TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Category: Social Media Crime

  • MySpace is on tubes

    MySpace is on tubes

    Ted Stevens Returns, Wants to Ban Kids from MySpace:

    Just when it seemed that DOPA was dead, here comes Senator Ted Stevens. Yes, that Ted Stevens. The one with the tubes and the dump truck. Except his is called the Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act.

    As far as sites like MySpace go, Senator Stevens’ bill is no different from DOPA. It seems like he’s trying to sneak it through by tying it in with tougher child pornography and privacy laws.

    And yet, with all Senator Steven’s bluster about protecting children, there’s still no mention of having parents monitor their children’s internet activity better.

  • We get letters

    I received the following e-mail from someone only calling themselves Bert…

    RE: I think you should stop your site

    Really, in any community of 100 millioin people there will always be a spread of bad people. Your one of them. By focussing on bad stuff your feeding the appepite of wannabe bad people. We dont need you doing what you do. We already have the news. Do you think that tech-incompetent parents are going to read your site? No. The only people reading your site are the bad guys, and their jerking off to it. Your fascination with this material is clinically questionable. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were peaodo yourself.

    Methinks Bert doth protest too much.

    I’m not going to bother defending myself because my stance on predators has been established. However, I will not have you sully the good name of my readers.

    Are you going to take that, readers? He called you all the bad guys and that you’re jerking off to my site. Please let Bert know what you think in the comments.

  • Boomalicious II: Electric Boogaloo

    Boomalicious II: Electric Boogaloo

    Police: Suspect posed as teen:

    I originally posted about Joseph Polk aka “Boomalicious” here. He is the 36-year-old from Klamath Falls, Oregon who posed as a 15-year-old on MySpace in order to have sex with a 14-year-old girl.

    In addition to his Boomalicious profile, he also had one under the username I-A-G. I was unable to find either. But to make matters worse, Polk was a religion teacher at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Like the Catholic Church doesn’t have enough problems with that.

    He was asked to resign that volunteer position by the church. The church has talked to the children under Polk’s tutelage, and so far, no abuse has been discovered.

    Thanks to Pilar for the link.

  • Metal Molester

    Metal Molester

    Randall S. Shesto II

    Band singer charged for sex with girl, 15, he met on MySpace.com:

    The green-haired gentleman pictured above is not the Joker. His name is Randall Shesto II, aka RJ Nailwounds. He’s the 20-year-old lead singer for the heavy metal band Nailwounds from Wisconsin. He was arrested for allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old girl he met on MySpace. The girl snuck out of the house to meet Shesto, and it only went downhill from there…

    Shortly after 1 a.m. Jan. 12, Shesto picked up the girl and drove to a remote area in the Town of Scott, where he pulled off the road into a field entrance and the two had consensual sex in the back seat of his car.

    The two were then driving on Mapletree Road north of Brazelton Drive about 1:40 a.m. when Shesto veered off the road and crashed the car, according to the Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department. Both suffered minor injuries in the crash.

    Shesto is charged with sexual assault of a child which has a 25-year max. Shesto is out on bond.

    Here is Shesto’s MySpace. It’s been set to private but thanks to Mr. A we have the Google cache of Shesto’s MySpace. And here is the MySpace for Nailwounds.

    And remember kids. Coloring your hair is so not metal. \m/

  • Lawsuit’s a loser

    Lawsuit’s a loser

    MySpace Lawsuits Called Losers:

    It seems I’m not the only one who thinks the latest lawsuit against MySpace is without merit. So does law professor Eric Goldman.

    First, Goldman says, it’s a stretch under the legal definition of causation to assert that MySpace contributed to a crime that didn’t occur on its premises.

    Second, he said, the law “routinely insulate[s] Web sites for liability for torts committed outside their network.” Thus, he points out, AOL was not held liable for child porn generated elsewhere and distributed through its network.

    Why bother with the lawsuit then? Goldman speculates, “Given the obviously futile nature of this lawsuit, this lawsuit may be more about publicity than about seeking justice.”

    As Goldman points out, the risk of high-profile lawsuits like this is that they may encourage ill-conceived, knee-jerk legislation. The problem is even the most extreme restrictions seem reasonable if the purpose is “protecting kids.” How many politicians, for example, would have the courage to oppose something like “The Boil Pedophiles Alive Act of 2007”? Not many, I suspect.

    Let’s hope this lawsuit never goes any further.

  • Men caught in 14-year-old’s bed

    Men caught in 14-year-old’s bed

    Men Arrested In MySpace Sex Case:

    These two attractive gentlemen are Jover Mabaet and Dennis Keomoungkhoune of Portland, Oregon. Both are 21 and have been arrested for engaging in sexual activities with a 14-year-old girl they met on MySpace. The victim’s father caught them both in bed with his daughter. To make matters worse, Mabaet was already under investigation for possibly having a relationship with another underage girl and Keomoungkhoune is already a registered sex offender.

    Now, I couldn’t find a MySpace for Keomoungkhoune, but I did find one for Mabaet. According to the article, he’s 21, but on his MySpace, he claims to be 17.

  • The latest MySpace lawsuit

    The latest MySpace lawsuit

    MySpace.com, News Corp. sued in assault cases:

    I’m surprised that this isn’t happening more often. Anyway, MySpace and its parent company News Corp. are being sued by families from New York, Texas, Pennsylvania and South Carolina who had children that were sexually assaulted by MySpace users. The suit alleges MySpace of negligence, recklessness, fraud, and negligent misrepresentation.

    Call me callous if you want, but as far as I’m concerned, this lawsuit is frivolous. The people who are really responsible for the attacks are already behind bars. It’s like suing the car manufacturer if your child was hit by a drunk driver.

    This lawsuit reeks of greed. The kind of greed that can only come from ambulance chasing attorneys.

    Pat from Belchspeak has a differing opinion.

  • Letavec pleads guilty

    Letavec pleads guilty

    Man pleads guilty to assaulting girl he met on MySpace.com:

    One of the first sexual predators ever mentioned on this site, Stephen M. Letavec, has pleaded guilty in Connecticut to one count of using the Internet to persuade a minor to engage in sexual activity and one count of traveling in interstate commerce for the purpose of attempting to have and having illicit sexual conduct with a minor.

    If you recall, Letavec, at the time of his arrest, was a 39-year-old father of two from Elrama, Pennsylvania who met a 14-year-old Connecticut girl through MySpace and traveled to Conn. to have sex with her. The girl said on her MySpace that she was 18, but later told Letavec that she was 14 prior to his visit. That scores high on the big ol’ ‘Eww’ scale. Further child molester creepiness…

    “I showed you what love is and how it feels,” Letavec wrote in an e-mail found in the girl’s school locker, according to an FBI report. “I want to show you how making love feels too, not just sex because there is a difference.”

    I feel like I need a shower just after copying and pasting that.

    Sentencing is scheduled for April 9th, and he’s looking at a max of 60 years.

  • Boomalicious

    Boomalicious

    MySpace: Man Arrested After Sexual Activity With Teen:

    36-year-old Joseph Polk of Klamath Falls, Oregon, has been arrested for engaging in sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl.

    The victim told a counselor that Polk had made contact with her in 2005 claiming he was a 15-year-old going by the screen name of “Boomalicious”.

    The two arranged to meet, at which time the victim realized the suspect was older. During this pre-arranged meeting, the two engaged in sexual conduct including oral sex.

    Detectives believe there may be other victims contacted by the suspect. Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to call OSP Detective Dennis Yaws at (541) 883-5713 ext. 321.

    I was unable to find a MySpace for Polk, but I’m sure with a name like “Boomalcious” he’ll be quite popular in his new home of the Klamath County Jail.

  • Scott Shefelbine arrested yet again

    Scott Shefelbine arrested yet again

    Sex Suspect Faces New Charges:

    I couldn’t make this one up if I wanted to.

    One of our most notorious predators profiled here has been arrested yet again. Scott Shefelbine was arrested again this past Tuesday on eleven, that’s 11, XI, um…eleven-o, new charges…ah ah ah ah ah. *lightning strikes* Ahem.

    For those of you that haven’t had the displeasure of reading about Mr. Shefelbine’s past transgressions click here. This time he’s been charged with five counts of first-degree sexual assault, three counts of illegal sale of liquor to a minor, attempt to commit first-degree sexual assault, kidnapping and unlawful restraint, and a partridge in a pear tree.

    To make matters worse, he’s out…AGAIN!!! So far, he’s posted $1M in bail, this time it’s $250K. Or should I say his family has posted his bail…

    Shefelbine, whose family operates a computer business, posted the new bail Tuesday. His next court appearance on the new charges is Jan. 26.

    Two questions here. Why doesn’t the court hold him without bail? I mean, he’s shown he’s a definite risk to re-offend. Secondly, why does his family keep paying his bail? Fool me once and all that. They’ll be lucky if they don’t lose their business.

    And to make two points that I’ve made before, at least he hasn’t been arrested as many times as Connecticut’s other serial molester, David Leonard. And for a state that is so down on MySpace, they sure have trouble keeping predators off the street.

    Thanks to Robin for the link.