TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Category: Social Media Crime

  • Long Island predator on MySpace arrested

    Long Island predator on MySpace arrested

    MySpace Leads to Arrest of Sex Offender:

    41-year-old Joseph Burkett of Sound Beach, New York was arrested on Thursday on charges of molesting 5 boys.

    The police investigation began several weeks ago when officers received an anonymous tip “that an adult male may have a MySpace page and (may) be looking for young boys to sexually exploit,” said Suffolk County Police Detective Sgt. John Cowie.

    Cowie said MySpace had no involvement in the investigation, nor culpability in the case. “That’s just where he (Burkett) went shopping for victims, so to speak.”

    On Tuesday, a police officer spotted a car in front of a Sound Beach house that matched a description given by the tipster. He went to the door, found Burkett living there and noticed two 12-year-old boys in the house, authorities said.

    “We still didn’t have a crime at that point,” Cowie said.

    On Wednesday, police returned with a search warrant, and seized Burkett’s computer and a digital camera.

    On Thursday, after images of children being sexually exploited allegedly were found, Burkett was arrested.

    Cowie said that five victims have been identified; one of the boys was from the Binghamton area in upstate New York and met Burkett via MySpace.

    He said some of the boys were given bicycles, toys and other gifts to keep quiet.

    Of course, Burkett pleaded not guilty. I would love to hear the defense on this one. He’s being held on $500K bail.

  • 7 Texas sex offenders found on MySpace

    7 Texas sex offenders found on MySpace

    7 sex offenders who use MySpace arrested:

    With the information provided to the Texas Attorney General by MySpace, seven Texas sex offenders were arrested for being on MySpace.

    In Houston, officials arrested Patrick Joseph Blevins, 49; Reginald Lee Collins, 27; Ronald Daven Metoyer, 41; and Robert Shepard Walter, 23. Walter was also charged last month with failing to register as a sex offender.

    Scott Peter Hansen, 44, was arrested in Glenn Heights, a Dallas suburb. Information on his incarceration or attorney were not immediately available late Thursday.

    Jason Labronte Carr, 31, was taken into custody in Austin. A Travis County jail official said Thursday night she did not have access to information on Carr’s attorney of record.

    Jeremy Bryan Polak, 28, a parole violator accused of failing to register as a sex offender, was arrested in Round Rock, an Austin suburb. A Williamson County jail official said his records did not include Polak’s attorney of record.

    The really creepy thing is when I was looking for their MySpaces, I found a bunch with the same names that had varying ages. One had several different profiles that were attributed to his name and location that had different teenage ages.

    Thanks to Shyloh for the tip.

  • Facebook lynch mob

    Facebook lynch mob

    Police interest has Facebook group changing tune:

    A Facebook group was started in Toronto when a woman by the name of Tabitha Etches, accused of abandoning her baby and leaving it to die, was granted bail.

    The moderator of the group claims that the group was started to speak out on behalf of the baby. However, with the internet being what it is, it didn’t take long for things to get out of hand.

    One of the Facebook group’s 200 members advocated running Etches out of the community for the alleged crime while another urged members to show up at her next court date with signs and friends to “show (their) hate for her.”

    Other messages posted on the website described Etches as “sick” and “twisted” and expressed hope she would “rot in hell” or be beaten while in prison.

    That, of course, attracted the attention of local police.

    The moderator now claims that she has deleted the more obscene and violent comments.

  • Bad Ronald

    Bad Ronald

    MySpace predator sentenced to 10 years:

    51-year-old Ronald L. Phillips of Richmond, Virginia was sentenced to 10 years behind bars this past Monday for trying to meet up with a 14-year-old girl for sex over MySpace. Guess what. The 14-year-old girl was actually an agent for the FBI.

    Go figure.

    Phillips was arrested in a motel parking lot the night before he was supposed to meet “the girl”.

  • Another VF stalker

    Another VF stalker

    Bothell man stalked teens on goth Web site:

    30-year-old Sean E. MacMartin of Bothell, Washington, has been arrested for stalking and grooming teenage girls for sex on the goth social site VampireFreaks.

    Scary…

    Within the past few months, he’s been charged with five counts of rape of a child in the third degree in cases involving girls between the ages of 13 and 14. He coerced them into coming to his Bothell home.

    Detectives fear there could be more victims.

    The girls got to know MacMartin online. He used nicknames including Soroth, Darklord, and most frequently – Soth.

    Eventually they agreed to meet in person at his home, believing the then 29-year-old was in his late teens or early 20s.

    Some of the underage girls had sex willingly,

    But for at least one, it was not consensual.

    In court papers, one alleged victim says:

    “… when “Soth” was cooking he asked (the victim) if she wanted some wine with her dinner. (the victim) told “Soth” that she was fourteen. “Soth” said that there were no cops around.”

    After dinner, the victim says she fell asleep, then:

    “… (the victim) said that she woke up to “Soth” biting her neck. (the victim) said that “Soth” held her hands above her head and sex with her even after she told him to stop.”

    Scarier…

    Charges have also been filed against MacMartin’s roommate, Robert Schwarzinger, who is accused of having repeated sex with a 13-year-old girl.

    Scariest…

    MacMartin was able to post his half million dollar bail and is currently out of jail.

    I have a feeling we might be seeing Mr. MacMartin’s name in the future…repeatedly.

  • Another Naperville creeper gets caught

    Another Naperville creeper gets caught

    MySpace page leads to charges:

    Is there something in the water in Naperville, Illinois? This is the third or fourth predator story that I’ve posted about that has happened in Naperville. Is it the creeper holy land of the Midwest?

    Anyway, 30-year-old Anthony Kershaw, formerly of Naperville, was arrested Friday on child porn charges. Police were tipped off to “suspicious activity” on a MySpace that he created.

    A forensic examination of a computer seized from Kershaw’s former Naperville home revealed 100 images of child pornography, police said.

    That’s not a small number. Maybe they should make a law that says for every piece of child porn you get caught with, you get a year in prison. 100 years for this creep sounds about right, doesn’t it?

  • 23-year-old uses VF to sexually assault 16-year-old

    23-year-old uses VF to sexually assault 16-year-old

    Police: Vampire freaks site leads to sex assault:

    You know I’ve been hard on MySpace, craigslist, Xanga, and LiveJournal, but I’ve been neglecting one social networking site that I shouldn’t and that’s VampireFreaks. Now, before the goths start proclaiming that I’m persecuting them, I’m not. It just so happens that VF has had some pretty hardcore criminals in its userbase, most notably Kimveer Gill.

    Having said that, enter one 23-year-old Dan Miladinovic. He’s accused of using VF to arrange a meeting with a 16-year-old girl from Sugar Land, TX and sexually assaulting her.

    “They got in his car and drove around a little bit. At some point in time, she started feeling uncomfortable about the situation and wanted to go home,” said Sgt. Hines.

    But police say Miladinovic pulled in to a doctor’s office parking lot in the 3500 block of Town Center and sexually assaulted the teenage girl in his Mustang.

    It’s unknown if the victim was aware of his actual age or not.

    I was unable to find Miladinovic’s VF profile.

  • David Leonard charged once again

    David Leonard charged once again

    Sex-Assault Suspect Faces More Charges:

    David Leonard is one of the few recurring characters here. You can check out his previous transgressions here, here, and here. This scumbag has had so many charges of child molestation leveled against him, I’ve lost track if this is a new charge or not. I believe it is, but don’t quote me on that.

    VERNON — A local man in custody the past year on charges that he had sex with several underage girls he met on the social networking website MySpace.com has been charged with having sex with a 15-year-old Plymouth girl.

    David F. Leonard, 23, of Vernon, was charged Tuesday by state police with two counts of second-degree sexual assault and two counts of impairing the morals of a minor. During his brief arraignment before Judge Patricia L. Harleston, his bail was set at $75,000 and the case was continued to July 13. Leonard is being held, with bail totaling $715,300.

    In the new case,

    Well, that clears that up.

    the 15-year-old girl told state police that she met Leonard through another website, FaceTheJury.com. Leonard had sex with the girl on several occasions – at her Plymouth home, his dormitory room at Central Connecticut State University and his brother’s dormitory room at the University of Connecticut, police said. The arrest warrant served Tuesday is for the incidents that allegedly occurred in Leonard’s brother’s dorm room at UConn in Storrs.

    Police found the Plymouth girl after executing a search warrant on Leonard’s computer and finding images of the girl in various states of undress. The girl had sent the photos to Leonard via America Online’s instant messaging service.

    Police also found five photographs of Leonard’s penis that they say he sent to the girl via instant messaging.

    I want to say that this is the 11th or 12th charge against him. And as far as I know, all of his acts took place in the state of Connecticut. The same state where Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has pressured MySpace into implementing all sorts of impossible age verification checks. I guess when Leonard gets sentenced, it will be a litmus test to see how Mr. Blumenthal really handles child molesters.

    Thanks to Debbie for the tip.

  • West Philly man arrested for luring teens on MySpace

    West Philly man arrested for luring teens on MySpace

    Man Charged with Luring Teens on Myspace:

    27 or 28-year-old Jerome Booker of West Philadelphia was arrested for luring teens to his apartment while posing as a teenage girl named Jasmine and promised the boys sexual favors.

    Police are investigating to see if there have been any other victims.

    A word of advice for teens from your Ol’ Uncle Trench. The hot girl on MySpace doesn’t really want to have sex with you.

  • Joshua Innes

    Joshua Innes

    Man guilty of luring teens over Internet:

    25-year-old Joshua Innes of Montreal pleaded guilty to charges of luring a child under 18 on the Internet, extortion, and distributing child pornography.

    Court heard in an agreed statement of facts that Innes posed as a 16-year-old girl named Nicky from Calgary on the popular social networking site Nexopia.

    Innes began exchanging messages with the Edmonton girl, complimenting her and eventually turned the topic toward sex.

    He sent her a video that showed a teenage girl performing a sex act which the victim believed was Nicky.

    After persistent coaxing, the girl took off her clothes and performed sexual acts in front of her web camera, which Innes recorded in Montreal on his computer.

    About a week later, “Nicky” asked the girl what was the worst thing she’s ever done. She said she once talked about a friend behind her back and asked Nicky the same question. He replied, “I pretended to be a 16-year-old girl on the Internet.”

    Innes then demanded she perform more sex acts for the webcam or he would upload the video on the web and send it to people listed as friends on her Nexopia profile.

    The victim told a friend who alerted her parents, who called police.

    When an Edmonton police officer, Det. Randy Wickens, posed online as the victim, Innes aggressively demanded the girl perform again or he would send out the video.

    Innes was arrested in his home, where he lived with his parents.

    Sentencing will take place in August.