TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Category: Social Media Crime

  • Brooke Bennett’s stepfather arrested

    First, before I get into the post I want to make one thing clear to my readers and commenters.

    Stop posting links to Brooke Bennett’s MySpace. I have a rule about posting the MySpaces of victims. I don’t. End of discussion.

    Former Stepfather Implicated in Disappearance:

    40-year-old Ray Gagnon of Texas was arrested during the same investigation that netted Brooke’s uncle Michael Jacques. Neither has been named as a suspect in Brooke’s disappearance.

    Gagnon is accused of destroying evidence and sexually assaulting a minor last summer in Vermont.

    Now here’s where it gets really scary. Michael Jacques belonged to a child sex ring called Breckenridge. Police aren’t saying if Gagnon was involved.

    In my opinion, these two investigations are now linked but that’s just a hunch. There’s just way too many coincidences.

    If you can stomach the details the police affidavit against Jacques is here in PDF format. (Source)

  • Search for Brooke Bennett focuses on uncle

    Investigation into Brooke Bennett’s disappearance shifts to Randolph:

    Police in Vermont have all but named Brooke Bennett’s uncle, Michael Jacques, as a suspect in Brooke’s disappearance. Police have searched his property and have ordered helicopter searches of the area. This was this afternoon and I have not heard any updates as it regards to the search.

    Judge orders Jacques held on $250,000 bail; helicopter searches Jacques’ property:

    As far as Jacques is concerned he’s no harmless guy who got put on the sex offender registry because he got caught with a 17-year-old. The most recent charge that Jacques has been jailed for sexually assaulting a relative over a 5 year period starting when she was 9.

    In an affidavit released afterward, Vermont State Police Detective Sgt. William Jenkins said the girl told police that when she was 9 or 10, she was told — in a telephone call and in a note left under her pillow — that she had been selected for enrollment in a “program for sex” and that Jacques was to be her trainer.

    “The first who does it lives and the second gets her throat cut,” she told police, according to the affidavit.

    The victim stated he had other victims as well.

    In 1993 Jacques landed on the sex offender registry for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a minor.

    There are just too many coincidences here in my opinion.

  • Brooke Bennett’s uncle arrested

    Police Arrest Missing Girl’s Uncle:

    The uncle of missing Vermont girl Brooke Bennett has been arrested.

    42-year-old Michael Jacques was arrested on sexual assault charges that are not related to Brooke’s disappearance. Police uncovered the assault while investigating Brooke’s disappearance. Jacques is a registered sex offender stemming from a kidnapping and sexual assault from 1993.

    To make matters worse Jacques and Brooke were seen on surveillance footage at the mini-mart together the day she disappeared.

  • MISSING: Brooke Bennett

    Brooke Bennett
    Brooke Bennett

    MySpace linked to Vermont girl’s disappearance:

    An Amber Alert has been issued in the disappearance of 12-year-old Brooke Bennett of Vermont and they believe that MySpace has played a part in it.

    Relatives dropped her off at a local mini market thinking she was going to meet a friend however security footage shows she walked off by herself.

    Items of hers were found on the side of a highway.

    After police investigated they found that she was communicating with somebody from MySpace who may have had something to do with her disappearance.

    Her parents had previously cut her off from MySpace but police seem to think she made a new one at a different computer.

    Image Source

  • Hardcastle has restrictions eased

    Polk Video Beating Case Defendant Has Release Rules Eased:

    Brittni Hardcastle, she of the infamous Victoria Lindsay beating, has had her request to ease her house arrest granted.

    However, she still has to adhere to a curfew and have no contact with the other suspects or the victim.

  • Kayla Hassel: Mad and sad

    ‘I Was Mad And I Felt Bad,’ Videotaped Beating Suspect Says:

    One of the suspects in the Victoria Lindsay has had her statements to an assistant state attorney released to the press. 15-year-old Kayla Hassel seems to be claiming that she’s a victim.

    She talks about how she was mad and felt bad after she saw the video after her release and how she’s had unwanted attention because of it. She also claims that it was never anyone’s intention to post the video to MySpace or YouTube. Right, what else do kids do with videos like this?

    Hassel also turns on Brittani Hardcastle by saying it was Hardcastle that was encouraging others to beat Victoria. She also said that she was afraid of getting between the two because of how little she is.

    I guess she thinks it’s all about her. Just like the rest of them.

  • HIV positive man accused of rape

    Man with HIV charged:

    23-year-old Shaun Patrick Austin of Bath, Pennsylvania was originally arrested last month when police found child porn on his computer.

    Now he’s also accused of using MySpace and VampireFreaks to meet girls ages 12-15 and either having sex with them or raping them. To make matters worse Austin is HIV positive. Some of the pictures were even of his victims.

    He’s being held on $250K bond.

  • Lori Drew enters plea

    Woman pleads innocent in Myspace hoax suicide case:

    Lori Drew entered a plea of not guilty in federal court in Los Angeles today. As you know she’s been indicted on charges of conspiracy and accessing a protected computer to obtain information which led to the suicide of 13-year-old Megan Meier.

    The trial is scheduled to start in L.A. on July 26th and she’s facing 20 years behind bars if convicted.

  • Teen uses MySpace to rape disadvantaged adults

    Northglenn Teen Accused Of Raping At-Risk Adults:

    19-year-old Nicholas Meier of Northglenn, Colorado has been arrested for the rapes of two developmentally challenged women.

    Meier allegedly used MySpace and craigslist to meet the two women who have a child’s intellect.

    This is almost as bad as child molestation and Meier took action similar to that of a child predator. He reportedly used cell phones and text messaging to groom his victims just like a pedophile would. To make matters worse there may be other victims.

    It will be interesting to see how Meier’s defenders spin this one. Were the disabled women asking for it? Did they say they were more intelligent than they really were on MySpace?

    There’s a special place in hell for people like this who take advantage of the disadvantaged.

    Thanks to Mr. A for the tip.

  • Cara Murphy felt scared

    “I felt scared for her,” says teen in beating case.:

    Cara Murphy recently had the charges dropped against her in the videotaped beating of Victoria Lindsay. Now she’s speaking out…

    “I guess I’m sorry for all that happened,” Cara Murphy said during a news conference Friday night, apologizing for her involvement in the videotaped beating of a Mulberry cheerleader that incited a media frenzy.

    “I’m glad the charges got dropped though.”

    I believe the second part but not the first.

    Murphy says she never realized that what took place on videotape would turn into a national controversy. After apologizing to the victim, Victoria Lindsay, Murphy admitted she could have done more to stop the beating.

    Murphy commented, “During the time I definitely can say I felt scared for her. Once I saw the video, I realized this was a bad thing that happened.”

    Yet she didn’t realize it as it was going on? What difference should it being on video make?

    I think the only thing she’s really sorry for is that she got caught. she won the lottery by having the charges dropped.