TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

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  • 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.

  • Henderson wants change of venue

    Accused killer Henderson wants trial moved:

    The defense attorneys for Richard Henderson Jr. are trying to get the trial moved. Henderson bludgeoned his family to death on Thanksgiving Day 2005 with a lead pipe.

    So defense attorneys Carolyn Schlemmer and Franklin Roberts have requested a change of venue for their client’s murder trial, set for next month.

    “I don’t feel it can be held here,” Schlemmer said Wednesday. “There has been too much publicity, too much connecting him to other cases and there is just no way we’d get a fair trial.”

    And Henderson himself has this little gem…

    “Extensive publicity has caused me hardship at the jail,” states an affidavit signed by Henderson last month. “The pretrial publicity has portrayed me as guilty to four counts of murder in the first degree.”

    A lot of the pretrial publicity Henderson brought upon himself. Let’s not forget the letter that he sent to the Bradenton Herald. If you act like a murderous psychopath, people may think you are.

    Let’s also not forget that he basically confessed to the crime but, as expected, the defense attorneys are trying to get that thrown out.

    In another motion filed Wednesday, Schlemmer said she wants Henderson’s statements to police suppressed and any evidence seized from him on Nov. 27, 2005, to be ruled inadmissible at trial.

    She says the evidence was illegally obtained as a result of an unlawful stop by Deputy Rodney Norris, with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

    Norris, with his gun drawn, stopped Henderson as a possible suspect in the 4900 block of U.S. 301, according to the motion.

    Henderson initially told deputies his name was Jason. But he fit the description of the suspect in the slayings, and Norris arrested him.

    Norris found a glass pipe with marijuana residue in his left pocket, according to sheriff’s reports.

    Norris did not have a “founded suspicion” that Henderson had committed, was committing or was about to commit a violation of the law, according to the motion.

    What are the police supposed to do?

    Officer: Dispatch, we have a male fitting the description of a fugitive wanted for murder. Moving in to apprehend.

    Dispatch: Negative, wait for subject to do something “suspicious”.

    “Founded suspicion” my ass. What if police didn’t approach him, and he killed somebody else? How well do you think that would have gone over with the public?

    A hearing for these ridiculous requests will be held on June 22nd.

  • 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.

  • Conn. MySpace SO arrest

    Conn. MySpace SO arrest

    Sex Offender Accused Of Using MySpace:

    Now that the AGs have the names of the sex offenders on MySpace, it’s time to round them up.

    Our first contestant is 30-year-old Christopher Montefusco (MySpace deleted). Of course, it happens in the MySpace predator capital of the U.S., Connecticut.

    Montefusco, 30, of West Haven, was convicted of first-degree sexual assault on Aug. 30, 1996. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, suspended after two and half years served. Montefuso had two years of special parole remaining on his sentence when he was picked up by state Department of Correction officials Wednesday, Blumenthal said. Special parole usually involves close supervision and sometimes mandatory participation in support programs.

    While Blumenthal had no details about Montefusco’s underlying criminal charge, he said that one of the conditions of Montefusco’s parole was that he not use a computer, the Internet or access social networking sites such as MySpace without first obtaining permission from his parole officer.

    Of course, Attorney General Blumenthal is using this one arrest to stroke his own ego…

    “The results here demonstrate the urgent and clear need for this kind of information from MySpace and other social networking sites,” said Blumenthal, one of two attorneys general serving as chairman of a national task force on Internet safety. “Clearly, offenders like this are just the most visible tip of the predator iceberg.”

    Still no word from Mr. Blumenthal’s office about what they’re going to do about parents who don’t monitor their children’s internet usage.

  • No safety for Golden

    No safety for Golden

    Sheriff Cannot Guarantee Jonesboro Shooter Andrew Golden’s Safety:

    The Sheriff who represents the same county where Jonesboro shooter Andrew Golden used to live says he can’t guarantee Golden’s safety if he returns to Arkansas.

    Craighead County Sheriff Jack McCann said hostility toward Golden and accomplice Mitchell Johnson still remains nine years after they opened fire on those fleeing Jonesboro Westside Middle School during a fake fire drill. The shootings were on people’s minds again Friday, as Golden turned 21 and likely left federal custody a free man for the first time.

    “It’s a concern because there’s still a lot of hostility towards him and Mitchell Johnson,” said McCann, who was the county’s chief deputy in 1998. “I really don’t think any of the family members would do something to them; I think somebody out here would want to do something for the notoriety.”

    Did the sheriff just serve a warning or declare open season?

  • Other Jonesboro shooter set to be released

    Other Jonesboro shooter set to be released

    Jonesboro shooter Andrew Golden likely to be released Friday:

    Andrew Golden is one of the gunmen from the Jonesboro school shooting. Today is his 21st birthday, meaning that, more than likely, he will be released from jail today.

    At the time of their conviction, there was a loophole in Arkansas state law that prevented Golden and cohort Mitchell Johnson from being kept behind bars longer than their 21st birthday.

    Johnson was released 2 years ago. Now it’s Golden’s turn. He’ll be out on the streets with a clean slate and no probation.

    It only took Johnson 18 months to get in trouble with the law again. I wonder how long it will take before Golden has his next run-in with the law.

  • Gag order sought in Charlotte cop killings

    Gag order sought in Charlotte cop killings

    Defense seeks gag order in police killings:

    The defense attorney for accused Charlotte cop killer, Demeatrius Montgomery, is requesting a gag order on the proceedings in order to help Montgomery get a fair trial.

    The lawyer, Duane Bryant, said such an order is necessary to preserve Montgomery’s right to a fair trial.

    Montgomery, 25, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the March 31 fatal shootings of Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officers Jeff Shelton and Sean Clark.

    Prosecutors announced this month they would seek the death penalty against Montgomery.

    “This case has been subjected to substantial, pervasive publicity,” Bryant wrote in his motion.

    Bryant’s motion suggests that investigating officers are responsible for the publicity. The publicity, the defense lawyer said, includes the dissemination of inaccurate information and matters that would not be admitted into evidence at trial.

    Bryant did not cite in his motion the information he claims is inaccurate or the matters he claims would not be allowed into evidence.

    The funny thing is, police and prosecutors have been very tight-lipped about this case. However, if Mr. Bryant wants a gag order, I say we give it to him. I want there to be no doubt if a conviction is eventually handed down.

    Of course, the press is falling all over themselves with righteous indignation.

    Jon Buchan, a lawyer for the Observer, said Wednesday he will file an objection to the defense lawyer’s motion. He said a hearing date has not been set.

    “The public is very interested in this case, and it should be,” said Observer Editor Rick Thames. “Two police officers lost their lives. A local resident is accused of killing them. All the more reason why this motion to conceal the judicial proceedings from the public should be denied.”

    Thames said he knew of no inaccuracies in news coverage that could affect Montgomery’s ability to receive a fair trial. He also noted that the courts have the means to offset the potential effects of pretrial publicity, key among them the careful questioning of potential jurors.

    Yes, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officers Jeff Shelton and Sean Clark did lose their lives. And as a community, which even includes you, Charlotte Disturber, we should do everything within our power to ensure that the trial goes off without a hitch. If that means a gag order, then so be it.

    I think the public will understand. I dare you to tell me that your appeal has nothing more to do with selling a few more papers.

  • Castillo will not face death penalty

    Castillo will not face death penalty

    Orange County school shooting suspect will not face death penalty:

    Earlier, when I said that we’ll find out tomorrow if Alvaro Castillo will face the death penalty or not, I lied. The article stated Wednesday, and I was thinking today was Tuesday for some reason. Human error.

    Anyway, District Attorney Jim Woodall said today that he will not seek the death penalty against Castillo.

    Woodall says Castillo’s mother did –not– want her son to face the death penalty.

    Remember that the victim in this crime is Castillo’s father. Still, justice needs to be served. The best way to do that is with a lengthy stay behind bars.