TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Category: Social Media Crime

  • Megan Had It Coming is a hoax Part III: Hoax Confirmed

    Megan Had It Coming is a hoax Part III: Hoax Confirmed

    I’m usually not one to say I told you so….ah who the hell am I kidding? Thanks to Mondoreb, from DBKP we now know that ‘Megan Had It Coming’ was a hoax like I’ve been telling you all along. So if you’ll allow me…

    *AHEM*

    I told you so.

    But someone was even more right than me, and that would be Pat from Belchspeak. Early on he told me that it was probably someone from Encyclopedia Dramatica, and it turns out he was dead on. For those of you who don’t know, ED is a bizarro world version of Wikipedia that keeps track of all the drama on the internet. ED’s admission to it can be found here, where they also refer to yours truly as an internet genius. Yes, I know they’re being sarcastic.

    However, as crass and tasteless as this stunt was on ED’s part (as in I hope the hoaxter gets a kick in the balls by karma) the hoaxter has a point. Some assclown posts a blog claiming to be Lori Drew and a lot of you fell for it hook line and sinker, further perpetuating the sad realization that even today some people will believe anything they see on the internet.

    Remember Trench’s Internet Law #1 kids. Be skeptical and don’t trust anyone.

  • Man sentenced for false imprisonment

    Man sentenced for false imprisonment

    Jail, probation in MySpace imprisonment case:

    29-year-old Rami George Tawasha of South San Francisco was sentenced for the false imprisonment of a woman that he met on MySpace. He was sentenced to 6 months in jail and three years probation. He accepted a plea in order to avoid a trial for charges of forced oral copulation, sexual penetration, sexual battery, and false imprisonment.

    According to prosecutors, in January 2006 Tawasha met the 23-year-old victim on MySpace, a popular social networking Internet site. They allegedly agreed to meet at the Hillsdale Shopping Center in San Mateo and eventually returned to her home.

    After the couple initially kissed, Tawasha allegedly forced himself on the woman over her protests and drove her back to the shopping center.

    Since the charges were originally forced oral copulation, sexual penetration, and sexual battery, he was smart for taking the plea but stupid for what he did to that woman.

  • 31 and 13 both say they’re 16

    31 and 13 both say they’re 16

    Man Arrested After Meeting 13-year-old Girl on MySpace:

    31-year-old Corey Hubbard of Valdosta, Georgia was arrested after taking a 13-year-old girl from Canton, Georgia he met on MySpace to a hotel. Here’s the mileage in case you were wondering.

    Both we’re pretending to be 16-year-olds on MySpace. In case you were wondering again, 16 is the age of consent in Georgia.

    Investigators said the two ended up at a Canton motel in the middle of the night. Officers said fortunately, the young girl had second thoughts. Investigators said Hubbard paid for a room, but just before going inside, the girl told Hubbard that she needed to make a phone call.

    “She text messaged her friend and her father called back and told her to get to the hotel manager’s office,” said Sergeant Baker.

    Pryush Patel, the hotel manager who called 911 said, “She told me she was here with someone and she was scared.”

    When authorities arrived at the hotel, the girl was reunited with her parents and Hubbard was arrested.

    Luckily, the girl had second thoughts or else we might be talking about this as a missing child story…

    “This turned out pretty good considering the items we found in the trunk, a knife, rope, rubber gloves and a cooler,” said Sergeant Baker.

    It sounds like they might have been finding this girl in 5 different counties.

    Again, parents, if you ever needed any more incentive to monitor your kids’ internet activity, this should be it.

  • ‘Megan Had It Coming’ is a hoax Part II

    ‘Megan Had It Coming’ is a hoax Part II

    MySpace Mom Linked to Missouri Teen’s Suicide Being Cyber-Bullied Herself:

    Lori Drew is denying any connection to ‘MHIC’ through her attorney…

    Drew’s attorney, Jim Briscoe, denied that Drew had any involvement with the “Megan Had It Coming” blog.

    “I can categorically say that she did not write it,” Briscoe told FOXNews.com. “She has not said anything on the Internet, on any blogs, on any Internet sites.”

    Briscoe said that Drew, a neighbor of the Meiers, has purposely remained silent in the media and online during the investigation and since.

    “That’s part of why she’s remained silent, so there’s no confusion about that,” Briscoe said. “Anything that’s on the Web is not true. She hasn’t done anything. She doesn’t know anybody who’s done it — anybody who’s doing it or has done it.”

    I would think that if Lori Drew is smart enough to obtain the services of an attorney, that she wouldn’t be that stupid to make this blog. Especially since the Meiers will more than likely pursue civil action.

    However, prosecutor Jack Banas is investigating MHIC to see if any harassment laws were broken.

    If I were the person behind MHIC I’d be worried about a knock on my door from investigators.

  • ‘Megan Had It Coming’ is a hoax and other news

    ‘Megan Had It Coming’ is a hoax and other news

    MySpace Bully Talks Back (Maybe):

    If you’ve been following the Megan Meier story like I have, then you’re familiar with the ‘Megan Had It Coming’ blog. I’m not going to link to it because whoever is running it doesn’t deserve the attention. Anyway, it’s allegedly being posted by someone close to the situation who believes that Megan Meier deserved what she got.

    Some media outlets think it may actually be Lori Drew posting that blog. As a matter of fact, I had a journalist ask me my opinion on its authenticity yesterday. I think it’s a hoax, and I’ll tell you why.

    The posts at ‘MHIC’ are awfully similar to the comments left by someone calling themselves ANONYMOUS that posted on one of my Megan Meier entries. The e-mail address they used to leave a comment traced back to the MySpace of a 16-year-old black girl from Michigan. It is possible that ANONYMOUS was using a fake address that just happened to coincide with that MySpace, but the MySpace in question has since been deleted ever since I made that fact public.

    The second reason I think it’s a fake is because ANONYMOUS’ IP address traced back to Louisville, KY. That’s roughly 260 miles from where the Drews lived. Now since the Drews have allegedly disappeared, that might be where they’ve moved to, but I can’t be certain of that without knowing the date that they moved. Another reason I think it’s a fake is that I would like to believe that even Lori Drew, in light of what’s happened, wouldn’t be that stupid or callous to make a blog called ‘Megan Had It Coming’.

    However…

    Woman Accused Of Setting Up False MySpace Page That Led To Girl’s Suicide Breaks Her Silence:

    …it seems that Lori Drew is speaking through her attorney.

    But now Drew denies she was even home when the malicious messages were being sent. “She didn’t find out about it until after Megan had taken her own life,” her lawyer Jim Briscoe told a U.S. network.

    A police report contends that Drew asked an 18-year-old employee to create the false I.D., but there’s now some confusion about how it actually came into being and who sent the messages. She “did not create the MySpace account,” Briscoe maintains. “She did not instruct anybody to create the MySpace account. She never made any communications through the MySpace account.”

    Her lawyer claims Drew is losing business because people are blaming her for the girl’s death and are afraid to be associated with her. Her own neighbours will no longer even talk to her. And if the motive really was to see what was being said about her own child online, that’s backfired, too. “Her daughter has had to drop out of school because of the harassment,” Briscoe reveals.

    He claims even if she did have some knowledge about the existence of the site, she wasn’t aware of the kinds of notes being posted to the girl or she would have stopped it. “She wished she did. If she could turn back the clock, that’s the part she would do differently,” he insists.

    Cry me a river. The Meiers aren’t buying it, and neither am I. The Meiers are planning civil action against the Drews. I guess the Drews will have to come out of their hole eventually.

  • The Drews disappear

    The Drews disappear

    MySpace Suicide Teen’s Harassers Vanish:

    According to this blog post from AOL News Bloggers, it seems the Megan Meier’s tormentors, the Drews, have disappeared off the face of the earth.

    If, after reading about the story, you’re filled with a similar urge to vandalize the Drews’ house, you’re not alone. Some media outlets posted their names, and they’ve been the subject of escalating violence, detailed here. Now it seems they’ve disappeared from the neighborhood, leaving — wisely — no forwarding address.

    I wonder if they left before or after yesterday’s press conference about no criminal charges being filed.

  • No criminal charges in Megan Meier’s suicide

    No criminal charges in Megan Meier’s suicide

    Prosecutor: No Criminal Charges in MySpace Suicide:

    As expected, St. Charles County Prosecutor Jack Banas announced at a press conference earlier today that there will be no criminal files charged in the harassment/suicide death of Megan Meier.

    “Their purpose was never to cause her emotional harassment that we can prove,” Banas said. “There’s a difference between what people think or what we may believe the reason was that they created this, it’s what we can prove and what a jury would believe.”

    Banas said statements from the neighbor and two teens who participated in the fictitious account couldn’t meet criminal standards for the state’s statutes on harassment, stalking or endangering the welfare of a child.

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation lead the investigation after the U.S. Attorney’s Office was contacted by the Meier family, Banas said.

    In a perfect world, there would be charges filed against the adults that caused Megan Meier to commit suicide. Then again, in a perfect world, adults wouldn’t descend into this kind of behavior then act like it wasn’t their fault.

  • Florida man arrested for sexual battery

    Florida man arrested for sexual battery

    Richard Gagnon Jr.

    Detectives:Man met Lakeland teen through MySpace and Sexually Battered Her:

    That distinguished looking gentleman at right is one 39-year-old Richard Gagnon Jr. He’s been arrested for performing sexual acts on a 14-year-old girl that he met over MySpace. Gagnon is accused of making several trips from Fort Lauderdale to Lakeland, Florida to have sex with the girl.

    Detectives say Gagnon sexually battered her on several of those trips. Gagnon admitted to investigators that he knew the victim was 14 years old.

    During the most recent incident, on Friday, investigators say the girl left her Lakeland home around 11:30 pm while her mom was sleeping.

    The victim agreed to meet Gagnon, and the two drove together to the Motel 6 located at 3120 US Hwy 98 North in Lakeland.

    When the girl’s mother woke up in the morning, investigators say, she found a note written by the victim girl saying that she had left and would return in a week.

    The mother called the Sheriff’s Office, and detectives, after talking to the victim’s friends, learned their location.

    Gagnon is facing numerous charges, including traveling to meet a minor and enticing a minor via the internet.

  • Hacker gets 110 years

    Hacker gets 110 years

    Hacker gets 110 years for threats on MySpace:

    33-year-old Ivory Dickerson of North Carolina was sentenced to 110 years. He was accused of hacking into the MySpaces of girls from Brevard County, Florida. Sentence a little harsh, you say? Well, Dickerson would hack into the MySpaces and the girls’ computers to try to extort pornographic images of themselves. Sentence still too harsh, you say?

    While investigating the hacking case, the local FBI Innocent Images Task Force uncovered a cache of child pornography dating to 1998 and videos of Dickerson with young girls, thought to be about 15 years old. In the video, Dickerson boasts of drinking with them in his room and having sexual encounters with them, according to court records.

    Not so harsh now, huh?

  • Man posts underage pics of ex on Nexopia

    Man posts underage pics of ex on Nexopia

    Man pleads guilty to distributing child porn:

    21-year-old Brian Johnathan Schultz of Edmonton, Alberta pleaded guilty to charges of distributing child porn. It seems that Schultz was dating a girl who was 16 and photographed their sexual exploits.

    The girl tried to end the relationship, but Schultz couldn’t accept that. Schultz had started posting nude pictures of the girl on his Nexopia profile and was offering more for anyone who requested.

    When the girl contacted Nexopia the photos were pulled. Schultz then presented the girl with a diamond ring, but the girl still refused. Then Schultz had set up a complete website offering photos of the girl.

    Canadian law states…

    The age of consent is 18 years where the sexual activity involves exploitative activity, such as prostitution, pornography or where there is a relationship of trust, authority or dependency. For other sexual activity, the age of consent is 14 years.

    So the sex was legal but the photos were not.

    Schultz is set to be sentenced early next year.

    First off, I’ll probably have my man card revoked for this, but ladies, don’t let your SOs take nude photos of you. Eventually, they’ll find their way to the internet.

    Now to the guys, we’ve all been there. We’ve all had the girlfriend that we wanted back no matter the cost after we got dumped. However, have some dignity and let her go. You’ll both be better off that way.

    Thanks to LiLO for the tip.