TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Category: Social Media Crime

  • David Leonard arrested again

    David Leonard arrested again

    Leonard arrested on sexual assault charges:

    It seems our favorite Conn. College Creeper is at it again. Dave Leonard has been arrested once more…

    NEW BRITAIN – The rap sheet on 22-year-old David Leonard continues to expand as he was arrested on additional charges over the weekend after investigations revealed he may have committed illegal sexual acts with a pair of females in New Britain.

    Leonard, who is listed as living with his parents in Vernon, was arrested Friday morning on charges of two counts of second-degree sexual assault, two counts of illegal sexual contact, employing a minor in an obscene performance and promoting a minor in an obscene performance.

    This is the second time Leonard, who was arrested in May on charges of possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle, has been in trouble with New Britain police and the third time he has been arrested for sexual contact with a minor in the past year.

    Leonard is already facing charges of second-degree sexual assault on a minor in Tolland Superior Court for an incident that occurred in the Vernon area last fall and has been arraigned on charges of third-degree sexual assault and resisting arrest for an alleged encounter with two 12-year-old female victims in Newington.

    Details on the latest arrest were unavailable through the police department on Sunday afternoon. Leonard was detained over the weekend and the amount of bond withheld from arrest reports.

    You would think that since he’s been busted twice, he wouldn’t have tried it a 3rd time. That’s what you get for thinking. I hope this gets him sent away for an awfully long time.

    His MySpace has been removed and if he has a new one I can’t find it.

    H/T to Deb.

  • An open letter to Katherine Lester

    An open letter to Katherine Lester

    I received a comment on my very first entry about Katherine Lester. I thought it made such a good point that I decided to share it with you. It’s from a commenter named Mary…

    If you know Katherine, please give her this message: I have a god-daughter who began dating a guy who was just like Katherine’s “soul-mate.” He’s handsome, a sweet-talker, said all of the right things, treated her great and said he could not imagine life without her. She kept their relationship a secret from me and married him behind my back, then wrote me a letter & brought it to me, telling me about their marriage. What a betrayal….what a hurt! Though she is not my birth daughter, I love her as if she were and pray for her, always. Several weeks later, the mask came off: He was not Italian (as he had been telling her) he was a Muslim and demanded that she convert, or else. She refused. All Hell broke loose, including physical fights, destruction of her property (her car, clothes and condo) and finally, threats of death. After many bizarre and scary months, she was able to get the marriage annulled. (He refused to have sex with her unless she converted). The threats continued, however, for a year or so after the annulment. Katherine and her parents need to understand Islamic customs and practices. Once she marries this guy, she will no longer have a voice of her own – Islamic women are seen & not heard, and speak only when spoken to. Going from a woman young woman accustomed to personal freedoms to a nameless non-entity will no doubt be Katherine’s undoing, unless she is prepared for that type of sacrifice. She has entered very dangerous waters that may appear placid on the surface, but underneath lurks a turbulence that will have very harmful effects on both her and her family. (I know – I’ve been there with my beautiful god-daughter) and would not wish this experience on ANYONE. The fact that he asked her or allowed her to violate her parents trust, speaks volumes about him. Tell Katherine that true love would never ask nor allow her, to violate the love of her parents. I’m praying for Katherine and her family.

    Granted, it’s only one person’s story, but it’s still a real possibility.

  • Samson Shelton indicted

    Samson Shelton indicted

    Grand Jury Indicts Former Ill. Teacher:

    Our favorite teacher/wrestler/attempted murderer, Samson Shelton is back in the news…

    BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) A grand jury indicted a former teacher accused of attacking a teenager and leaving her clinging to life in a park.

    Samson Shelton, 26, was charged Friday with attempted murder.

    Authorities said that Shelton choked 17-year-old Ashley Reeves with a belt and injured her neck with his forearm before leaving her for dead in Belleville’s Citizens Park, where she was found April 29.

    Prosecutors said they would pursue an extended sentence, citing the “heinous and brutal” nature of the attack. That means Shelton could receive up to 60 years in prison if convicted.

    If he’s found guilty, I hope he gets sent to Joliet.

  • MySpace lawsuit viability

    MySpace lawsuit viability

    A Fourteen-Year-Old Girl’s Suit Against MySpace: Should Networking Sites Be Legally Responsible for Protecting Teens from Harmful Real-World Conduct?:

    This is a great and lengthy article about the viability of the MySpace lawsuit. It’s a great read but the last paragraph, in my opinion, sums up the whole situation…

    At the end of the day, however, as long as users are willing to lie and circumvent, there is a limit to how effective controls can be. There are inherent perils involved in hooking up in cyberspace – and parents need to be the ones who educate their children about such dangers.

    Hopefully, common sense will prevail.

  • Cops using MySpace to search for Brooklyn girl’s killer

    Cops using MySpace to search for Brooklyn girl’s killer

    In murder investigation, police search MySpace.com:

    (Crown Heights-WABC, June 24, 2006) – The NYPD is trying to solve a murder mystery involving a 16-year-old girl from Brooklyn. They are now looking on the popular web site MySpace.com for any leads.

    Police at the 77th Precinct in Crown Heights say they’re still looking for 16-year-old Chanel Petro Nixon killer. They believe it may be someone the victim knew.

    Chanel Petro Nixon will remain sweet-16 for eternity and that’s just how her heart-broken family wants her to be remembered.

    “It’s already out that she was chopped up and she was not. Her body was whole. Her body wasn’t even cut. She wasn’t stabbed or anything,” said Errol Wilson, the victim’s cousin.

    Her family is now in shock. Relatives are trying to cope with the gruesome way the body was found.

    Officials say her remains were discovered stuffed inside a garbage bag that was dumped on Kingston Avenue, just one mile away from home. Police say when they found Chanel’s body she was partially clothed but there were no signs of sexual assault.

    Investigators are now looking into conversations the teen had on MySpace.com, an internet web site popular with teens. Her cousin says the Boys and Girl’s High School student loved to chat online. Still, no one knows who would want to strangle Chanel and put her body in a garbage bag.

    Neighbors say they saw Chanel Sunday morning as she crossed the courtyard in front of her building. She was dressed in her Sunday best and on her way to church.

    “She had a long life. A prosperous life ahead of her,” said Wilson. “Unfortunately, it was cut short.”

    I couldn’t find her MySpace at this time, but I will keep you up to date on any developments in this case.

    My prayers and condolences go out to the Nixon family.

    UPDATE: Chanel’s MySpace is here.

  • Lester still plans to marry Psycho

    Lester still plans to marry Psycho

    Teen Plans to Marry Middle East Man She Met on Myspace.com:

    Oh, cut me a break…

    GILFORD, Mich. A teenager who flew to the Middle East to be with a man she met on MySpace.com said Friday she intends to marry him.

    “I love him very much,” 17-year-old Katherine Lester said of Abdullah Jimzawi, 20, who works in his father’s business delivering goods to West Bank convenience stores.

    Lester appeared on ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America” with her father and stepmother. Jimzawi also spoke with ABC during a taped portion of the segment, describing how the pair “can’t live without each other.”

    After hearing what Jimzawi said, Lester began weeping.

    “It’s true,” she said. “I love you. That’s all I can say.”

    The two have resumed communication online since she returned home.

    “Our initial reaction was to isolate her, to lock her up and just keep her safe here in America,” said her father, Terry Lester. “But that’s unrealistic because you can see the love they have for each other.”

    Ok, I can honestly say that her father is an idiot.

    How many of us that are in our 30s can look back and say we were honestly in love at 17? I can’t. How about you?

  • Michael Ramos pleads guilty

    Michael Ramos pleads guilty

    Man accused in MySpace luring agrees to plead guilty:

    This is a follow-up to the story of Michael Ramos, the man who was stung by a group of teenage boys…

    FONTANA – A man arrested after traveling to a park to allegedly have sex with an imaginary girl conjured up by teens on MySpace.com agreed to a very real deal with prosecutors on Wednesday.

    Fontana resident Michael Ramos, 48, was taken into custody in early March after trying to meet who he thought was a 15-year-old girl named Jessica. He’d been chatting with ‘her’ for weeks on MySpace.

    The girl actually was a fake account set up by a group of boys looking to cheer up a friend who recently had broken up with a girlfriend.

    After the boys spied on Ramos at the park, they called police, who arrested him.

    On Wednesday, Ramos agreed to plead guilty to one count of an attempted lewd act with a child aged 14 or 15 and will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

    He will be sentenced July 26, at which time a judge will rule on the details of the plea as well as a probation officer’s recommendations, said Prosecutor Karen Martinez of the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office.

    Other terms of the agreement that could be imposed include five years of probation and a list of prohibited search terms on his home computer, she said.

    There’s a link to his MySpace on the original entry, and it’s still up.

  • Another Lawsuit?

    Another Lawsuit?

    TIME.com: A Countersuit in the MySpace Case?

    A 14-year-old girl is suing the social networking site, where she met the man charged with sexually assaulting her. Now the man she says assaulted her may pursue his own legal case against MySpace.

    It has been an unlikely legal wrangle from the start. First, a 14-year-old Austin, Texas, girl and her mother filed a $30 million lawsuit against MySpace.com, where the teenager claims she met a man who assaulted her. Now, the college student charged with the sexual assault also is considering suing the popular social networking site.

    The defense attorney for Pete Solis, the 19-year-old Texas community college student charged with sexually assaulting the girl dubbed “Julie Doe” in her lawsuit, told TIME that if the Texas courts accept the premise that MySpace is liable because the two met there, then his client also has a claim, since the alleged victim falsely portrayed herself on the webiste as 15 years old.

    “He’s been, in effect, just as much a victim — if not more,” says Adam Reposa, the attorney for Solis, who is facing up to 20 years in prison on charges of second degree felony sexual assault. Since the lawsuit against MySpace also names Solis as a defendant, Reposa said he will “cross-file” and also sue MySpace and its owner, News Corporation. “MySpace wasn’t there when they went to Whataburger. MySpace wasn’t there when they went to the movie and MySpace wasn’t there when they climbed in the backseat,” Reposa said. “Meeting on MySpace — if that alone is enough, then we can make the same claim for damages.”

    This has officially gotten ridiculous.

  • As Mid-Michigan Turns

    As Mid-Michigan Turns

    New details come in Katherine Lester case:

    MID MICHIGAN (WJRT) – (06/22/06)–There were new developments Thursday in the case of Katherine Lester. The Mid-Michigan teen flew halfway around the world two weeks ago to meet with a Palestinian man she met on MySpace.com.

    Thursday her mother’s attorney asked a judge to rescind a decision made Monday in which her father was granted temporary custody.

    That petition was filed in Tuscola County’s Family Division of Judicial Court Thursday morning.

    The judge in the case, Judge W. Wallace Kent, denied the petition, and she will remain with her father until a hearing is scheduled.

    In the petition, Lester’s mother’s attorney states numerous reasons of why she should be returned to the custody of her mother.

    One of those reasons is an interview ABC12’s Bill Harris had with Lester, her father and stepmother.

    Am I just dense? Because I don’t remember any article mentioning her parents were divorced. Not that it matters. But if this situation was a television show, I’d turn it off for being too corny.

  • Reaction to the lawsuit

    Reaction to the lawsuit

    Public reacts to MySpace.com lawsuit:

    Local reaction, from Austin, Texas, about the MySpace lawsuit…

    Reaction was mixed Tuesday after reports that MySpace.com is being sued for not doing enough to protect young users from predators.

    Some say the girl’s parents should have known better.

    Lowell Coleman likes to have coffee at the Spider House and frequently checks his MySpace.com account.

    “It’s a friendly networking-type thing,” he said. “What’s great about it is you’re able to prescreen before meeting a person.”

    But Coleman says he knows not everyone on MySpace.com is who they say they are.

    “Then again, if you’re a sexual predator, it does give you the accessibility to go ahead and prey on a particular person.”

    David Deschodt, who has an 11-year-old, wonders were the girls’ parents were.

    “What was that kid doing on a website without any supervision?” he said.

    Other parents KVUE News spoke to said children should always be supervised when using the Internet. Many weren’t blaming MySpace.com.

    “I don’t know if MySpace.com can be accountable. I really think it’s up to the parents to monitor.” said Lacey Cominsky who has an 11-year-old. “There needs to be more personal responsibility. I think I know there’s punitive damages that encourage a corporation that makes a lot of money to change their policy. It’s not about the plaintiffs just getting that money.”

    Your thoughts?