Teacher pleads not guilty in MySpace messaging case:
I originally posted about Scott Dietlin here. He’s the teacher from Petaluma, California who was caught sending sexually explicit messages to a 15-year-old girl named Jackie on MySpace. ‘Jackie’ was actually a group of kids who set up a fake profile but attracted Dietlin’s attention.
Tuesday Dietlin pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and is still being held on $700K bond.
He’s looking at 5 years behind bars.
Tough sentence sought for Calgary internet predator:
I originally posted about Matthew Allan Armstrong here. He’s the slimeball from Calgary who used to Nexopia to try to set up meetings with underage girls. Armstrong is 27.
He approached a 14-year-old girl, a 15-year-old girl, a 19-year-old girl who posed as a 13-year-old girl ala To Catch a Predator and a 13-year-old girl who was actually a police detective.
He even met the 14-year-old and had sex with her in a train station restroom. Classy.
He sent messages to over 100 girls on Nexopia with over 532 pages of chats. When underage girls would tell him their age he would say ‘age is just a number’. That’s the motto of the child predator.
So what is he looking at for all these offenses? 18-24 months and his lawyer is trying to get him time served. His lawyer says that Armstrong has a form of muscular dystrophy which affects his judgment. That fact that he says age is just a number tells me that he knew exactly what he was doing and 18-24 months is a joke for an obvious serial predator.
Does facebook play a role in Caylee Anthony’s disappearance?:
From the ridiculous to the sublime. The Casey Anthony story still keeps getting the fine tooth comb treatment from the media. This time it’s about Facebook again.
Apparently, some woman from Ontario (not sure if that’s Canada or not) has contacted Orlando police stating that Casey Anthony’s Facebook had a message that said she lost some duct tape that she borrowed from a friend.
As I’m sure most of you know a child’s body that could be Caylee Anthony was found in a trash bag wrapped with duct tape.
I’m not saying this isn’t a significant find that could help put Casey Anthony away for life or am I detracting from the woman’s find. I’m just so sick of the media saturation of this case while another missing child by the name of Giovanni Gonzalez goes almost unheard. Maybe if Giovanni received this kind of media attention then people from other countries could find clues for his disappearance too.
Online Networking Group Created to Prevent Prisoner from Parole:
Katie Ellis of Sugar Land, Texas didn’t know Ashton Glover but she knows enough to want to keep her killers behind bars.
As I’ve mentioned before Sean Brown was sentenced to 10 years to help Matt McCombs try to dispose of Ashton’s body. But Brown could be eligible for parole as soon as January.
So Ms. Ellis has started a Facebook group called “Keep Ashton Glover’s Killers in Jail!”.
It has all the information you may need to let the Texas Board of Parole know that in no way, shape or form should Brown be paroled in January.
Lori Drew Files New Bid for Dismissal on Grounds that MySpace Authorized Access:
The attorneys for Lori Drew have filed yet another appeal for dismissal. This time they’re saying that Drew cannot be guilty of unauthorized access to a computer since MySpace basically gave her authorization.
They argue that since MySpace allowed her to register on the site even with false information they still granted her authorization.
For once I think they may have a point.
It doesn’t change that I think that Lori Drew is still a cold heartless bitch.
Police: Man Met, Assaulted Girl On Facebook:
Police in Clinton Township, Michigan have arrested a man who raped a 16-year-old girl he met on Facebook.
The suspect claimed that he just moved to the Detroit area. She invited him to her home once while her family was home. The man returned a different time when she was home alone. She didn’t let him in but he broke into the house through a basement window and raped the girl. A family member came home and chased him off.
The suspect is 18-year-old Michael Thomas Robinson of Eastpointe, MI. He’s alleged to have had four different Facebook profiles, one using the name of ‘Michael Jones’.
He’s looking at a life sentence for the rape.
Thanks to my wife Jade for the tip.
MySpace gripe about patient sparks federal privacy complaint:
I can greatly identify with this story because in my real life I’ve worked in the healthcare industry for the past 2 decades. However, this is also yet another example of nothing being private on the internet.
Stephanie Sicilia works for an OB/GYN office. That’s a gynecologist for you not in the know. And as everyone does in the healthcare industry she complained about her patients. Her mistake was is that she posted it on her MySpace.
In one item posted to her MySpace blog in late 2007, Sicilia, then 29, referred to patients at the practice as “the tramp troop,” saying of one: “her stories are entertaining but I’ve only slept with as many people as she has had abortions.” In another post, she mocked a patient who had asked where she could buy the gingerbread cookies the doctor had recommended to remedy nausea, writing: “SOME WOMEN SHOULD NEVER REPRODUCE!!!!”
While I currently work in a different field than Ms. Sicilia I can definitely commiserate with her. However, with those posts, she may have broken a very serious law in our industry known as HIPAA. In a nustshell, HIPAA defines how a patient’s information needs to be protected. For at least 5 years or more HIPAA has been drilled into our heads with the threat of possible jail time if a patient’s private information is compromised. Since you’re reading this here you can guess what happened to Ms. Sicilia.
One of the patients she wrote about says she recognized herself in Sicilia’s post and says the other person was a friend of hers. Even though she did not name the patients she could be facing some serious legal ramifications. According to the Ars Technica article, only one practice has ever been fined for violating HIPAA but it’s only a matter of time before the Dept. of Health and Human Services makes an example out of someone.
Police say Des Moines man met girl on MySpace, assaulted her:
23-year-old Ryan Joseph Scorpiniti of Des Moines, Iowa has been arrested for having sex with a 12-year-old girl he met over MySpace.
Again I have to ask why can’t these jackasses have sex with women relatively their own age.
However, I’m sure we’ll hear from his friends saying things like ‘She said she was 16’ or some crap like that.
I do have to say though these MySpace molestation stories are starting to become less frequent. I hope it’s because parents are being more vigilant these days and not because these scumbags are getting away with it more.
It wouldn’t hurt me if better parenting put me out of a job.
Facebook predator: Convicted sex offender allegedly tried to lure 11-year-old N.S. boy to Ontario:
Brendon James MacNeill of Mississauga, Ontario was arrested recently for trying to lure an 11-year old boy from Nova Scotia on Facebook. MacNeill allegedly instigated the conversation with the boy. He said that he could hook the kid up with a 12-year-old girl from Quebec.
Macneill is a high-risk sex offender who was just released this past March.
While Macneill is a scumbag of the highest order I found this message a little ironic from the boy’s mother…
The woman is warning parents to monitor their kids’ Facebook use closely.
Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t Facebook’s minimum age 13?
MySpace ruling could lead to jail for lying online daters:
Another over-reactionary column about the Lori Drew conviction. I’m sick of them. This is not the end of anonymity on the internet. If it was I’d be the first person to sign off.
Everybody is forgetting one certain thing. Lori Drew and company violated MySpace’s TOS with the expressed intent of harassing Megan Meier no matter what the outcome of that was. Unfortunately, the outcome of their actions was Megan’s suicide.
I don’t think federal prosecutors are going to run around prosecuting everybody who uses a fake name on MySpace.
Un-wad your panties people.