Virginia State Police Arrest Fugitive:
William Joe Mitchell, who I posted about here, has been arrested by Virginia State Police. 46-year-old Mitchell is accused of luring a 15-year-old Florida girl over MySpace to run away with him.
Mitchell was arrested Saturday morning at a Flying J Truck Stop in Winchester, Virginia.
Missing teen home after fleeing with sex offender she met on MySpace:
A 15-year-old Florida girl who was reported missing and given an Amber Alert this week is now safe at home. The girl ran off with 46-year-old William Joe Mitchell, whom she met on MySpace. The girl had thought that Mitchell was a lot younger than he was.
It turned out Mitchell is 46 and has been arrested 14 times on many charges, many of them violent, ranging from robbery to lewd and lascivious behavior, Judd said.
“This is what pedophiles and predators do best,” Judd said during a televised press conference. They use their charisma and charm to groom and lure children, he said.
“We are thankful he didn’t kill her,” Judd said of the man he refers to as “Billy Mitch.” “We are grateful to he took her to a populated area,” he said referring to the Wal-Mart.
Mitchell is still on the loose. I could not find a definitive MySpace for Mitchell.
Parents, do you need another one of these stories to get you to check up on your kids’ online habits?
NY’s Cuomo subpoenas Facebook after company fails to respond:
First, it was Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal. Then it was North Carolina’s Roy Cooper. Now add New York’s Andrew Cuomo to the list of state attorneys general who just don’t get it. (Is there any politician from New York that’s not named Cuomo?)
Anyway, Mr. Cuomo has subpoenaed Facebook because Facebook did not respond to New York’s complaints that undercover investigators posing as teens were approached for sex.
Investigators set up profiles as teens and say they were quickly contacted by other Facebook users with comments such as (quote) “u look too hot……. can i c u online,” and (quote) “call me if u want to do sex with me.”
While entrapment accusations are thrown around willy-nilly these days, I still have to wonder what the fake undercover Facebook profiles looked like. Was it just a class picture type photo, or was it something more provocative?
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says he is concerned that Facebook’s promise of a safe Web site for children is not consistent with its performance.
As someone who chronicles crimes related to social networking sites, let me give you my opinion on something. This site used to be called MyCrimeSpace for a reason. It’s because most of the crimes happening on social networking sites occur on MySpace. Very few of those crimes actually happen on Facebook.
This sounds like Mr. Cuomo is trying to get a lot of press for doing nothing at all.
Sex offender faces child porn charges:
Carl Courtright of Granite City, Illinois was one of those registered sex offenders that had a profile on MySpace when he shouldn’t have. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan used that to obtain a search warrant for Courtright’s home.
Police searched the house on the morning of Aug. 9 and seized several computers, hard drives, and computer equipment.
One DVD, listed in the search warrant return, is titled “Dateline NBC to Catch a Predator.”
Investigators with Madigan’s High Tech Crimes Bureau used IP address information obtained from MySpace to learn that Courtright had been actively trading pornographic images over the Internet.
“Child predators who think they are safe hiding behind a computer screen are no longer anonymous,” Madigan said in a written release. “We have the technology and we are committed to using all of our resources to seek them out and hold them accountable for their crimes.”
It’s nice to see that a state attorney general is using the information to go after criminals and not just MySpace.
New Jersey asks 12 Web sites to check for sex offenders:
New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram has not only asked MySpace for sex offender information, she’s also asked eleven other sites to do the same.
Attorney General Anne Milgram has asked for information from Xanga.com, Facebook, Community Connect, TagWorld, Bebo, MyYearbook.com, Tagged, Friendster, LiveJournal, Imeem, Hi5 and Gaia Online.
I’ll give her this much, she’s thorough. Some of those sites I hadn’t even heard of. But like other states Attorneys General, she’s picking on MySpace…
The Attorney General’s Office has issued three subpoenas to MySpace, but the 12 other sites will soon be getting letters from Milgram asking for help.
And also, like the other state Attorneys General, there’s no mention of parents doing a better job of monitoring their children.
Second man accused of parole violation by posting MySpace profile:
21-year-old William Santos of Waterbury, CT was arrested for violating his parole by having a MySpace profile. Santos is a convicted sex offender. Of course, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal uses this one arrest to pat himself on the back.
“This arrest demonstrates that many of these convicted sex offenders are violating their parole and socializing in the same space as millions of children,” Blumenthal said. “As astonishing and appalling as the discovery of thousands of sex offenders on MySpace, these convicted felons using their real names are only the tip of the predator iceberg.”
Tip of the iceberg is an understatement. Yet while Mr. Blumenthal breaks his arm trying to pat himself on the back, Connecticut is home to the two of the most prolific MySpace predators, David Leonard and Scott Shfelbine. Both have had multiple sexually related arrests, and one of them is even walking free right now. What’s being done about men like that, Mr. Blumenthal?
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.
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.
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.
Sex offender applies for school as a boy:
That charming gentleman pictured at right is Neil Havens Rodreick II. He’s a 29-year-old man who tried applying to an Arizona middle school as a 12-year-old boy. I
t’s believed that he did that in order to lure children into dangerous and vile relationships. If you think he couldn’t pass as a 12-year-old, think again because he fooled at least two other men.
One of those men, 61-year-old Lonnie Stiffler, was claiming to be Roderick’s grandfather when they tried getting him into the school. Stiffler and 43-year-old Robert James Snow were shocked to find out that they were having sex with a 29-year-old man and not a 12-year-old boy. Roderick allegedly kept them fooled by using makeup and shaving his body hair.
Well, we don’t have a MySpace for Roderick, but thanks to LiLO we do have the MySpace for Robert Snow.