TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Category: Social Media Crime

  • Williams or Wisham

    Williams or Wisham

    Girl’s affidavit says ex-publicist claimed sexual encounters with 50 kids:

    This story is actually back from the beginning of this year, but I’ll tell you later why I’m talking about it…

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A teenage girl who allegedly had a lengthy sexual relationship with a former NASCAR publicist told authorities the man claimed to have victimized more than 50 children across the country, court documents say.

    Richard “Chip” Williams, 48, was charged last week with raping a child — a 14-year-old girl whom he met on the Internet when she was 11 — and soliciting a minor for sex over the Internet. He is being held in lieu of $2 million bail.

    An affidavit says the 14-year-old girl said she knew the man who had sex with her as “John Wisham,” which police say is the identity Williams used online.

    She said Wisham claimed “to have been with over 50 children in various forms of sexual exploitation.”

    In the affidavit, Detective George Moore says he read a sexually explicit online conversation between the girl and “Wisham,” then watched as she engaged the man in another explicit online conversation.

    During another online chat, the girl introduced “Wisham” to an undercover officer, who posed as a 15-year-old girl, the affidavit said. It said “Wisham” discussed sex in the online chat.

    According to an anonymous tip I received, this is the MySpace used by Williams as “Wisham” but there isn’t a whole lot to see there.

  • Cleveland area predators

    Cleveland area predators

    Broadview Heights men accused of raping girls met on MySpace:

    CLEVELAND — Two Broadview Heights men are accused of raping young girls they met on the web site MySpace.

    Channel 3 News first told you about 21-year-old Albert Azolino back in March.

    He is accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old Strongsville student lured to his home through internet chat.

    Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason says Azolino and 33-year-old friend Timothy Norman face rape, unlawful sexual contact with minors, and pandering charges.

    The prosecutor warns parents to be leery of the kids spending time on this web site.

    “It’s like a catalogue for predators,” Mason said. “It’s got the pictures of the kids so anybody who wants to get online — they go on to myspace.com, look at the pictures and click on it. Up comes the profile of the person they just click on.”

    Mason says the suspects would offer alcohol to the kids then photograph them during sex acts.

    If convicted the two could face life in prison.

    I was unable to find the MySpaces of either suspect. If you know of them, please let me know.

  • 666-II

    666-II

    This Can’t go on
    I must inform the law
    Can this still be real
    Or just some crazy dream
    -“Number of the Beast” by Iron Maiden

    Satanic references on myspace lead to precautions at Pisgah:

    Here we go again…

    Students at Pisgah High School are being kept inside all day after a rumor sparked by a threat made it on to the Web site, myspace.com.

    “We had word that circulated about somebody that was going to come here and commit a crime,” Principal Danny Miller said Tuesday afternoon.

    Miller said the school was not on lockdown, but was following a pre-determined safety plan.

    School officials located the source of the rumor. Miller said it involved an adult from out-of-town who made no reference to Haywood County or Pisgah High School.

    The rumor began after a Pisgah student talked to someone on myspace.com who mentioned that June 6, 2006, might be a good day to miss school. The date, 06-06-06, was presented as a time when satanic groups could become active. School officials couldn’t discern how that date sparked rumors about potential events taking place at the school today.

    I’m glad that the school was prepared, and I’d rather have a school over-react than under-react but come on. We can’t lock down every school at the mere mention of 666. But I wouldn’t be surprised if some idiot did try something on that date. I’ll be glad when it’s 6/7/06.

  • Trench in TIME

    Trench in TIME

    The Thin Blue Line at MySpace:

    How’s your Memorial Day? Mine is kicking ass. Why, you ask? Well, in case you didn’t click the link, yours truly has made the pages of Time Magazine. I haven’t read the entire article myself, but so far, it looks promising. So be sure to pick up the June 6th issue of Time.

  • Ashley Reeves not paralyzed

    Ashley Reeves not paralyzed

    Mother: Ashley Reeves neck not broken:

    Good news for Ashley Reeves, the 17-year-old girl who was assaulted and left for dead in the woods by gym teacher Samson Shelton. It was originally thought that Shelton had broken her neck. He confessed to hearing her neck snap when he assaulted her. However, her parents are reporting that is not the case…

    “Her neck was injured in the attack, but there are no fractures and no paralysis,” her mother, Michelle Reeves said.

    No word yet on how this will affect the charges against Shelton.

  • Texas AG joins the list

    Texas AG joins the list

    AG wants MySpace.com to make Web safer for kids:

    Add Texas to the list of states whose Attorneys general want MySpace to crackdown on predators. The other states so far have been New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.

    AUSTIN — An investigator posing as a 13-year-old girl with a profile on MySpace.com helped officers nab a man for the second time in five months on charges that he was using the Internet to solicit sex from a minor.

    The second arrest of John David Payne prompted Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to urge MySpace and other social networking Web sites to increase efforts to protect children and teenagers from explicit images and sexual solicitations.

    “This shows how aggressive and how dangerous these child predators are,” Abbott said Monday at a summit he hosted to discuss online criminal activity. “Even a one-time law enforcement arrest is not going to stop predators like this.”

    About 300 government officials, law enforcement officers and representatives from technology companies attended the summit to talk about ways to make the Internet safer.

    Payne was arrested in December after he arrived in Bastrop for an alleged sexual rendezvous with what he thought was an underage teen he met on the Internet.

    While he was awaiting trial, he was arrested again May 10, after he allegedly engaged in graphic sexual conversation with an investigator posing as a teen on MySpace. He also solicited sex from a different investigator posing as another girl in a separate chat room.

    A spokeswoman for Abbott said their office has had MySpace profiles for some time, but Payne’s arrest was one of the first to stem from that site.

    Abbott said Web sites like MySpace, a social networking hub with more 72 million members, should make it harder to find profiles belonging to underage youth and should use software that automatically scans all uploaded photographic images and blocks those that are pornographic.

    A spokesman for Myspace did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

    The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has been working with MySpace to identify ways to make it more difficult for young people to put up too much information about themselves, said Michelle Collins, director of the center’s exploited children unit.

    The center also has partnered with the site for a campaign to teach teenagers how to protect themselves online.

    “There isn’t any one solution that’s going to solve the problem,” she said. “It’s really going to be by joining collective forces that we can have the biggest impact.”

    At least they’re not making ridiculous demands like Massachusetts.

  • Follow up on Samson Shelton

    Follow up on Samson Shelton

    Suspect in attack has teen visitor:

    Samson Shelton, the Missouri gym teacher who was arrested for breaking the neck of 17-year-old student Ashley Reeves and leaving her to die in the woods, hasn’t learned his lesson. Apparently, the local girls haven’t either…

    SMITHTON – Just a few hours after being released Monday from the St. Clair County Jail, Samson “Sam” R. Shelton pleaded on the telephone with a teenage girlfriend to visit him at his mother’s house, where he is confined until trial.

    Tuesday, the 18-year-old Columbia girl visited Shelton at the house just south of Smithton, said Lt. Steve Johnson, lead investigator for the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department. Shelton is charged with kidnapping and attempting to murder 17-year-old Ashley Reeves of Millstadt.

    The Columbia girl’s parents called the sheriff’s department to complain, Johnson said. They were told their daughter’s visit to Shelton’s mother’s home did not violate conditions of the $80,000 bond set by St. Clair County Circuit Judge John Baricevic.

    “It is not a violation, but it is certainly a concern,” Johnson said. “The parents called us, and they were worried.”

    Besides being confined to his mother’s home, Shelton must wear an electronic monitoring anklet, Baricevic ordered.

    Why this scumbag is out on bail is beyond me anyway. And ladies, if a man confesses to breaking a girl’s neck, it’s probably a good idea not to go to his house.

    Shelton’s MySpace has since been removed.

  • Patrick Buss re-arrested

    Patrick Buss re-arrested

    MySpace predator suspect faces new charges:

    Patrick Buss, who was arrested back in April for trying to lure teenage girls to a motel room, has been arrested again…

    A Hubbard, Ore., man, arrested late last month for allegedly arranging to meet two high school girls at a LaPine motel was arrested Friday at the Deschutes County Courthouse on new, more serious charges involving a Tillamook County victim.

    Patrick Nicholas Buss was taken into custody when he showed up at Circuit Judge Ed Perkins’ courtroom for arraignment on the original charges that included computer crime, contributing to the sexual abuse of a minor and third-degree charges of attempted sex abuse, attempted rape and attempted sodomy.

    The new charges include two third-degree counts each of rape, sex abuse and sodomy, as well as furnishing alcohol to a minor and using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct.

    The investigation led to discovery of an additional victim in the Tillamook area, Edwards said Friday. At the request of Tillamook County authorities, sheriff’s detectives contacted Buss and took him into custody on the Tillamook County charges. He was lodged in the county jail, pending transport to Tillamook County.

    Again, here and here are Buss’ MySpace profiles. He’s still getting comments from girls even after his initial arrest. I wonder if some vigilante commenting is in order.

  • Attention citizens of Massachusetts

    Attention citizens of Massachusetts

    Or, as I like to call them, Massholes. (Relax, I’m just kidding.)

    Anyway, your Attorney General Tom Reilly is calling on MySpace to beef up their security when it comes to minors. He’s making some good and some not so good requests.

    First, he wants MySpace to change its minimum user age to 18. I have no problem with that, but he doesn’t say how MySpace should do that. I suggest credit card number validations. That won’t keep every minor out, but it will keep most of them out.

    He also wants every MySpace page equipped with a “Report Inappropriate Content” link. That’s actually a great idea.

    He wants MySpace to respond to all reports of inappropriate content within 24 hours and significantly increase the number of employees who review images and content. Sounds reasonable. Newscorp does have assloads of cash.

    He wants MySpace to immediately delete any profiles that violate MySpace’s Terms of Use Agreement and permanently banning those members from using the site. I also agree with this because MySpace is notoriously bad at enforcing their TOS. Banning members is harder, though. How do you ban a member from getting another account?

    He wants MySpace to immediately remove all advertisements and other MySpace-sponsored content that are inappropriate for children. Yeah, that’ll happen.

    And lastly, like the Conn. AG he wants MySpace to offer free, downloadable software that allows parents to block the use of MySpace. I don’t think that should be MySpace’s responsibility. With just a little knowledge, any parent can have MySpace blocked on their computer.

    AG Reilly is also trying to educate parents…

    As part of an effort to enhance parental awareness of online safety for children, AG Reilly’s Office is leading a series of workshops throughout Massachusetts to educate parents about the dangers that children face when using the Internet. Today AG Reilly will conduct an Internet Safety program for parents in Weymouth warning them of the potential dangers that exist when their children use the Internet.

    How many parents actually attend these workshops remains to be seen. My guess is, there won’t be enough.

  • Samson Shelton

    Samson Shelton

    Samson Shelton
    Samson Shelton

    H.S. Teacher Accused Of Trying To Kill Student:

    A high school teacher in Belleville, Ill., was arrested and charged with breaking the neck of a 17-year-old student and then leaving her to die in some woods, according to police.

    Investigators said Samson Shelton, 26, who is a teacher at Columbia High School, tried to strangle Ashley Reeves and then left her to die.

    Shelton was with St. Clair County detectives when they found Reeves in a park in Belleville. She survived in the woods for 30 hours before she was found.

    “They worked all night, never let up, and they found her and they saved her life,” St. Clair County Sheriff Mearl Justus said. “It’s that simple.”

    Police said Shelton apparently used his forearm to break Reeves’ neck.

    Here is Shelton’s MySpace.

    Welcome to the Rogues Gallery, Sammy. Hope those wrestling skills come in handy in prison.

    H/T to Steve Huff.