems that when Douglas Chanthabouly shot Samnang Kok in the halls of Foss High School, it wasn’t the first time that Chanthabouly had brought a gun to school.

    Police say that Chanthabouly’s brother told them that he had previously seen his brother with other guns at previous times. Chanthabouly’s brother also said that Douglas was not in a gang but liked to hang out with gangs and dressed like them. When police searched Chanthabouly’s home, they found three boxes of ammunition, a black carry case for a pistol with a holster and a .38-caliber revolver, notebooks, letters, and two blue bandannas.

    So he wasn’t a gang member but a gang-wannabe. It wouldn’t surprise me to hear that he shot Samnang Kok to try to get some kind of respect from the gang.

  • craigslist crackdown

    craigslist crackdown

    Craigslist Turns to Police, Community to Fight ‘Spamvertising’:

    It seems that craigslist is finally getting serious about people who are abusing the site’s service. It’s not drug dealers. It’s not prostitutes or sexual predators. It’s advertisers…

    Craigslist is serious about cracking down on advertisers that are breaking the site’s rules: It has added new tools to allow community members to flag offending posts, and it has enlisted the aid of the police and ISP-tracking services.

    Craigslist has been inundated with “professional marketers” trying to circumvent the classified ad site’s rules and market products and services to the community, ClickZ reports. The problem has become so rampant that coders are creating software that automatically creates listings, and others are writing books aimed at helping marketers sell on Craigslist.

    Way to clean up your act, craigslist.