Tag: MySpace

  • John Wentworth sentenced

    John Wentworth sentenced

    MySpace sex offender gets 3½ years in prison:

    Another pioneer of the MySpace predators has been sentenced. John Wentworth of Naperville, Illinois, was sentenced to only 3 1/2 years behind bars for having sexual contact with an underage teen he met on MySpace.

    As far as I can tell, Wentworth only had internet contact with his victims. I wonder how many have not come forward, since the article states he would send out 50 messages a day on MySpace.

    “This is not an isolated incident or a single offense,” Judge Perry Thompson said as he sentenced Wentworth. Wentworth was charged last year with two felonies after he met a 15-year-old Naperville girl online and then during a subsequent meeting engaged in sexual activity with her.

    “This event devastated my family,” the teen, now 16, said in court before sentencing.

    I’m sure the judge’s hands were tied with sentencing, but 3 1/2 years is not enough to discourage this predator from trying again.

  • 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.

  • More ineffective legislation

    More ineffective legislation

    MySpace and Kentucky Sex Offenders:

    Put Kentucky down as another state that is deluded into thinking that sex offenders are going to comply with registering their online identities.

    Tuesday afternoon at the capital rotunda, the state met with a MySpace official to put an end to this ongoing problem with the help of a new measure called Senate Bill 65.

    The new law, requires sex offenders to register their e-mail addresses on-line.

    However if a sex offenders gives authorities a fraudulent e-mail address they will be sent back to jail.

    The new law will also help sites like MySpace cross-reference Kentucky’s sex offender registry with their own data base.

    I hate to sound like a broken record or a skipping CD for that matter, but this law is all bark and no bite. This will not stop sex offenders from using fraudulent e-mails. The threat of jail rarely stops sex offenders as it is. And again, this does nothing about the sex offenders who have never been caught.

    Instead of making laws about MySpace, how about making laws that keep sex offenders in jail longer?

    Thanks to Jessica for the link.

  • 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.

  • It’s not illegal if I don’t meet them in person

    It’s not illegal if I don’t meet them in person

    Man Arrested For Nude Pics Of Girls On MySpace:

    Another creep arrested for MySpace misdeeds. The subject in question is one Kevin Dale Pierce from the City of Angels. The 33-year-old Pierce was arrested for convincing teenage girls to send him nude pictures of themselves. Several external hard drives were found when police searched his house. How many girls did he contact top have that many hard drives? Pierce claimed to be a 19-year-old art student from UCLA.

    The investigation started in January, when a Temecula resident reported that her 14-year-old daughter was swapping notes with someone who claimed to be a 19-year-old art student at UCLA, DeLuna said.

    The two started an online relationship last November and, after several weeks, established a bond of trust, according to the sergeant. The suspect persuaded the girl to send photos of herself in various stages of undress, purportedly for an art project, DeLuna said.

    The girl’s mother noticed her daughter’s computer screen and read messages from the suspect asking for additional pictures in varied poses, DeLuna said.

    The woman told a deputy that the e-mail she spotted was from someone who called himself “kev pie” and thanked the girl for pictures she had sent him, according to an affidavit for a search warrant.

    The e-mailer then requested that the girl send some more snapshots and wrote, “Is there any way you can also take the exact same angles, straight from behind and from the 45 degree side … but on the floor instead of standing? so I can draw the legs and the body bent in shape,” the affidavit states.

    The mother did not know what the e-mail referred to and asked her daughter about it.

    The girl later told investigators that she informed the person she was corresponding with that she was 14 years old. She told detectives that she and the suspect began chatting on “I Chat” after meeting on MySpace.com, according to the affidavit.

    Investigators tracked down Pierce’s ISP address, accessed his MySpace account and determined he was actually 33 and that he had been communicating with at least 10 other girls, persuading them to send nude photos of themselves, police allege.

    The best part is Pierce’s explanation.

    “He seemed pretty eager to try to clear his name,” DeLuna said, adding that Pierce told them he did not believe he was breaking the law as long as he did not meet the girls in person.

    I would love to have seen the cops’ faces when he told them that.

    I could not find a definitive MySpace for Pierce.

  • SI Teen’s story checks out

    SI Teen’s story checks out

    Sex Offender Arrested for Allegedly Abusing Boy, Handcuffing Him to Tree:

    The other day, when I posted about the Staten Island teen who was found tied to a tree after an alleged MySpace meeting, I have to admit I was a little suspicious of his story. Well, shame on me because police have arrested a suspect.

    A tip led police to the 26-year-old man, whose photo was identified by the boy, said Lt. Robert Sprague. Investigators later found the boy’s bracelet and his cell phone at the suspect’s Staten Island house, he said. Charges were pending in the case.

    Investigators said the man had a 1999 conviction for sodomy and endangering the welfare of a child.

    Police said the suspect also was involved in the attempted abduction of a 14-year-old boy on Staten Island on March 5.

    My apologies for doubting.

  • New York predator gets 10 years

    New York predator gets 10 years

    Batavia sex offender guilty, gets 10 years:

    48-year-old Gregory Mexin of Batavia, New York, was sentenced to 10 years behind bars after pleading guilty to indecent solicitation of a child, failure to notify police of a change of address while a registered sex offender and possession of child pornography. It seems Mr. Mexin is a well-rounded pedophile. Mexin was arrested back in December for soliciting sex from a 14-year-old girl who was actually an undercover cop. Do these perverts not watch Dateline?

    Thanks to Tim, we have Mexin’s MySpace. Under “Who I’d like to meet” Mexin put “Women between 38 and 55 for dating, possible relationships or I am open to whatever the woman has in mind.” Apparently, by 38 to 55 he meant inches tall.

  • SI Teen tied to tree after MySpace meeting

    SI Teen tied to tree after MySpace meeting

    Boy’s MySpace nightmare:

    A Staten Island teen was rescued yesterday after being found tied to a tree off of the Staten Island Expressway. The teen says that his attacker was not a stranger and that he knew him from MySpace.

    The source said the two made contact on MySpace.com, a popular social networking Web site. The teen, who investigators said comes from a “solid family,” initially told police he was accosted by a knife-wielding man as he walked to a nearby bus stop.

    As cops continued to interview the teen throughout the day, he offered “a little bit more.”

    The source said the two made contact on MySpace.com, a popular social networking Web site. The teen, who investigators said comes from a “solid family,” initially told police he was accosted by a knife-wielding man as he walked to a nearby bus stop.

    The source declined to speculate as to why the teen and his attacker agreed to meet, or why their rendezvous ended with the bizarre episode.

    The teen described his assailant as a black man in his 20s or 30s, wearing dark clothing, police said.

    This is a bizarre story indeed, and I don’t think all the facts are in.

  • MySpace lawsuit being appealed

    MySpace lawsuit being appealed

    New Rounds Coming in Parents vs. MySpace.com:

    It seems that the losers of the infamous $30M lawsuit against MySpace that was dismissed are more than losers. It seems that they are sore losers at that.

    Let’s revisit the dismissal…

    In dismissing the suit last month, a judge in Austin, Texas, cited a provision in the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA), which holds that, as an “interactive computer service,” News Corp. and its property MySpace were not liable for the postings to the site.

    Of course, since this is America and litigation we’re talking about, that won’t stop money hungry lawyers and opportunistic families, now, will it?

    “We don’t believe the Communications Decency Act applies to a case like this,” said Adam Loewy of law firm Barry & Loewy, which is representing the minor.

    He argued that the CDA applies primarily to defamation cases, such as when an owner of a Web site is sued over defamatory material published on the site. He said Judge Sparks erred in his interpretation of the CDA and that it does not limit MySpace’s liability for torts, or wrongful acts of members on its site.

    Loewy is undeterred, and also plans to re-file a parallel suit against MySpace in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit located in San Francisco. That suit, also previously dismissed by Judge Sparks, accuses MySpace of fraud against the minor. But Loewy feels a court near Silicon Valley, which he says has handled more Internet-related cases, will be more prepared to rule in his client’s favor.

    It’s got nothing to do with Silicon Valley, but everything to do with the Ninth Circuit being more sympathetic to these anti-personal responsibility lawsuits.

    I guess if at first you don’t succeed, sue, sue, again.