TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

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  • No charges for ‘Megan Had It Coming’

    No charges for ‘Megan Had It Coming’

    No charges against impersonators in Internet suicide case:

    Authorities in St. Charles County, Missouri will not be filing any charges against those behind the ‘Megan Had It Coming’ blog.

    For those of you just joining us, let me recap. In the wake of the controversy surrounding the much-publicized suicide of Megan Meier, someone posted a fake blog pretending to be Lori Drew saying that Megan got what she deserved. I deemed it a fake as soon as I laid eyes on it.

    Now let’s get to the aforementioned authorities…

    St. Charles County Prosecutor Jack Banas said Tuesday that the sheriff’s department investigated those who posed as Lori Drew on the Internet. Because the bloggers were from outside of Missouri and had not sent messages to either family involved in the case, and the difficulty of legally proving the identity and actions of people behind their Internet addresses, charges are not being pursued in the impersonation case, Banas said.

    Banas said he did not have the names of those allegedly involved in the online impersonation of Drew. The St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department referred questions to Banas’ office.

    Heaven forfend if the pranksters’ names ever get out. Then karma will be raking in all the ‘lulz’.

  • Jury recommends death for Abdool

    Jury recommends death for Abdool

    Jury Sentences Abdool To Death:

    The jury that convicted Dane Abdool of setting his girlfriend on fire has recommended the death penalty.

    Abdool was convicted of killing Amelia Sookdeo by wrapping her in duct tape, dousing her in gasoline and setting her on fire.

    The story isn’t over yet, as the judge has final discretion on sentencing.

  • Parents of Baby Left Alone in Car Seat for 8 Days Face Murder Charges

    Parents of Baby Left Alone in Car Seat for 8 Days Face Murder Charges

    Tracy Hermann and James Sargent

    Link

    Tracey Hermann, 21, and James Sargent, 23, are charged in the child neglect death of their 5-month-old son Benjamin Sargent. They’re accused of leaving the baby strapped in a car seat, in his crib for 8 days while, among other activities, played video games.

    Should this reflect on gamers as a whole? Hell no, it shouldn’t. This should only reflect on two ‘people’ who didn’t give a damn about their own son. Video games weren’t the only thing they did for 8 days, and if they didn’t play video games, they would have done something just as trivial instead of caring for their own child.

  • craigslist prostitution in Charlottesville

    craigslist prostitution in Charlottesville

    Looking Into The World Of Online Prostitution In Charlottesville:

    This is a great story from WCAV in Charlottesville, Virginia about craigslist prostitution in their area. I realize it was probably done for ratings sweep’s week, but it’s still a great story nonetheless.

    They interviewed a craigslist prostitute over the phone. Here’s just a sample of what really caught my attention…

    Mark: Do you have any kids?

    Alecia: uh huh.

    Mark: What do you tell them when you’re leaving the house?

    Alecia: I’m going to work. I do what I do right now so that they won’t have to.

    Yep, no victims there.

    But what was even more shocking to me was the police department’s response to this.

    We contacted Albemarle County and Charlottesville Police to get their reaction. Albemarle County Police say they were unaware of the website and would look in to it. Charlottesville Police said they would get back to us.

    What rock are they living under?

    craigslist had its usual response…

    Craigslist does ban illegal activity in their terms of use. After contacting them they say they do everything they can to prevent anything illegal on their website but it’s impossible to review each of the more than 30 million free postings submitted each month.

    Translation: We don’t care.

  • California man arrested in sex sting

    California man arrested in sex sting

    Benjamin Dennis

    Corning man apprehended in MySpace sex sting:

    32-year-old Benjamin Dennis of Corning, California was arrested for trying to solicit sex from a 13-year-old over the internet. Except that the 13-year-old was actually an investigator from the Tehama County district attorney’s office.

    The fake 13-year-old even has its own MySpace.

    And lose the soul patch you tool.

  • Mich. man gets 40-60 for the victimless crime

    Mich. man gets 40-60 for the victimless crime

    Man gets 40-60 years for abusing daughter:

    48-year-old William Pattison of Milford, Michigan was convicted and sentenced to 40–60 years in prison for first-degree criminal sexual conduct and pandering.

    Pattison started sexually abusing his daughter when she was 4 to 5 years old, then pimped her out on craigslist as an adult.

    Pattison is also accused of sexually abusing another female relative who is the mother to another one of his kids.

    But hey, prostitution is a victimless crime, remember. There’s no human trafficking involved at all.

    That was sarcasm, in case you couldn’t tell.

  • Study says child abductions via social sites are rare

    Study says child abductions via social sites are rare

    Study: Sex Offenders Use Chat Rooms, Not Facebook:

    This is an article from PC Mag that says a study from the University of New Hampshire’s Internet Solution for Kids, Inc. claims that sexual predators aren’t as prevalent on MySpace and Facebook as the media says they are.

    “Between June and October 2007, we conducted over 400 interviews with police about Internet-related sex crimes … and we have yet to find cases of sex offenders stalking and abducting minors on the basis of information posted on social networking sites,” report authors said.

    I would have to say that stalking and abducting through the internet, in general, isn’t as prevalent as one might think, but grooming, on the other hand, is probably the preferred tactic of sexual predators.

    Grooming is a way for the sexual predators to gain the trust of their underage victims and to make them think that their sexual ‘relationship’ is normal.

    I would prefer to see a study that gives the numbers on how many predators are grooming children over MySpace rather than abducting.

    Still, parents should keep a close eye on their children’s internet behavior. Predators are usually one step ahead of the police when it comes to technology.

  • Zarate’s lawyer claims diminished capacity

    Zarate’s lawyer claims diminished capacity

    Report: Accused killer of Randolph teen had mental defect:

    Instead of going for an insanity defense, the attorney for accused killer Jonathan Zarate is now going for a diminished capacity defense. Here’s the difference…

    A defendant deemed to be insane at the time of a crime in New Jersey cannot be held criminally responsible. A person found guilty of committing a murder, but found to have diminished capacity, or a mental defect or impairment, is merely convicted of a lesser offense than murder.

    For those of you new to the site, then 18-year-old Jonathan Zarate killed his 16-year-old neighbor Jennifer Parks, dismembered her body, then hid her body for 24 hours, and then tried to dump her body into the Passaic River.

    Basically, this kind of defense admits guilt but tries to get a reduced sentence other than a murder sentence.

    The prosecution, however, subscribes to the common-sense theory…

    Office Executive Assistant Prosecutor Robert Lane said the report will be reviewed over the next week to see if the office wants to hire its own expert. But Lane told Judge Salem Vincent Ahto that Jonathan Zarate’s mind appeared clear when he scrubbed up the crime scene, cut off the girl’s legs to cram her body into a steamer trunk and tried to toss the trunk over a bridge into the Passaic River.

    The only mental defect Zarate has is that he’s a raving psychopath.

    The judge wants the trial to start on April 17th, but Zarate’s attorney, Anthony Fusco, said he won’t be ready. How much more time does he need? It’s been almost 3 years since Jennifer Parks’ death. Get on with it already. Doesn’t the victim’s family have the right to a speedy trial too?

    Nod to Keb.

  • Sex offender can’t stay off MySpace

    Sex offender can’t stay off MySpace

    Former Teacher Accused Of Violating Probation:

    It seems that at least one sex offender couldn’t stop from being on MySpace.

    Former New York Catholic high school teacher Matthew Glasser has violated his probation. He avoided a prison sentence for his charges of having sex with a 16-year-old student.

    He violated his probation by failing to find a home that isn’t in one of the zones that sex offenders can’t live in.

    However, he also failed to stop using his MySpace even though the court ordered him offline.

    Hey Attorney General Cuomo, how’s that legislation designed to keep sex offenders off of MySpace working?

  • NIU shooter was on Ambien

    NIU shooter was on Ambien

    Girlfriend: Shooter was taking cocktail of 3 drugs:

    Remember when I said that Stephen Kazmierczak meds had nothing to do with the shooting? I stand corrected…sort of.

    It turns out that Kazmierczak was on three drugs, Prozac, Xanax, and Ambien. Prozac is an anti-depressant, which, as I stated before, should have still been in his system at the time that he stopped taking it. Xanax is an anti-anxiety drug, kind of like Valium. I’ve been prescribed Xanax before. After taking one of those, the only thing I wanted to do was sleep, so I don’t think it was the Xanax. Ambien is a drug that is supposed to help you sleep. In a lot of cases, it does the exact opposite at best.

    A few years ago, there was a member of my family who was prescribed Ambien for sleep. Whenever they took an Ambien to try to sleep, they would end up being awake for hours in a stupor-like state. It got to the point where I didn’t want to be around them when they were on Ambien, and I was worried about their own safety. Luckily, when I expressed my concerns, they realized what Ambien was doing to them and stopped taking it. In my personal opinion, I think Ambien is a danger and should be taken off the market.

    There have been instances where people arrested for car accidents have claimed that they were on Ambien and didn’t even remember that they were driving. Can I draw the conclusion that Ambien caused Kazmierczak to on his killing spree? Logically, no. Only by anecdotal evidence would I try to make that conclusion. However, I don’t think it should be ruled out.