TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Category: Social Media Crime

  • Lori Drew verdict

    Guilty verdict on lesser charges in MySpace case:

    First off I hope you all had a Happy and safe Thanksgiving those of you in the U.S. Now on to the story I’m sure you’ve been waiting for me to talk about.

    Lori Drew was convicted. As I’m sure you all know by now she was only convicted of the lesser misdemeanor charges of three counts of accessing a computer without authorization. The jury was hung on the felony count of conspiracy. If I remember correctly the most she can get is one year a piece for each of the misdemeanor convictions. Let’s face it though, she’ll do no time.

    U.S. District Judge George Wu still has not ruled on the defense’s motion for a mistrial which could result in there being no conviction whatsoever.

    I’m going to wait on Judge Wu’s ruling before I offer any further commentary because anything I say now could be made moot come Monday or whenever he decides to rule.

  • Teens catch teacher creeper

    Cops: Teen boys pretend to be girl on MySpace, help catch teacher looking for date:

    34-year-old Scott Eugene Dietlin was a teacher at Casa Grande High School in Petaluma, California. He’d probably still be if it wasn’t for those meddling kids.

    A bunch of 15-year-old boys created a fake profile of a 15-year-old girl named ‘Jackie’. Dietlin contacted the fake girl and the boys played along. Dietlin, of course, sent the prerequisite naked pics of himself to ‘Jackie’. The boys finally decided to getting around to calling police.

    But here’s a puzzler for you. Is what the boys did any different from what Lori Drew did? Discuss.

  • Lori Drew trial wraps up

    Judge puts off ruling in Internet hoax case:

    U.S. District Court Judge George Wu said today that he will not rule on whether or not the charges against Lori Drew will be dismissed. Instead, he cited a rule that allows him to wait after a verdict is reached before deciding on dismissal.

    Meanwhile, the trial will continue.

    I have a feeling that George Wu already has his mind made up to dismiss but wants to see if the jury will take that responsibility away from him.

    The defense rested today without calling Lori Drew to the stand.

    The case has been sent to the jury after closing arguments. In those arguments, Drew’s attorney laid the blame of Megan’s death squarely at the feet of Tina Meier, Megan’s mother.

  • Lori Drew trial Days 2 and 3

    More highlights from the Lori Drew trial.

    Drew’s former hairdresser, Christina Chu, testified that Drew considered the harassment of Megan Meier ‘a funny story’. Chu even admonished Drew for what she was doing. When Chu asked why Drew wasn’t going to Megan’s wake Drew reportedly said: “It’s not like I pulled the trigger.”

    Ashely Grills testified that when Drew learned of Megan’s death that Drew said to her “`We could have pushed her overboard because she was suicidal and depressed.’” Ya think?

    And when Grills expressed her concerns to Drew about getting in trouble Drew dismissed it saying “It was fine and people do it all the time.”

    MySpace executive Jae Sung basically testified that you have to check a box that shows you accept MySpace’s TOS. You think that would be a stupid thing to testify about but not everyone out in the non-internet world knows this.

    Also, an FBI agent testified that Drew deleted files from her computer on the day of Megan’s suicide but they couldn’t tell what the files contained.

    The prosecution rested and the defense made a motion for dismissal claiming that the prosecution did not prove Drew committed a crime. The Judge did not reject the motion and will rule on the dismissal on Monday.

    Drew’s daughter Sara testified that Lori Drew told Ashley Grills to delete the fake MySpace two weeks before Megan committed suicide.

  • Day 1 of Lori Drew trial

    Lori Drew sent no Web messages to girl who later committed suicide, lawyer says:

    First, let me apologize for being a day behind the actual news. Unfortunately, that’s due to the demands my real life makes of me. Anyway, let’s get on to Lori Drew’s first real day in court yesterday.

    In his opening statement, Drew’s attorney claimed Drew’s innocence because she did not read MySpace’s TOS. He also claimed that Drew had little to no or connection to the plot to humiliate Megan Meier and placed the blame squarely on 18-year-old Ashley Grills. Grills admitted to sending the last message to Megan Meier that said the world would be better off without her. Grills has been given immunity for her testimony.

    The U.S. attorney, on the other hand, noted how flippant Drew had been in the wake of Megan Meier’s suicide.

    When asked by someone how she could show up at the girl’s wake, Drew said, “It’s not like I pulled the trigger,” O’Brien said.

    She told another woman that she didn’t feel “that bad” because of a prior suicide attempt, O’Brien said.

    Megan Meier’s mother, Tina Meier, testified and her testimony included details of Megan’s suicide.

    After the testimony was over Drew’s attorney called for a mistrial because of the details of Megan’s suicide saying that this is not a murder trial. The judge basically said you should have objected when you could have.

  • Lori Drew feels the sting

    Accused MySpace Mom Splashed With Juror Venom:

    This is a great blog post from L.A. Weekly about how much contempt the jury pool has for Lori Drew. I really can’t add anything except to go read this post.

  • Pleas offered in cheerleader beating

    Plea Deals Offered in Video Beating Case:

    Plea deals have been offered to all suspects remaining in the videotaped beating of Victoria Lindsay. The terms of the deal have not been made public and so far no one has accepted the plea.

    The remaining suspects are Kayla Hassall, Mercades Nichols, Brittini Hardcastle, April Cooper, and Brittany Mayes.

    If the cases go to trial they could be facing life in prison.

    You may want to also view this thread in which Mercades Nichols’ mom is an active participant.

  • Scott Shefelbine’s mom to be charged

    Tolland Sex Offender’s Mother Charged With Perjury:

    Who can forget our favorite MySpace predator Scott Shefelbine who was arrested over a dozen times even while on parole for assaulting underage girls? Or his father who was arrested for punching out a female reporter? Now Scott Shefelbine’s mother may now complete the Shefelbine family arrest trifecta.

    Prosecutors are charging 66-year-old Gail L. Shefelbine with nine counts of perjury.

    If you followed this site during the younger Shefelbine’s saga you’ll remember that Mrs. Shefelbine tried saying that her son’s violation of his house arrest was to attend church and as proof, she presented the classic standby of the church bulletin. Old school Catholics like myself will find that amusing.

    It turns out that Mrs. Shefelbine allegedly went around to different churches requesting old church bulletins.

    So if these accusations are true Mrs. Shefelbine basically covered for her son while he went out and diddled some underage girls.

    There’s also some issue of a possible fake beard that Shefelbine may have worn. I wonder if it was special effects type make up or if it was from a costume shop. Either thought is kind of disturbing.

  • Megan Meier’s suicide will be allowed in Drew trial

    Evidence of Megan Meier’s death will be permitted in Lori Drew’s cyber-bullying trial:

    On Friday after saying he probably wouldn’t allow it at trial U.S. District Judge George Wu ruled that prosecutors would be able to present Megan Meier’s suicide at Lori Drew’s fraud trial.

    I’m torn on this because it will lead to a conviction but it will also lead to an appeal and possibly an overturn of the conviction.

  • Man who posted nude pics of ex cries at sentencing

    Local man off to jail for posting naked photos of underage girl:

    I originally posted about Brian Jonathan Schultz here. He’s the guy from Edmonton who posted nude pics of his underage ex on Nexopia.

    He was recently sentenced to one year behind bars and at the reading of his sentence, he broke down and cried.

    Awwwwww, poor baby….not.