TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Category: Social Media Crime

  • Is Stickam run by porn company?

    Ex-worker says teen website has ties to big porn enterprise:

    Have you heard the latest? It seems that the unmonitored cam to cam site Stickam is run by a huge porn operation. Or so says an ex-Stickam executive.

    On its website and in press reports, Stickam says it is owned by Advanced Video Communications, or AVC, a three-year-old Los Angeles company that sells video conferencing and e-commerce services to businesses in Japan and other Asian countries.

    But according to Alex Becker, a former vice president at Stickam, and internal company documents, Advanced Video Communications is managed and owned by Wataru Takahashi, a Japanese businessman who also owns and operates DTI Services, a vast network of websites that offer live sex shows over Web cameras. Becker alleges that Stickam shares office space, employees, and computer systems with the pornographic websites.

    Becker recently left Stickam after four months there and said he was speaking out because the company was not doing enough to protect young users of its service. Becker criticized what he said was the practice of sharing employees among Stickam and the pornographic sites. The workers at Takahashi’s firms “only know how to conduct an adult website,” he said. “They don’t get it that there are predators on the Internet.”

    Does this mean that Stickam is trying to expose the impressionable minds of youths to pornography? Hardly. However it does, in my opinion, undermine the claims that Stickam is serious about protecting its teenage users.

  • Update on Scott Shefelbine

    Prosecutors Want Shefelbine’s Bond Revoked:

    Just a quick update on Scott Shefelbine’s bail revocation hearing. No decision was made yesterday but one is expected today.

    But let’s throw some weaselly lawyer in for good measure.

    The most recent victim said she met Shefelbine online and they met in West Hartford Center. After that, she said he went to her home one day and told her he was at his therapist’s office on Prospect Avenue in Hartford and that he decided to walk over.

    Shefelbine’s attorney, Jeffery Denner, questioned the meetings, pointing out that the time the girl said Shefelbine was at her house, he was still at a therapy session.

    “The evidence speaks for itself and Mr. Shefelbine was not in their houses. If they say he was, they are mistaken,” Denner said.

    What about the other bajillion victims? Are they mistaken too?

  • Polygamist’s son convicted

    Polygamist’s son convicted

    Son of imprisoned polygamist sent to jail:

    Apparently, the “tendencies” of the father were passed on to the son.

    19-year-old William Green was sentenced to 180 days for having sex with a 13-year-old girl that he met on MySpace.

    Green’s father, Tom Green, is an infamous Utah polygamist who was convicted in 2001 for having sex with…anyone care to guess…that’s right, a 13-year-old girl.

    It seems like an affection for 13-year-old girls is not the only thing that was passed from father to son.

    ”He’s a remorseful kid,” his attorney, David Leavitt, said. ”He’s married and has full-time work. I think you’ll see this is a blip on the radar screen.”

    I guess the rotten apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.

    In addition to his 180 days behind bars, Green the Younger must avoid porn, stay out of “chat rooms”, and pay a $500 fine.

  • More details on Scott Shefelbine

    More details on Scott Shefelbine

    State Wants Sex Suspect Jailed:

    Today a hearing was scheduled to see if the most infamous MySpace predator, at least on this site, Scott Shefelbine would have his bail revoked. You know, since he’s been arrested on the same child sex charges multiple times and been bailed out by his parents every time. I haven’t heard how the hearing went or even if it took place, but this article points out some of Shefelbine’s more extreme behavior.

    The warrants for Shefelbine’s arrests paint a picture of a then-31-year-old man portraying himself to teenage girls and their parents as 17 or 19, then pressuring the girls for sex. When the girls would resist, according to the warrants, Shefelbine would grow angry and abusive.

    On one occasion, according to a warrant, Shefelbine placed his knee on a girl’s chest, causing pain and making it difficult for her to breathe, until she agreed to have sex. On several occasions, one of the girls told police, Shefelbine would strike her with a bottle until she agreed to have sex.

    That sounds pretty much like a rapist to me. I hope to God his bail was revoked because Shefelbine is nothing short of a monster.

  • David Leonard gets 20 years

    David Leonard gets 20 years

    Man gets 20 years in prison for sexual assaulting MySpace members:

    David Leonard, the sex offender from Connecticut with at least a dozen arrests…no, not that one, the other one…has been sentenced to only 20 years behind bars. He pleaded no contest to multiple sexual assault charges.

    The article states that he’s expected to enter other pleas to other charges. Hopefully, he’ll receive more sentences because 20 years for everything he’s done is a joke.

    Speaking of jokes, look what his lawyer had to say.

    Leonard’s lawyer, special public defender Jeffrey C. Kestenband, said he “grudgingly” endorsed the plea bargain. He said Leonard is a considerate and intelligent person who is committed to addressing his problems.

    I wonder if he said that with a straight face.

  • Kyle Green

    Kyle Green

    Police seek possible victims of man who met girls on MySpace:

    Clackamas County authorities are seeking the public’s help in identifying possible victims of a rape suspect who allegedly befriended teenage girls on MySpace.com.

    Kyle James Green, 20, who lived alone in an apartment complex next to Wilsonville High School, is charged with multiple counts of rape, sodomy, sexual abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a minor for alleged assaults on two girls between 15 and 17 years old, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office reported.

    Green is accused of befriending underage girls at public libraries and by meeting them through friends and on the MySpace Web site. Investigators reported Sunday that other young girls have provided them information about Green and that more charges are expected to be filed against him.

    Detectives encouraged potential victims to come forward. They said Green was unemployed at the time of his arrest, lived in the Boulder Creek Apartments, once lived in Oregon City and drove an older model red Jeep Cherokee.

    Anyone with information about Green is asked to contact sheriff’s Detective Christie Fryett at 503-557-2876 and reference case number 07-20778.

    I found a MySpace that may have once belonged to Kyle Green. All it has now is his mugshot and a link to his Clackamas County inmate information. Possibly, a girlfriend who was unaware of his alleged dalliances?

  • Scott Shefelbine may have bail revoked

    Scott Shefelbine may have bail revoked

    Prosecutor asks judge to revoke bail of alleged sex predator:

    Finally, someone in the Connecticut legal system has some sense. The assistant state’s attorney handling the case of alleged serial predator Scott Shefelbine is trying to have his bail revoked on the grounds he violated his terms of release. He’s been arrested multiple times for various sex offenses, usually involving MySpace. His parents have paid his bail each time, racking up to a whopping $1.5M.

    My only question is, what took you so long?

    A judge will rule on the motion on July 10th.

  • 1,936 miles

    1,936 miles

    Holland man suspected of using MySpace to lure teen:

    So this guy, 22-year-old Edward Lara-Gutierrez from Holland, MI, travels to Tempe, AZ to have sex with a 16-year-old boy he met on MySpace. Unfortunately, it was not one of those Dateline NBC moments.

    Once Lara-Gutierrez arrived in Arizona, he met the victim’s parents. He told them they would be hanging out at a friend’s house for the weekend. Police said he and the victim instead went to a Tempe hotel, where they had sexual contact.

    The Victim called his parents from the hotel on Saturday and told them what happened.
    The parents then called the police, Horn said. The case is still under investigation, he said.

    He lied to the parents about his age and I’m guessing a few other things.

  • Conn. SO arrested for MySpace profile

    Conn. SO arrested for MySpace profile

    Second man accused of parole violation by posting MySpace profile:

    21-year-old William Santos of Waterbury, CT was arrested for violating his parole by having a MySpace profile. Santos is a convicted sex offender. Of course, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal uses this one arrest to pat himself on the back.

    “This arrest demonstrates that many of these convicted sex offenders are violating their parole and socializing in the same space as millions of children,” Blumenthal said. “As astonishing and appalling as the discovery of thousands of sex offenders on MySpace, these convicted felons using their real names are only the tip of the predator iceberg.”

    Tip of the iceberg is an understatement. Yet while Mr. Blumenthal breaks his arm trying to pat himself on the back, Connecticut is home to the two of the most prolific MySpace predators, David Leonard and Scott Shfelbine. Both have had multiple sexually related arrests, and one of them is even walking free right now. What’s being done about men like that, Mr. Blumenthal?

  • Scott Shefelbine arrested again, parents pay bail again

    Scott Shefelbine arrested again, parents pay bail again

    Suspect Faces New Charges:

    This is just un-frekain’-believable. 32-year-old Scott C. Shefelbine of Connecticut and multiple arrestee on creeper charges has been arrested yet again. This idiot just can’t stay out of trouble. He was already out on bail for his previous charges, and I believe he’s already paid over $1M in bail.

    Shefelbine told the 14-year-old girl he was 17, police said. He is accused of establishing the relationship by sending Internet instant messages to the girl. The relationship progressed to Shefelbine’s meeting with the girl, police said.

    The Internet messaging and meeting in West Hartford allegedly occurred in 2007. Shefelbine has been under electronic monitoring by the bail commissioner’s office in the Tolland Judicial District since his initial arrest last fall on a host of sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor charges.

    During an arraignment in Superior Court in Rockville in October 2006, a judge ordered Shefelbine to have no contact with girls 18 and under and to not use the Internet. Shefelbine was also ordered to wear a monitoring device on his ankle.

    To make matters worse, his parents posted his bail AGAIN. So not only is he out again. His parents have put up even more change for this alleged serial pedophile to walk free. Not only that, but why wasn’t he denied bail? Hasn’t he proven time again his willingness to re-offend?

    And I know I bring this up every time Shefelbine or David Leonard gets arrested, but this keeps happening in Connecticut. The state where Attorney General Richard Blumenthal keeps ripping on MySpace for not doing enough to protect children from sex offenders. What are you doing, Mr. Blumenthal to keep the children safe? Whatever it is, it doesn’t appear to be working.

    Thanks to Dee for the tip.