TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Category: Social Media Crime

  • Katherine Lester off again

    Katherine Lester off again

    Teen heads back to Middle East:

    You all remember Katherine Lester, don’t you? She was the 16-year-old girl from Michigan who ran away to be with her boyfriend that she met on MySpace. And by running away I mean flying to Israel because her boyfriend lives in West Bank. She was stopped in Jordan before she could reach Israel and was returned home to Michigan.

    Now she’s 18. But don’t think you have a chance, guys. She only has eyes for the Middle East and she’s heading back.

    The article I linked to says she’s spending less than a week there and then returning home. However, this article says that it’s a one-way ticket. If that’s true I honestly fear for her safety.

  • Alleged pimp pleads not guilty

    Alleged pimp pleads not guilty

    MySpace pimp suspect pleads not guilty:

    I originally posted about Melvin Parker Jr. here. He’s the 32-year-old California “man” who is accused of luring a 16-year-old girl over MySpace into prostituting for him. He has pleaded not guilty to pimping the girl out.

    The case began last month when San Rafael police saw the girl trolling for sexual customers in the Canal Area. The girl, a runaway from Washington state, told police she arrived in the Bay Area on Aug. 3 to see a man she had met on MySpace.com, the social networking site. After she arrived, the man threatened to harm her family if she did not work for him as a prostitute.

    Working with police, the girl arranged to meet the man at Burger King in the Canal area. Police arrested Parker when he showed up.

    Yet, he pleaded not guilty. Criminals never fail to crack me up.

    Parker is due back in court on October 9th.

  • Kevin Newland convicted

    Spokane man convicted in young woman’s slaying:

    It’s been a long time since we’ve discussed the disappearance and murder of 19-year-old Jamie Lynn Drake.

    To refresh your memory, Jamie Lynn Drake disappeared in June 2006. Her car was found being driven by one Kevin Newland. Newland eventually led police to Drake’s body and was charged with her murder.

    Cut to Friday, where Newland was convicted in Jamie Lynn Drake’s death. He’s looking at life without parole when sentenced. I wish he could be sentenced to death. Washington still has hangings.

  • Sioux Falls man pleads guilty to child sex

    Sioux Falls man pleads guilty to child sex

    Aaron Stanga

    Man pleads guilty to rape after meeting teen using MySpace:

    Meet Aaron Stanga. He’s a 21-year-old from Sioux Falls, SD who pled guilty to having sex with a 14-year-old girl that he met on MySpace. He’s looking at 5-years under the plea. However, there should be a parent being locked up for negligence…

    The victim told police she presented herself as 24 years old when she first began chatting with Stanga. The defendant told police he thought the girl was 16 when they had sex in June at her house.

    She said she was 24, and they had sex at her house. Parents anyone?

  • Shefelbine’s dad gets probation

    Shefelbine’s dad gets probation

    Suspect’s Father Gets Probation:

    David Shefelbine, the father of suspected serial predator Scott Shefelbine, received probation for punching out a female reporter.

    David Shefelbine of Tolland, father of Scott Shefelbine, received the special form of probation for a year, by Judge Patricia L. Harleston.

    In granting the probation, Harleston directed David Shefelbine to have “no assaultive behavior toward anyone, particularly anyone in the news media.”

    I guess there goes the father-son picnic at county lockup.

  • MySpace sex offender facing child porn charges

    MySpace sex offender facing child porn charges

    Sex offender faces child porn charges:

    Carl Courtright of Granite City, Illinois was one of those registered sex offenders that had a profile on MySpace when he shouldn’t have. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan used that to obtain a search warrant for Courtright’s home.

    Police searched the house on the morning of Aug. 9 and seized several computers, hard drives, and computer equipment.

    One DVD, listed in the search warrant return, is titled “Dateline NBC to Catch a Predator.”

    Investigators with Madigan’s High Tech Crimes Bureau used IP address information obtained from MySpace to learn that Courtright had been actively trading pornographic images over the Internet.

    “Child predators who think they are safe hiding behind a computer screen are no longer anonymous,” Madigan said in a written release. “We have the technology and we are committed to using all of our resources to seek them out and hold them accountable for their crimes.”

    It’s nice to see that a state attorney general is using the information to go after criminals and not just MySpace.

  • Court employee failed to supervise Shefelbine

    Court employee failed to supervise Shefelbine

    Court worker suspended for failing to track whereabouts of accused MySpace molester:

    You remember Scott Shefelbine, don’t you? He’s the guy who was arrested a brazillion times for molesting underage girls he met on MySpace, even after he was already arrested.

    It turns out that a court employee has been suspended without pay because she failed to keep track of Shefelbine after one of the many times he posted bail.

    During that time, it’s believed he visited one of his victims when his bond specified he was forbidden from doing so.

  • Werribee victim may have to testify

    Werribee victim may have to testify

    Trio to plead not guilty over DVD attack:

    Alleged victim to appear at DVD trial:

    Three suspects in the infamous Werribee, Australia sexual assault DVD intend to plead not guilty when they return to court in December. This ought to be good considering the suspects were caught on videotape, but it’s not like the court is going out of its way to actually punish these criminals.

    To make matters worse, attorneys for some of the suspects are planning on questioning the victim under cross-examination. Normally, I would say that tactic may work against them, but again, the courts aren’t bending over backwards to punish these teenage rapists.

    Thanks to Alan for the tip.

  • Utah MySpace rapist

    Utah MySpace rapist

    Hurricane police arrest rape suspect who met alleged victim on MySpace.com:

    Police In Hurricane, Utah arrested 21-year-old David R. Miller (no MySpace found) on rape charges. Miller met his 18-year-old victim on MySpace after she had recently moved to the area to attend school.

    The victim told police she had numerous on-line conversations with the suspect and the two agreed to meet. They drove to a remote location in Hurricane City, where the reported rape occurred.

    The alleged suspect was located and interrogated a few days later. Det. Raleigh Morris arrested 21-year-old David R. Miller on one count of rape and one count of forcible sodomy, both first class felonies. Miller was booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility on Aug. 28.

    Purgatory doesn’t quite sound enough. I wish it was called the Hell Correctional Facility myself.

  • Facebook lynch mob strikes again

    Facebook lynch mob strikes again

    Facebook group made false assumption with released sketch:

    The Riley County Police Department in the area of Kansas State University released a sketch on Friday of someone wanted for questioning in connection with a serial rapist that has been plaguing the area.

    A Facebook group called “Catch Him 2007: We Need Your Help!” posted the sketch and stated that the person in the sketch was the actual rapist. One thing leads to another and someone finds a picture on Facebook that resembled the sketch and the guy’s name and picture were posted next to the sketch. Those postings have since been removed.

    Not surprisingly, police are not happy.

    While this individual might have resembled the sketch, Swartz said, sketches are not always perfect representations because they are based on descriptions given to a sketch artist.

    “What I don’t want is people thinking this is the rapist and exclude other individuals that may appear suspicious,” Det. Carla Swartz said.

    A concerned citizen’s best option is to refer to police information on issues like the alleged rapist, because students easily can cross the legal grounds of libel or harm the reputation of someone who is accused in a public forum, Swartz said.

    Leave the sleuthing to the professionals.