Monthly Archive for January, 2008

Yet another Connecticut Creeper

Published on January 31, 2008 in MySpace and Predators by Trench Reynolds. View Comments Tags: , , , .

the creeperMySpace Link Yields Arrest:
From the state that brought you such ‘luminaries’ as Scott Shefelbine and David Leonard comes the story of one Christopher Griswold.

He’s a 21-year-old male from the Constitution State who caught by a 12-year-old girl’s mother trying to lure the 12-year-old for sex over MySpace.

Region 10 School Superintendent Alan Beitman had some great advoce for parents that I’m sure will fall on deaf ears.

“Parents need to be sure their computer is in a place that’s visible” so they can keep some control over their children’s activities online, Beitman said. “They don’t have to sit with their children — just walk by the computer once in a while.”

By the way Connecticut, how is all that new MySpace legislation working for you?

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Fake Bebo profile causes suicide attempt

Published on January 29, 2008 in Bebo and Behavior by Trench Reynolds. View Comments Tags: , , , .

bebo logoBebo cyber-bully faces jail after tricking friend into falling in love with fake profile:
In the vein of the Megan Meier tragedy a 17-year-old boy from the UK is under arrest after causing his friend to attempt suicide via Bebo. Bebo is a social site along the lines of MySpace that is very popular in the UK.

The 17-year-old created a fake identity on Bebo and pretended to be a admirer of his 16-year-old friend. This ruse went on for 3 months until the boy sent an e-mail from his real e-mail address still pretending to be the admirer.

The younger boy was hospitalised after overdosing on 30 paracetamol, 15 Buscopan and 15 ibuprofen tablets when he discovered his friend was behind the faux Bebo profile he had been emailing for three months.

The 17-year-old has pleaded guilty to harassment charges and will be sentenced next month.

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IP addresses close but no cigar

Published on January 22, 2008 in MySpace and Safety by Trench Reynolds. View Comments Tags: , , .

Want To Protect Kids On MySpace? IP Addresses Are The Answer:
The short answer is no.

The author of the article takes MySpace to task for their pointless new safety measures. He also suggests that instead of giving your child’s e-mail address to MySpace to keep them off of it he suggests giving your IP address instead.

I think that’s a great suggestion but it’s just as flawed as the e-mail plan.

There are sites and software out there called anonymizers which easily mask your ip address making any ip block useless.

Whatever block MySpace can think of kids and predators have already thought of a way around it.

Actual parental involvement is the best line of defense in my book.

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UK teen suicides and Bebo

Published on January 22, 2008 in Bebo and Behavior by Trench Reynolds. View Comments Tags: , , , .

Copycat death cult rips apart town as SEVEN teenagers commit suicide:
I ride the American press constantly for shoddy journalism. It could be worse. It could be the British press. No offense to Brits but outside of the BBC you have some of the worst in media. Take for example this article from This Is London.

7 teens who were connected to each other in one way or another. have committed suicide in the span of a year. The article deemed them a suicide cult. Personally I think that’s insulting to their memories. While these events are indeed tragic it does not make a suicide cult. Heaven’s Gate was a suicide cult.

Anyway the reason I bring any of this up is because like most teens some of them had social networking sites. In this instance it was the social site that is most popular on the UK, Bebo. A quote from the article should really bring it home for any parent with a teen.

“The problem is they do not know how to speak about serious issues like this.

“They can speak to each other on the computer but do not know how to express their emotions in other ways.

“Thomas would spend about three hours a night on the computer, talking to his friends.

“The thing is that most parents don’t understand what they are doing or what they are talking about.

“He did go on Bebo and apparently he had a page on there. He must have discussed his other friends dying on there because it had upset him.

“Like most parents, I have no idea how to get on these sites or what other kids are talking about.

“But I would warn other parents to beware and to keep a close eye on their children.

If you don’t know how to check up on your kid’s MySpace, Facebook, or whatever educate yourself. Take the time to learn it. Ask somebody who does know about these things to teach you. It’s not really that hard. It just takes some changes in habit. Also forget about the guilt you may feel because you’re ‘checking up on them’. Damn right you’re checking up on them. These kids need help and protection and as a parent you should be the first line of defense.

My thought and prayers go out to the friends and families of the victims.

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Canadian child porn charges

Published on January 22, 2008 in Nexopia and Predators by Trench Reynolds. View Comments Tags: , , , .

Man admits to possessing child pornography, pursuing teens online:
26-year-old Ian Stuart Johnson of Calgary, Alberta, Canada pleaded guilty to child porn charges. It seems that Johnson would lure underage girls over the Canadian social site Nexopia offering them money and alcohol.

Everytime a Nexopia user would complain about Johnson they would shut down his account only to have him open a new one.

The prosecutor said all of the communications Johnson had was with females who reside in Calgary and were between 14 and 18 years old.

The correspondence, which occurred under the user names satellite_eye, Secureca, Coca-cola55 and dmwarehouse – all Johnson’s – occurred between August 2002 and February 2005 and elicited several complaints from other Nexopia users, prompting site owner Timo Ewalds to terminate the man’s accounts one by one.

While I’m glad that this scumbag is being put away I wonder why it is that you don’t hear about the Canadian government putting pressure on these sites. Maybe they actually think it’s a parent’s job to protect their children.

What a novel concept.

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LiLO on cell phone child abuser

Published on January 21, 2008 in Criminals and MySpace by Trench Reynolds. View Comments Tags: , , , .

Have you heard about the woman who got busted for having video of her abusing her son on her cell phone? You have now and Lost in Lima Ohio has all the MySpace linkage you need about Aisha S. Bowen.

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Creeps in the closet

Published on January 20, 2008 in Criminals and MySpace by Trench Reynolds. View Comments Tags: , , , , .

Have you heard the story about the Salt Lake City woman who hid in her closet from burglars? ONly to have one of the burglars hide in the closet next to her when the cops showed up?

She stayed still and silent until officers entered the bedroom. Then Brittney said, “He’s in here!” Police ordered him out of the closet. “He looked at me with a completely dumbfounded expression, like, ‘Where’d she come from?’” Brittney explained.

Thanks to Angie we have the MySpaces of two of the suspects Tony Cone and Adam Cloward.

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Manatee Abusers Senetnced

Published on January 19, 2008 in Criminals and MySpace by Trench Reynolds. View Comments Tags: , , , .

Men Gone Manatee Fishing Catch Time In Prison:
Back in September I posted about two dumbasses named Karl Kuhn and Charles Podesta Jr. who were arrested for abusing a manatee and posted the video on MySpace.

I received some comments that said that this was just a harmless prank and there was nothing wrong with what they did. To those people I say look what a harmless prank can get you.

Podesta was sentenced to 30 days in federal prison, followed by 30 days of house arrest with electronic monitoring. He will then be on one year of probation and is to perform 100 hours of community service. Furthermore he’ll have to post a public apology for what he did on MySpace.

Kuhn received a term of fifteen days in prison, a one year term of probation, and will also be required to perform 100 hours of community service.

What some call a harmless prank the federal government considers a crime. My advice to you pranksters is stop being such a bunch of dumbasses.

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MySpace Murder Media Scare

Published on January 17, 2008 in Killers, Media and MySpace by Trench Reynolds. View Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Possible “Myspace” Connection to a Valley Murder:
19-year-old Dustin Gran and his 16-year-old girlfriend Brittany Navarra are accused in the bludgeoning death of 18-year-old Krista-Rae Pike of Madera, California.

It seems that Navarra used to date Krista-Rae Pike’s fiancé, Thomas Hollier. When Pike returned to Madera Hollier broke it off with Navarra and went back to Pike. It’s believed that Navarra with the assistance of Gran killed Pike to get back at Hollier.

First off I used to date a girl who carried a torch for another man. That was the worst relationship I was ever in. When I found this out I could barely look at her let alone kill for her so this Gran guy is an idiot. Secondly when did teenage romances get so freakin’ violent?

Now I’m, not condoning at all what these two are accused of doing but I have to call shenanigans on this article that I linked to. The article I linked to is trying to drum up some kind of MySpace scare. Accoriding to the article Gran posed with guns on his MySpace. I’ll have to take their word for it because someone stripped down his MySpace. A communications professor states that both Gran’s and Navarra’s MySpaces are satanic and violent. Especially with this quote…

A page that’s filled with violent images, he sent this one to 16-year old Brittany Navarra about two weeks before police say the pair killed Krista-Rae Pike.

You want to see what the picture in question was?
Continue reading ‘MySpace Murder Media Scare’

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Child advocate scoffs at MySpace. Scoffs I tell you.

Published on January 17, 2008 in MySpace and Safety by Trench Reynolds. View Comments Tags: , .

Children’s Advocacy Group Scoffs at New MySpace Security Measures:
Robert Fellmeth is the director of the Children’s Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego. He’s not happy with the new proposed security measures that MySpace will be putting in place.

I’m just concerned that parents will get a false sense of security that this is all taken care of because they’re handling it — and I don’t think they can handle it.

He also has some advice for you.

Fellmeth says parents need to be the first line of defense in monitoring children’s Internet use.

You don’t send your kids sown a dark alley alone. Why should the internet be any different?

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