TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Category: Social Media Crime

  • 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.

  • Another Conn. Creeper

    Another Conn. Creeper

    Chaplin man arrested; allegedly met girl, 13, on MySpace.com:

    A 27-year-old Chaplin man was arrested and a missing 13-year-old Hebron girl was found in a Portland motel room late Monday night. State police say the pair allegedly began a relationship after she used the Web site Myspace.com.

    Aaron Whitney was charged with second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor. He is being held on $750,000 bond and was to appear in Middletown Superior Court today.

    State police responded to a complaint of a missing girl Monday afternoon. Troopers learned the girl never got on her school bus and did not go to school. After finding out about the alleged relationship, police identified the suspect and put out descriptions of the suspect, his car and the missing girl. A Portland police officer located the car at the Portland Motel just before midnight. Police say both Whitney and the girl were in the room.

    Whitney was taken into custody and the girl was transported to Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, was treated and released to her parents.

    What is up with Connecticut? It seems like they have more of these stories than any other state.

    Anyway, here is more than likely Aaron Whitney’s MySpace. The only thing that doesn’t match is his age. Plus, it’s all stripped down. Maybe he was clearing it in case of an arrest.

  • Pamela Rogers Video

    Pamela Rogers Video

    Pamela Rogers

    Bad Jocks has one of the cell phone videos that Pamela Rogers sent to her victim here. You may not want to view this one at work.

    And again I say if this was a male teacher sending suggestive videos to a 15-year-old willing female student, you’d all be crying for blood.

  • Patrick Buss

    Patrick Buss

    MySpace predator suspect caught in LaPine:

    A 24-year-old Hubbard, Ore. man was arrested after knocking on the door of a LaPine motel room, allegedly to meet two high school girls he chatted up in sexually explicit fashion at the online site MySpace.com, police said Friday.

    Patrick Nicholas Buss was lodged in the Deschutes County Jail in Bend on several charges but released early Friday on his own recognizance, pending a court date next month, officials said.

    Last month, two LaPine High students contacted the sheriff’s school resource officer and reported receiving sexually explicit e-mails from an unknown man at MySpace.com, said sheriff’s Capt. Tim Edwards.

    The contact initially was only “friendly conversation, but changed to sexually explicit language over the course of a few weeks,” Edwards said.

    Sheriff’s detectives began an investigation and identified the man as Buss, the captain said.

    Buss allegedly made arrangements to come to LaPine “for the purpose of having sexual contact with the girls,” Edwards said in a news release.

    Thursday evening, Buss allegedly knocked on a motel room door “where he believed one of the girls was present, but instead was (greeted) by sheriff’s detectives who took him into custody without incident,” Edwards said.

    Early Friday, Deschutes County sheriff’s detectives raided Buss’s home in Hubbard, a small town between Salem and Portland, and seized additional evidence, Edwards said.

    Buss was lodged in the Bend jail on charges of computer crime, contributing to the sexual delinquency of a minor and third-degree charges of attempted sex abuse, attempted rape and attempted sodomy, Edwards said.

    But a jail officer said he was released from the crowded jail Friday morning on his own recognizance pending a May 19 court date.

    And we have two MySpace profiles for Buss, here and here.

    Welcome to the Rogues Gallery, Paddy.

  • Pretty Predator

    Pretty Predator

    Pamela Rogers

    “Pamela Rogers Faces New Accusations”: (Video of news article in the link)

    There are new accusations Wednesday against convicted sex offender and former Warren County teacher Pamela Rogers. Rogers was arrested after the district attorney said she recently sent a pornographic video of herself to her teenage victim.

    Rogers served six months in jail for having a sexual relationship with at 13-year-old student. She was released from jail on February 26. On April 12, police arrested Rogers for violating her probation. Rogers reportedly made contact with the victim and his family through a MySpace website, referring the young victim by his basketball jersey number.

    But it’s ok because she’s an attractive woman. [/sarcasm]

    She’s not the brightest crayon in the box, is she?

    Link via Digg.

  • Phoenix woman uses MySpace to have sex with teenage boys

    Phoenix woman uses MySpace to have sex with teenage boys

    Woman Accused Of Being Online Predator:

    Police in the Phoenix, Arizona suburb of Goodyear say a 36-year-old woman used the web to pull a kind of “bait and switch” on teenage boys. The woman is now in jail.

    Neighbors say there are plenty of kids in this new west Valley neighborhood where Peggy Ross lives.

    Goodyear police claim 36-year-old Peggy Ross used the popular website myspace.com posting a phony profile to lure teenage boys to chat rooms, then to her home.

    Cmdr. Ralph Mclaughlin says the picture she posted on myspace.com was not hers, but that of an unknown teenage girl.

    Investigators say a 15-year-old boy eventually came forward, claiming he had sex with Ross who police say has three children of her own.

    Police believe other boys were victimized but reluctant to come forward, perhaps because the suspect is a woman.

    Again, this is no different from any of the male predators that have been seen on this site.

  • Florida man uses MySpace to have sex with 14-year-old girl

    Florida man uses MySpace to have sex with 14-year-old girl

    MySpace contact results in man’s arrest:

    BROOKSVILLE A 24-year-old Spring Hill man has been charged with sexual battery after he met a 14-year old girl on a popular Internet site, then had sex with her, according to an arrest affidavit from the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office.
    James M. Tarduno, 3137 Wiltshire Ave., was arrested Tuesday and faces charges of lewd and lascivious battery on a child 12 years of age or older, but younger than 16.

    The victim told investigators that she met Tarduno on MySpace.com, a popular social Internet site frequented by young people.

    The two corresponded for a month online and through text messages on cell phones, then made arrangements to meet for sex, according to the report.

    Tarduno met the victim at her house last Friday and they walked to Tarduno’s home, where they had sexual contact in the driveway, the report said. They also had sex in Tarduno’s station wagon, police said.

    Tarduno later admitted to the sexual offense when contacted by investigators.

    Like this story wasn’t creepy enough…

    According to the report, Tarduno worked in security at Eckerd Youth Alternatives E-How-Kee Camp, a camp in Brooksville for troubled youngsters.

    Tarduno started as a night watchman at the camp earlier this year and had no direct contact with youngsters there, said Lou Anne Banks, a spokeswoman for Eckerd Youth Alternatives, when reached Tuesday afternoon.

    Banks said Tarduno passed law enforcement background checks at the time of his application. She said Tarduno ‘no longer works with us as of this morning.’

    When I was 24, I dated one girl who was 21 and another who was 19. 19 is still a little young for a 24-year-old, but she was still LEGAL!!!

    I’ll never understand how any legal adult in their right mind would want to have sex with a 14-year-old girl.

    I couldn’t find the MySpace of the suspect at this time.

  • Question about Pamela Rogers

    Question about Pamela Rogers

    Pamela Rogers

    I have a question. Why is it that Pamela Rogers is not being viewed as a predator like any other teacher that would have sex with a 13-year-old student?

    If it was a male teacher and a female student, we’d all be crying out for his blood. But since she’s an attractive female and the student is male, it’s considered “no big deal” and brings cries of “I wish I had teachers like that when I was 13”.

    Pamela Rogers is a predator, plain and simple. No different from any of the other scumbags that have been profiled here.

  • Teens’ secret MySpace lives

    Teens’ secret MySpace lives

    Mom finds her teen’s secret life on MySpace:

    Another parent with no clue, waking up to the harsh reality of their kids and the internet…

    Q: My 15-year-old daughter has a MySpace website (I overheard her talking about it on the phone with a girlfriend), and I was able to check it out last week. I was astonished with what I found a group picture with a bunch of her best friends, apparently at a party, most with a can of beer in their hand. She wasn’t holding a beer, but she was surrounded by kids who were. I also read some (but not all) of the notes on the site from her friends, and many were OK, but some were suggestive of other parties and some skipping of school. This is all news to me, and I don’t know how to approach her. I’m furious, but I’m also concerned and want to let her know that this behavior is not fine with me. But will she think that I was snooping? How is the best way to handle this?

    Who cares if she thinks you were snooping? You’re the parent. If your kids do not practice common sense or good judgment online, then it’s your job as a parent to watch out for them.

    Or you can click the article link for the lengthy answer by a professional.