TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Category: Social Media Crime

  • Is MySpace finally getting serious?

    Is MySpace finally getting serious?

    MySpace.com hires child safety czar from Microsoft:

    News Corp. is set on Tuesday to name a security czar to oversee child safety measures on MySpace.com, the popular teen dating and music site that has provoked an outcry among parents who fear they have not done enough to thwart sexual predators.

    Hemanshu (Hemu) Nigam, now director of Consumer Security Outreach & Child Safe Computing at Microsoft Corp., will head up safety, education, privacy and law enforcement oversight programs for MySpace and other Fox Web properties.

    The appointment is effective May 1, News Corp.’s Fox Interactive Media, the parent of MySpace, said in a statement.

    The move is one of several responses MySpace and its owners have taken in recent months to respond to harsh criticism by parent groups, legal authorities and politicians.

    Nigam brings strong credentials to his new role. He has more than 15 years of experience in online safety, including serving as a Federal prosecutor against Internet child exploitation for the U.S. Department of Justice.

    He was also an advisor to a Congressional commission on online child safety, and an advisor to the White House on cyberstalking.

    Prior to Microsoft, Nigam was vice president of worldwide Internet enforcement at the Motion Picture Association of America, where he oversaw the global strategy to combat online video piracy for seven major Hollywood studios.

    Impressive credentials outside of that stint with the MPAA.

    MySpace reaching out to parents:

    MySpace has also hired more employees to handle security and customer care–roughly 100 people, or one-third of its workforce, scout out inappropriate content or underage members.

    Again, that is rather impressive, but will it be enough? Only time will tell.

  • MySpace getting serious about safety?

    MySpace getting serious about safety?

    National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the Advertising Council and MySpace Partner to Promote Online Safety:

    The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children(R) (NCMEC), the Advertising Council and News Corporation, parent company of Fox Interactive Media and MySpace, announced today a joint effort to promote online safety through the deployment of a series of national public service advertisements (PSAs). The PSAs, part of an ongoing Ad Council campaign, will begin running today through News Corporation’s broad network of distribution channels, and are designed to raise awareness about Internet safety and education.

    Sponsored by NCMEC and created pro bono by ad agency Merkley + Partners, the PSAs are designed to educate parents and guardians about measures they can take to better protect their children online, and to educate teens on how to be smart and maintain safe online relationships. The PSAs direct parents, guardians, and teens to visit www.cybertipline.com to learn about safe and responsible use of the Internet, as well as how to report threats.

    The PSAs will air on primetime on FOX, and across Fox Interactive Media’s network of websites including MySpace, FoxSports.com, IGN.com, Fox.com, AmericanIdol.com, Rotten Tomatoes and AskMen. The PSAs will also air on the 28 Fox Networks Group broadcast, cable and satellite services. Fox broadcast and cable networks running the campaign will include FOX, FX, National Geographic channel, Fox Movie Channel, Fox Reality, FUEL TV, FSN, SPEED, Fox College Sports Atlantic, Fox College Sports Central, Fox College Sports Pacific, Fox Soccer Channel and (in Spanish) on Fox Sports en Espanol. All Fox-owned-and-operated regional sports networks will likewise televise the PSAs. Additionally, Fox All Access radio and the New York Post will run the campaign.

    Normally, I would say this is just a PR move on Newscorp’s part, but I have tremendous respect for the NCMEC.

    Hopefully, this will make parents more aware of what’s going on online, but excuse me if I don’t hold my breath.

  • Letavec pleads not guilty

    MySpace suspect pleads not guilty of sex with teen:

    One of our earliest inductees to the Rogues Gallery, Stephen M. Letavec, pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges of traveling across state lines to molest a 14-year-old girl in Conn. that he met through MySpace. But here’s where it gets weird…

    He has been in custody since his arrest in Pennsylvania in February. The teenage girl’s mother and a girlfriend met Letavec and even welcomed him into their homes.

    The girlfriend’s mother allegedly allowed him to spend 13 hours with the alleged victim and her daughter in their home while the mother wasn’t there, according to court documents.

    Huh?

    What parent would let their 14-year-old daughter be befriended by a 39-year-old father of four that she met on MySpace?

    His MySpace has since been deleted and the cache has expired, however the always intrepid Mr. A has a mirror of it here.

    Mr. A also found this, where Letavec offers some kind of defense, stating that the girl claimed she was 18, and he was trying to help her out with family problems. Surprisingly, I’ve had commenters leave comments on my site about another man accused of traveling across state lines to engage in sex with a minor, who said the exact same thing.

    Will this become the MySpace molester’s mantra? That remains to be seen.

  • Mr. A Reports III

    Mr. A Reports III

    Mr. A brings us another report from the darkest depths of the internet. This time about a child porn ring that was broken up in Massachusetts. The crimes themselves did not take place on MySpace but on P2P networks. However,

    Mr. A brings us the MySpace profiles of two of the suspects. Michael Curley, who was arrested in February and Joseph Jaena who was arrested on 4/5. Welcome to the Rogues Gallery, boys.

    Mr. A, the scourge of the internet underworld, strikes again.

  • Yet another Creeper solicits a cop

    Yet another Creeper solicits a cop

    Deputy: Solicitation suspect said age didn’t matter:

    This time it’s in Missouri…

    A Bollinger County sheriff’s deputy testified in court Tuesday that a Jackson man arrested in an undercover police sting for soliciting sex with an underage girl had told the minor “age didn’t matter.”

    Following a preliminary hearing before Associate Circuit Judge Gary A. Kamp, Irvin E. Holderbaugh Jr., 40, was bound over to circuit court on charges of attempted statutory rape.

    During the hearing, Bollinger County deputy Kevin Otte said the defendant solicited a 14-year-old girl, who was actually an undercover officer, over the Internet.

    “He would like to have her and age didn’t matter,” Otte said of the defendant.

    The Bollinger County Sheriff’s Department set up a profile of a 14-year-old girl on the Web site MySpace.com, with a picture of a 21-year-old Bollinger County sheriff’s dispatcher when she was 18 years old posing as the minor.

    Holderbaugh began chatting with the girl online and sent her 10 pictures of himself, five of which were pornographic, Otte said.

    On March 11, the two arranged to meet at Jackson’s City Park to later have sex, according to Otte.

    And here’s the really sick part…

    As Holderbaugh began walking toward the dispatcher, police arrested him. During a search, officers found seven condoms, 11 Viagra pills, and a boxcutter knife on his person, Otte said.

    It’s scary to think what he might have planned with that box cutter.

    And thanks to the ever reliable Mr. A, we have what, we believe, is Holderbaugh’s MySpace profile. Here we have another case where a predator’s friends list consists mainly of porn stars. I have nothing against porn per se, but if your entire life revolves around porn than you may have a problem.

  • Mr. A Reports II

    Mr. A Reports II

    Mr. A brings another treasure trove of MySpace profile goodness…or in this case evil.

    First up is one of the first stories I ever posted here. It was about Patrick Phelan who was arrested for propositioning a cop who he thought was a 14-year-old girl. His MySpace is here, according to Mr. A. Now, why would a 42-year-old man have two 17-year-old girls as his MySpace friends?

    Mr. A also brings us this story about the international child porn sting that happened recently and how Paul Roy Peters IV, 19, of Sebring, Florida was busted in that sting. Here is his MySpace profile. That would explain why someone going into the Air Force would have a pink bunny background.

    Two weeks ago, I told you about Matthew Cargill, a 29-year-old from Honolulu who posed as a 16-year-old on MySpace named Nico to lure a 15-year-old girl and sexually assaulted her. Could this be that Nico?

    Mr. A, shining the light of truth into the dark crevices of MySpace.

  • Victims of The Duck

    Victims of The Duck

    Earlier today I told you about John Krieser the 39-year-old Wisconsin man who traveled to Texas to have sex with a 15-year-old girl. And at that time I promised you more MySpace profile goodness. Well, I lied. Oh, I have the MySpace profiles I’m going to talk about, provided to me as usual by Mr. A, but I’m not going to post the links because I only post the links of criminals, not of victims. And even though most of the people I’m going to talk about made bad choices, they are all victims of Krieser one way or another.

    The first profile provided to me by Mr. A was the one that we both believe is the victim involved in Krieser’s arrest. This is what her “About Me” had to say…

    i have been through soo much in my life and now is not a time to back down the ones i love are always the farthest from me so i willl sit here aqnd wait for the day when i can be free.

    Did she ever check Krieser’s friends list? If she did, she would find the profile of a 19-year-old from Wisconsin who had this to say about Krieser…

    My names is Tiffany and there isnt much that I want to say except that John thanks for everything you have done for me in my life. You keep me smiling everytime I think of you! I think of you and then when I see you I want you even more ! Im here for you anytime you need me John for anything and I mean anything !!

    Her profile also contains some risqué pictures that were taken by the rubber duck man himself.

    Then there’s the profile of a 19-year-old girl from North Carolina where Duckman left the comment “kisses all over your body”.

    And the most disturbing thing is that Johnny has a 14-year-old girl from Arkansas on his friends list. Unless that’s his niece or something, why would any 39-year-old man have a 14-year-old girl on his friends list? For that matter, why would a 39-year-old man have a MySpace?

    Well, now HisSpace is a concrete cell.

  • John Krieser

    John Krieser

    Teenage Victim’s Father Speaks Out about Daughter Being Solicited Online:

    This one is so wrong on so many levels, I don’t even know where to begin…

    An FBI investigation led to the arrest of a Wisconsin man accused of having a relationship with a West Texas teenager, who is a minor. Thirty-nine year-old John Krieser was arrested in his home in Cudahy, Wisconsin, he’s now charged with sexual assault. NewsChannel 11’s Kealey McIntire spoke with the victim’s father and has more.

    Raymond Stapleton says he knew his daughter was talking online with John Krieser for almost a year and a half, however he didn’t know until two months ago that Krieser was 39. Krieser’s MySpace profile doesn’t even give his age, it says he’s 99-years-old.

    Stapleton says he’s heard of teenagers being solicited online in the past, however he never thought it would happen to his daughter.

    It all started in a seemingly innocent way, two people chatting online. However, Raymond Stapleton says what would happen over the next several months are shocking. “I was one of those parents– all my life I said this will never happen to my child,” commented Stapleton.

    His daughter was 15-year’s-old when she started chatting with John Krieser on MySpace. One of Krieser’s profiles says he’s 23.

    Stapleton knew his daughter had chatted online with Krieser and had occasional phone conversations with him, however didn’t learn until January that Krieser’s true age is 39, and that Krieser traveled from his home in Wisconsin to Abernathy to visit his daughter. That’s when Stapleton called police. “When I found out he was here, within feet of my home taking my daughter in his van to who knows where, then I said no, something’s gotta be done about this.”

    The Texas Rangers report states “Krieser stayed with the teen for two nights during the first visit and for three nights during the second visit in August 2005.”

    Both times they stayed at the Motel Six near Interstate-27 in Lubbock. Also according to the report, the teen said “she had sex with Krieser one time at the motel. She stated the sex was consensual. She said she was 15 at the time.”

    The report also documents the precautions Stapleton took. It states “the teen had been cautioned about online contact with older men in the past.” It also says “cordless phones were removed from the Stapleton residence to prevent the teen from talking to Krieser.”

    Stapleton tells us he used many internet safety tools, but nothing worked. He says the best advice he can give to other parents is always know who your kids are chatting with. “You don’t want to be a buddy or pal all the time, but you do need to be a friend when it comes to something like this. You do need to know what they’re doing, you do need to look in there.”

    Stapleton says he began noticing questionable behavior when his daughter wanted to spend more time online than with family or friends. He says another way you can help fight internet predators is to keep your computer in a more used family room, not in your child’s bedroom.

    And of course, we have MySpace profile goodness. Thanks to the ever reliable Mr. A we have one of Krieser’s MySpace profiles here. Why does a 39-year-old man have such an obsession with rubber duckies? Anyway, we’ll have more MySpace profile goodness on Krieser from Mr. A later on tonight.

  • I’m from the government and I’m here to help

    I’m from the government and I’m here to help

    Blumenthal Asks MySpace To Make Site Safer For Kids:

    Why are most politicians so clueless?…

    HARTFORD, Conn. — Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has sent MySpace.com a letter asking the company to take steps to make the site safer for children.

    He is asking them to provide parents with software to block the Web site, ban kids under 16, institute new measures against pornography and take other steps to protect children from sexual predators and inappropriate material.

    Has Attorney General Blumenthal thought about asking parents to keep an eye on their own damn kids? MySpace has no responsibility to pay for software for the parents of teen MySpace users.

    I’m not surprised, though. An Attorney General is just another lawyer.

  • Ask Amy

    Ask Amy

    Mom finds MySpace a harmful disgrace:

    Check out this letter to an advice column called “Ask Amy”…

    DEAR AMY: I didn’t realize the harmful nature of MySpace.com until I received an anonymous copy of my 16-year-old daughter’s MySpace page. She thought it was “just fun and games” when she posted provocative pictures on her home page. I was shocked when I read her Web space, which was tame by comparison to other kids from our community who have posted lewd pictures with profane comments for the world to see! I’ll be monitoring my daughter’s activity, if not deleting it altogether, but what about the parents who are unaware of this Web site? What has our culture degenerated to when photos of girls imitating sexual acts and wearing bras in the midst of boys are posted online for anyone to see? No wonder we are so concerned about predators. Our children are making themselves targets for anyone to exploit.

    Saddened by Complacency

    Rather than give the whole answer away, I’ll just post the best part that should be common sense…

    DEAR SADDENED: If your daughter is demonstrating such poor online judgment, then it’s time to take the “car keys” away until she figures out that those photos could affect her life now and haunt her well into the future.

    Is that so hard for parents?