TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

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  • 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.

  • Esmie Tseng sentenced

    Esmie Tseng sentenced

    Esmie Tseng sentenced to prison:

    The Overland Park teen-ager who pleaded guilty to killing her mother was sentenced today to eight years and four months in prison.

    Esmie Tseng, 17, declined to say anything during the brief hearing in Johnson County District Court. She had pleaded guilty in March to voluntary manslaughter.

    The sentence imposed by Judge Brenda Cameron was recommended by both sides last month as part of a plea agreement.

    Esmie’s mother, 55-year-old Shu Yi Zhang, died after being stabbed to death on Aug. 19.

  • 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.

  • Michelle Dohm tries to suppress evidence

    Michelle Dohm tries to suppress evidence

    Accused teacher files motion against police:

    The last we checked in on the Michelle Dohm story, the Md. teacher accused of threatening and stalking some students, the police were searching her house for handwriting samples. Now Ms. Dohm and her attorney are trying to get evidence in that search suppressed…

    Thomas Morrow, Ms. Dohm’s attorney, said Frederick County Sheriff’s deputies and members of the Frederick County State’s Attorney’s Office acted unnecessarily and in bad faith by pursuing the warrant, and violated Ms. Dohm’s civil rights while executing it.

    Mr. Morrow has requested a hearing in Circuit Court.

    “I’m looking forward to see how they’re going to explain this,” he said.

    I’m looking forward to that, too. This is almost as good as Law and Order, during the Lenny Briscoe days, of course.

  • 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.

  • Esmie Tseng not eligible for juvenile detention

    Esmie Tseng not eligible for juvenile detention

    Esmie ineligible for youth prison:

    Supporters of Esmie Tseng, the Kansas girl who pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the stabbing death of her mother, had their hopes raised and summarily dashed last week…

    Supporters of Tseng who lost their fight to have her tried as a juvenile were still lobbying last week for the judge to show mercy.

    They were encouraged briefly when they learned the Kansas Department of Corrections was researching whether state law would allow Tseng to be placed in the state’s juvenile facility for females, in Beloit in north central Kansas. Then they were disappointed to find out Friday that she was not eligible to go there.

    Esmie Tseng agreed to a plea of voluntary manslaughter, an adult charge, and a recommended sentence of 8 years and 4 months. The judge is not bound to follow the agreement.

    Sentencing will take place later this month.

  • 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.

  • 4/27/06 From The Mail Sack

    4/27/06 From The Mail Sack

    It’s been a while since we dipped into the mail sack. All the mutants just seem to be repeating themselves, so I haven’t been inclined to respond.

    Until today, when I received an e-mail that made my jaw drop from the sheer stupidity of it. It’s from someone who calls themselves Rogue. Rogue has been previously banned for saying that they should give back a would-be school shooter’s weapons. Anyway, you’re not going to believe this one…

    Hi

    Cool page. Like what you do here. But I find you only look at the story one way. Not once have I read a comment you’ve made, about even one of these school shootings being acceptable, or needed.

    Did you use to be a police officer or something?

    I’m not even going to respond to that one. I’m just going to let it stand on its own merits, or lack thereof.

  • New Red Lake suspect in court

    New Red Lake suspect in court

    RED LAKE INCIDENT: Student appears for alleged threats:

    The suspect in the most recent threat against Red Lake High School has appeared in court…

    DULUTH – A Red Lake (Minn.) High School student being held in connection with recent threats at the school where seven people were killed last year appeared Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Duluth, according to a newspaper report.

    The Star Tribune of Minneapolis said the nature of the 10-minute, closed-door hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Raymond Erickson was not revealed. The identity of the boy also was not revealed.

    Several members of the boy’s family attended the hearing but did not share details afterward. The boy appeared expressionless as authorities led him from the courtroom with his hands cuffed behind his back, the newspaper reported.

    There’s something eerie about the fact that they’re keeping such a tight lid on this.