TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Tag: sex-offenders

  • Social sites can boot sex offenders

    MySpace can now expel sex offenders:

    Yesterday President Bush (remember him?) signed a bill into law yesterday that grants sites like MySpace and Facebook to have access to a national database of registered sex offenders.

    With that access, the sites would be able to cross-reference their user base and expel any registered sex offenders on it.

    Sex offenders who do not register their e-mail addresses and other internet information could face up to 10 years in prison.

    I actually think this is an enormous step to getting sex offenders off of places like MySpace but again I have to note that it doesn’t do anything to keep off the sex offenders that haven’t been caught yet.

    Parents still need to remain vigilant in their kids’ internet usage. If you don’t know how to monitor their net habits educate yourself.

    Parents should always be the first line of defense.

  • MySpace deletes Nebraska sex offenders

    MySpace Deletes 146 Nebraska Sex Offender Profiles from Site:

    Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning announced this past Friday that in the first half of 2008 MySpace has deleted the profiles of 112 sex offenders that are registered in Nebraska. In 2007 247 were deleted.

    No word on what Nebraska is doing about the unregistered sex offenders or the registered ones that aren’t on MySpace.

  • PA AG does things the right way

    MySpace Helps AG Crackdown On Sex Offenders:

    Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett is in the process of possibly cracking down on 185 Pa. sex offenders that are on MySpace.

    What is AG Corbett doing differently than most of the AG’s I’ve written about? He’s not grandstanding and he’s not putting the blame to MySpace to garner votes. (Unlike AG’s Blumenthal, Cuomo, and Cooper.)

    “So we were able to discover who they were – at least MySpace was. Our concern is that there’s other people who are registered sex offenders that probably have MySpace accounts that there’s no way if they use an alias that we’re going to discover.”

    Wow, he even addresses the issue of sex offenders using aliases on MySpace and he does it realistically.

    Once the records from MySpace have been reviewed the AG’s office will be forwarding the information to the sex offenders’ parole officers.

    Other AG’s should take note that this is how to get things done instead of pandering to clueless soccer moms.

    Thanks to Gage for the tip.

  • NJ sex offenders arrested

    Sex offenders nabbed on MySpace and Facebook:

    The state of New Jersey has arrested 3 sex offenders that were found to be on MySpace and Facebook.

    The perpetrators were Stanton Ulmer, 32, of Neptune Township, Felice Black, 24, of Paterson, and Pietro Parisi, 34, of Westville.

    While the New Jersey AG, Anne Milgram, is busy patting herself on the back I think this shows that recent legislation is not keeping sexual predators off social networks.

  • Indiana doesn’t get it either

    Indiana doesn’t get it either

    Law could ban sex offenders from Myspace:

    Just like his cohorts from other states, Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter just doesn’t get it. Like his other counterparts, he is proposing legislation that is supposed to keep registered sex offenders off of MySpace and other social networking sites.

    Carter says convicted sex offenders will be required to give police their usernames and emails at the same time they register with their basic information like where they live.

    As usual, Attorney General Carter doesn’t address the issues of registered sex offenders using different e-mails and usernames that they gave police or sex offenders who haven’t been caught yet. Not to mention clueless parents who let their children roam the internet unchecked. Oh, that’s right. I forgot. Those clueless parents are also voters.

  • Texas nets 14 MySpace SOs

    Texas nets 14 MySpace SOs

    Dallas-Fort Worth area sex offenders using MySpace arrested:

    Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is bragging that 14 Texas sex offenders were caught violating parole by using MySpace. He says that part rather proudly.

    Mr. Abbott called Web sites like MySpace a “lions’ den” for sexual predators who use them “literally looking for the person they can next victimize.”

    I bet he said the next part really, really quiet.

    Mr. Abbott said, however, that “there was no evidence” that the 14 people arrested last month had used MySpace to locate potential victims. Instead, all 14 were arrested after using the Internet, a violation of their parole.

    While I’m happy, that 14 sex offenders are off the streets, Mr. Abbot falls into the same category as his contemporaries from Connecticut, North Carolina, and New York. Instead of demonizing sites like MySpace, how about doing something about the parents that allow their kids unfettered access to the internet. Oh, that’s right, because they’re the ones who vote. You wouldn’t want to piss them off, would you?

  • Conn. AG turns to Facebook

    Conn. AG turns to Facebook

    Popular Web site is target of probe:

    Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is up to his usual misguided ways. This time, he’s focusing his wrath on Facebook.

    Connecticut’s attorney general is scrutinizing Facebook, the popular social-networking site, for allowing convicted sex offenders to register, calling into question whether the company is doing enough to protect users.

    The inquiry by Richard Blumenthal is designed to force Palo Alto’s Facebook to take a more aggressive stand against sexual predators after his office uncovered at least three cases of such offenders becoming members, a spokesman confirmed. In addition, Blumenthal’s team found that some of Facebook’s users had posted sexually explicit material that was not swiftly removed.

    A whole three, compared to MySpace’s 29,000. Ooooooooh, Facebook really is a criminal haven.

    Connecticut officials have contacted Facebook and asked it to remove the sex offenders’ profiles. Blumenthal plans to continue his inquiry.

    A Facebook spokeswoman did not return telephone calls seeking comment. Chris Kelly, the company’s chief privacy officer, told the New York Times that he is not familiar with the Connecticut investigation but that the company receives many reports about sex offenders registering on the Web site. The profiles are usually removed within 72 hours, he said.

    “We want to be a good partner to the states in attempting to address this societal problem,” Kelly told the Times. “We’ve worked with them for quite some time now, and we look forward to continuing our fruitful partnership.”

    Facebook maintains more-stringent security rules than some of its competitors because of its early days as an online destination for students. Full user profiles aren’t visible to the general public, for instance, and can be seen only by people who have been confirmed as friends.

    It’s bad enough that AG Blumenthal places the blame on MySpace instead of inattentive parents. Now he’s going after a site that has very little criminal activity. In the year and a half that I’ve been doing this site, the stories about Facebook pale in comparison to the stories about MySpace.

    As I’ve said before, AG Blumenthal needs to concentrate on keeping sex offenders off the streets than off of MySpace or Facebook.

  • The 29,000

    The 29,000

    29,000 sex offenders found on MySpace:

    It has been confirmed by MySpace that there are in fact 29,000 registered sex offenders on MySpace. My apologies to AG Roy Cooper of North Carolina for saying that he pulled that number out of thin air. Mr. Cooper’s New England counterpart, Connecticut AG Richard Blumenthal, is stating that the number was provided to him by top MySpace officials. MySpace is still declining to comment.

    If there are 29,000 registered sex offenders on MySpace that are stupid enough to use their real names, I can only imagine how many are on there that are flying below the radar. Not to mention the predators that are on there that have never been caught.

    However, I still don’t think that more legislation is the answer. What is needed is more vigilant parenting. Parents need more education on how to navigate MySpace and how to check up on their kids’ MySpaces.

    We can’t allow the government to raise our children.

  • 7 Texas sex offenders found on MySpace

    7 Texas sex offenders found on MySpace

    7 sex offenders who use MySpace arrested:

    With the information provided to the Texas Attorney General by MySpace, seven Texas sex offenders were arrested for being on MySpace.

    In Houston, officials arrested Patrick Joseph Blevins, 49; Reginald Lee Collins, 27; Ronald Daven Metoyer, 41; and Robert Shepard Walter, 23. Walter was also charged last month with failing to register as a sex offender.

    Scott Peter Hansen, 44, was arrested in Glenn Heights, a Dallas suburb. Information on his incarceration or attorney were not immediately available late Thursday.

    Jason Labronte Carr, 31, was taken into custody in Austin. A Travis County jail official said Thursday night she did not have access to information on Carr’s attorney of record.

    Jeremy Bryan Polak, 28, a parole violator accused of failing to register as a sex offender, was arrested in Round Rock, an Austin suburb. A Williamson County jail official said his records did not include Polak’s attorney of record.

    The really creepy thing is when I was looking for their MySpaces, I found a bunch with the same names that had varying ages. One had several different profiles that were attributed to his name and location that had different teenage ages.

    Thanks to Shyloh for the tip.

  • What does Australia know that the US doesn’t?

    What does Australia know that the US doesn’t?

    MySpace hands over known sex offenders; how many unknown?:

    One of the problems I’ve had with all the blustering from state attorneys general about MySpace is what are the AGs doing about the predators that haven’t been caught yet? I never see anyone in the American media asking that question, yet the Australian media has no problem seeing the same problems that I do.

    MySpace, with 180 million registered profiles and still growing, is possibly the world’s largest social networking phenomenon. The US with a population approaching 300 million has an estimated 600,000 registered sex offenders and quite possibly some multiple of that who are unknown and unregistered. This then begs the question of how many unregistered sex offenders and potential would be predators still have profiles on the MySpace site.

    In most places, there are more criminals at large than in jails. If MySpace truly is a virtual representation of the physical world, then it stands to reason that wiping the profiles of 7,000 known sex criminals may well be just lopping off the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully, that is not the case.

    Yet, we still don’t hear what the AGs are doing to keep sex offenders off the streets. Personally, I just hear them pointing the finger at MySpace. Maybe they should clean up their own “house” first before worrying about MySpace.