TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Tag: child assault

  • Long Island predator on MySpace arrested

    Long Island predator on MySpace arrested

    MySpace Leads to Arrest of Sex Offender:

    41-year-old Joseph Burkett of Sound Beach, New York was arrested on Thursday on charges of molesting 5 boys.

    The police investigation began several weeks ago when officers received an anonymous tip “that an adult male may have a MySpace page and (may) be looking for young boys to sexually exploit,” said Suffolk County Police Detective Sgt. John Cowie.

    Cowie said MySpace had no involvement in the investigation, nor culpability in the case. “That’s just where he (Burkett) went shopping for victims, so to speak.”

    On Tuesday, a police officer spotted a car in front of a Sound Beach house that matched a description given by the tipster. He went to the door, found Burkett living there and noticed two 12-year-old boys in the house, authorities said.

    “We still didn’t have a crime at that point,” Cowie said.

    On Wednesday, police returned with a search warrant, and seized Burkett’s computer and a digital camera.

    On Thursday, after images of children being sexually exploited allegedly were found, Burkett was arrested.

    Cowie said that five victims have been identified; one of the boys was from the Binghamton area in upstate New York and met Burkett via MySpace.

    He said some of the boys were given bicycles, toys and other gifts to keep quiet.

    Of course, Burkett pleaded not guilty. I would love to hear the defense on this one. He’s being held on $500K bail.

  • Another VF stalker

    Another VF stalker

    Bothell man stalked teens on goth Web site:

    30-year-old Sean E. MacMartin of Bothell, Washington, has been arrested for stalking and grooming teenage girls for sex on the goth social site VampireFreaks.

    Scary…

    Within the past few months, he’s been charged with five counts of rape of a child in the third degree in cases involving girls between the ages of 13 and 14. He coerced them into coming to his Bothell home.

    Detectives fear there could be more victims.

    The girls got to know MacMartin online. He used nicknames including Soroth, Darklord, and most frequently – Soth.

    Eventually they agreed to meet in person at his home, believing the then 29-year-old was in his late teens or early 20s.

    Some of the underage girls had sex willingly,

    But for at least one, it was not consensual.

    In court papers, one alleged victim says:

    “… when “Soth” was cooking he asked (the victim) if she wanted some wine with her dinner. (the victim) told “Soth” that she was fourteen. “Soth” said that there were no cops around.”

    After dinner, the victim says she fell asleep, then:

    “… (the victim) said that she woke up to “Soth” biting her neck. (the victim) said that “Soth” held her hands above her head and sex with her even after she told him to stop.”

    Scarier…

    Charges have also been filed against MacMartin’s roommate, Robert Schwarzinger, who is accused of having repeated sex with a 13-year-old girl.

    Scariest…

    MacMartin was able to post his half million dollar bail and is currently out of jail.

    I have a feeling we might be seeing Mr. MacMartin’s name in the future…repeatedly.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • The Metal Molester strikes again

    The Metal Molester strikes again

    Randall S. Shesto II

    Wisconsin Heavy Metal Singer Charged With Having Sex With Underage Girl:

    Well, well, well. A few months ago, I posted about Randall S. Shesto II. He is the 20-year-old lead singer of the Wisconsin-based “metal” band Nailwounds. Previously, he was caught with an underage girl, and I dubbed him The Metal Molester. All sorts of people came to his defense, stating things like that the girl was lying about her age. To that I say…

    It turns out that RJ Shesto’s first arrest was not his first dalliance into jailbait.

    Randall S. Shesto II (photo) — a.k.a. RJ Nailwounds, lead singer of NAILWOUNDS (MySpace page) — was charged in a criminal complaint with having sex with a 15-year-old Town of Mukwonago girl three weeks before his encounter with a Sheboygan County girl that led to his conviction there.

    Like the earlier case, Shesto is charged in a complaint that says he met the 15-year-old through MySpace.com, had ensuing meetings with her and the two eventually agreed to have sex. The girl was not legally old enough to make that decision, however, and the complaint indicates that she did have some qualms about her decision after making it.

    From another article…

    The Town of Mukwonago girl’s sexual encounter with him in her home occurred on Dec. 22, and for a time remained a secret. The girl’s father had met Shesto during a visit he made to her home, and the father was led to believe that Shesto was 18 and attended Mukwonago High School.

    After the father learned of Shesto’s arrest on sex charges in Sheboygan County, he became suspicious and decided to look into his daughter’s MySpace.com account. After seeing indications there that the two had sexual contact, the father brought her in to speak with Mukwonago police.

    The girl detailed her relationship with Shesto to police and explained that he knew she was 15, and she knew he was 20. She also explained how the two had sex in her home on Dec. 22.

    I might be able to buy the “she said she was 18” defense once. But what are the odds of lightning striking twice here? Slim to none and Slim just left.

    Thanks to Blabbermouth for linking to here.

  • Letavec sentenced

    Letavec sentenced

    Man sentenced to 10 years for assaulting girl he met on MySpace:

    One of the first predators ever mentioned on this site, Stephen Letavec, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for molesting a 14-year-old girl.

    To refresh your memory, Letavec was a married father of two in his 40s who traveled from Elrama, Pa. to Connecticut to have sex with the 14-year-old girl three times.

    Two of those times they engaged in sex. She told Letavec she was 18, but eventually told him her true age before Letavec ever met her in person. Let the creepiness commence…

    “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.”

    After Letavec gets out, he will have 10 years of supervised release. Considering he was looking at a max of 60 years, he should consider himself very lucky.

    My opinion is that 10 years is not enough, even though the U.S. Attorney’s office disagrees…

    “This sentence should send a very strong message to anyone who intends to use the Internet to prey on children,” U.S. Attorney Kevin OConnor said Monday.

    Who knows if there were any other girls before this one? 10 years may be a strong message. 60 years would have been a lot stronger.

  • NY MySpacer arrested on rape charges

    NY MySpacer arrested on rape charges

    Police: Teen raped by man met on MySpace:

    Everything that I tried writing about this article sounded like I was casting aspersions where I did not want them to be cast. Instead, I’ll just give you select quotes from the article.

    Monday morning, a 13-year-old Suffolk County girl climbed out her bathroom window and into the Jeep of a 20-year-old man she met on MySpace. He took her to his Bayport home and raped her, police said.

    It was the end result of a 6-week online romance that the girl’s parents knew nothing about, even though police say her father did “everything in his power” to monitor her activity on the Internet.

    “He was doing what any good parent would do,” Det. Sgt. Thomas Groneman, of Suffolk’s Third Squad said this Tuesday afternoon.

    Despite those efforts, however, the girl managed to gain regular access to a laptop computer that either wasn’t password protected, like the desktop computer in her home, or whose password she had somehow learned.

    For six weeks, she communicated with Zachary Rapoza, the self-titled “Bayport Kid,” according to his Myspace profile. On his Web page, he says he is a 2006 graduate of Bayport-Blue Point High School who played on the track and football teams. A profile picture shows him sitting in a chair with a blue football jersey, baseball cap and sunglasses.

    Suffolk police say Rapoza and the girl made an arrangement during her week of spring break to pick her up Monday morning at 8 a.m. in front of her home. Groneman said a relative saw her sneak out the bathroom window and then contacted her father, who was at his work.

    The father contacted her friends and visited places where he thought she might be. When he was unsuccessful, he called police.

    A short time later, his daughter contacted him.

    At that point, she was with Rapoza on a Long Island Rail Road train heading to Jamaica, Queens. Her father told her to get off of the train at the next possible stop — which happened to be Pinelawn.

    The two were waiting at the train station when police arrived. They were then taken to the Third Precinct for questioning.

    Rapoza was charged with second-degree rape, unlawful imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a minor. He is expected to be arraigned Tuesday.

    Rapoza has multiple MySpace accounts. I believe that this one is Rapoza’s main MySpace.

    Is it me, or does this sound more like statutory rape than it does a full-on sexual assault? Still, when you’re 20 you don’t need to be picking up 13-year-olds that climb out of windows.

    In case you were wondering, the age of consent in the Empire State is 17.

  • Accused teacher still posting on MySpace

    Accused teacher still posting on MySpace

    Teacher due in court still using MySpace site:

    A teacher from Rialto High School in San Bernardino, California is still using his MySpace to communicate with students even though he’s facing criminal charges.

    31-year-old Matthew Cepican was found with a 16-year-old student from Rialto High in his car in what the article describes as a remote area. He’s been charged with suspicion of committing lewd or lascivious acts with a minor. The age of consent in California is 18.

    Meanwhile, Cepican has continued to post on MySpace.com, a popular online networking site, and former and current students have sent him messages of support.

    On March 3, an 18-year-old man from Rialto who said he didn’t care what was said about his teacher posted this message: “sup mr.C & you still the downest teacher i had & .”

    High school students said that Cepican was popular, laid back, young and hip and that they could use slang with him.

    In a blog dated March 20, Cepican wrote, “I miss you all more than I can say. You got me through the toughest years of my life and owe all my dreams and success to you.

    “My greatest reward ain’t some stupid recognition from my peers. My greatest reward is your love and respect. I will never forget you … .”

    Thank God he’s not the English teacher.

  • Boomalicious IV

    Boomalicious IV

    More girls linked to sex abuse suspect:

    It seems one of our favorite new fiends, Joseph Polk, aka Boomalicious, may have some more skeletons in his closet. Not only did he allegedly pose as a teenage boy on MySpace to contact underage girls, it seems that he may have done it on Tagged.com as well. On his Tagged.com profile, Polk had 30 friends listed, all under the age of 16. So investigators believe there still may be more victims.

    But what makes this article so good is Polk’s line of defense.

    Polk denies he had any sexual contact with minors and claims he set up the accounts to research Internet stalkers, said his attorney, Phil Studenberg.

    What a coincidence that he just happens to be accused of inappropriate contact with a 14-year-old girl.

    Thanks to Pilar for the link.

  • Wentworth pleads guilty

    Wentworth pleads guilty

    Naperville Man Pleads Guilty In MySpace Sex Abuse:

    John Wentworth, who I posted about here, has pleaded guilty to felony charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and indecent solicitation of a child.

    Unfortunately, the most he’s looking at is seven years in prison.