UPDATE

AS OF JANUARY 1, 2013 - POSTING ON THIS BLOG WILL NO LONGER BE 'DAILY'. SWITCHING TO 'OCCASIONAL' POSTING.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

FaceCrook

Funny Pictures, Images and Photos

A drug baron on the run from US justice is facing up to 105 years in jail after being traced in Britain through Facebook.

Emmanuel Ganpot, 36, was convicted in 2003 of hiring two “mules” to carry cocaine and 3,500 ecstasy tablets worth £22,000.

Cops in Largo, Florida, arrested him in his car, which held a huge stash of narcotics and $22,000 in used bills.

A cohort in the vehicle got 25 years and Ganpot faced a minimum 15-year term.

But before he could be sentenced, he skipped his million-dollar bail and fled to the UK, where his French mum lived.

He changed his name by deed poll to 'Neo Masuro', obtained a British passport, and set up home in Oxted, Surrey. (sounds like Ed Hicks, Yidwithlid and Dan Jacoby)

There, the “charming Yank” with a drawling accent became “Manny” the barman in the high street’s George Inn.

He also coached a football team, drummed in a band and worked with disabled kids.

But his downfall came when he set up Facebook and Myspace pages in his new name — knocking six years off his age and posting pictures of himself on a Spanish beach. (sounds like Cyberpath, Felon - Ed Hicks!)

Prosecutors back in Florida had given state prosecutor Bill Burgess a three-year mission to track him down.

And the ex-US Army special forces soldier trawled the internet sites of Ganpot’s friends, noticing them referring to a secretive pal called Neo.

Eventually he came across a photo of Neo blowing a kiss and realised his true identity.

Database searches traced Ganpot to Oxted, where British cops arrested him and put him on a plane to the States.

Florida judge Deanna Farnell announced on Wednesday that she would sentence him on May 13 for the original offences plus law evasion — giving a maximum term of 105 years.

Back at the George, barmaid Susie Pocock, 25, said: “The whole thing is crazy. He always used to come in here with a big group of friends.

“Everyone liked him. It just doesn’t add up, it’s incredible.”

Pal Daniel McCarthy, 26, said: “It hasn’t sunk in. Nobody had a clue Neo wasn’t Neo.”

Burgess said: “Finding Ganpot was like finding a needle in a haystack. Then I realised he was still in touch with his pals.”

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Friday, April 24, 2009

Kentucky Puts a Stop To ‘Cyberstalking’



Joined by Attorney General Jack Conway, Gov. Steve Beshear Thursday signed HB 315 sponsored by Rep. Johnny Bell and passed during the 2009 session of the Kentucky General Assembly. The new law includes measures to better protect Kentuckians from cyber crimes.

“This cyber-safety bill is a critical step toward protecting Kentuckians from the very real threats that come with 21st century innovations and toward helping to prevent further abuses of these technologies,” said Beshear. “Kentucky families will be safer because of this bill.”

Through this legislation it is unlawful to “cyberstalk,” which is defined as intentionally alarming, annoying, intimidating or harassing a person with no legitimate purpose through electronic communication. This bill also includes tougher regulations for sex offenders when they use electronic communication.

“House Bill 315 will bring Kentucky laws up-to-date with changes in technology,” Conway said.

“I would like to thank legislators for the bipartisan support of this bill and I appreciate Gov. Beshear signing the bill into law. ...I look forward to working with law enforcement officers and prosecutors to continue making Kentucky a safer place to live, work and raise a family.”

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Internet was Killer's Undoing!


The "Craigslist Killer" was a high-tech BlackBerry addict who stalked his victims in cyberspace - and in the end, that's where cops took him down.

"We received forensic evidence, not only from the crime scenes, but also from electronic and Internet communications," said Suffolk County, Mass., Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Hickman.

After Julissa Brisman's murder, detectives in Boston and New York searched her computer and found her Craigslist massage ads.

They also found the e-mails suspect Philip Markoff sent her to set up the ill-fated April 14 rendezvous at the Boston Marriott Copley Place hotel in Boston's tony Back Bay.

Markoff sent the e-mails from an account he created just the day before.

From those e-mails, police were able to locate his Internet service provider and get an address for Markoff's apartment in Quincy, Mass.

Then they started watching him, noting how much he looked like the blond man caught on various security cameras leaving the crime scenes while nonchalantly texting on his BlackBerry.

Police also found cell phone records linking Markoff's BlackBerry to Brisman, as well as an earlier victim, Trisha Leffler.

"They followed high-tech leads and they used old-fashioned shoe leather. They connected computer IP addresses to physical locations," Conley said.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Thanks to: Laura Knight-Jadczyk -- Editor, Signs of the Times
http://www.sott.net

Monday, April 20, 2009

Cyberstalker's Hate Campaign Made Me Live in Terror


A survivor of the July 7 U.K. bombings revealed how she has been subjected to a year-long hate campaign by a "cyberstalker".

Rachel North, 36, who survived the Russell Square Piccadilly line blast which killed 26 people, said she feared for her safety after being bombarded with hundreds of abusive emails.

One accused Miss North, who is leading a campaign pushing for a public inquiry into the London atrocities, of "making a living on the backs of the dead".

Last month, her stalker, Felicity Jane Lowde, 41, who Miss North has never met, was convicted in her absence, of harassment after failing to attend her trial at Stratford Magistrates' Court in East London.

The mother of one is on the run and a warrant has been issued for her arrest.

But despite this, she has continued to subject Miss North, who married last month, to a torrent of warped messages apparently sent from Internet cafes in London.

Last week, Lowde, from Oxford, spent more than an hour firing off a string of messages.
She wrote: "Get lost you justice-perverting bitch.

"You are a warmongering bitch. No one believes you. People hate you for what you've done. Stop trying to promote yourself and go away Rachel.

"Wicked bitch. In your wedding picture you look happy to have got away with it. But time is ticking and you'll wind up in jail with the stupid grin wiped off your evil face."

Another message said: "So happy to grab your man. You're an embarrassment. You have embarrassed all of us.

"Poor deluded sod. I feel sorry for him. Has he any idea what a fool you are making of yourself with your campaigns? You will pay for your actions. You have LIED to us Rachel. LIED."

Miss North survived the 7/7 atrocities three years after she was raped, robbed and left for dead by a stranger who broke into her London flat.

After the terror attacks, she gave up her job in advertising to lead the campaign for a public inquiry.

She described how Lowde began posting abusive comments on her blog in April last year.

Miss North, who has received counselling for post-traumatic stress and survivor guilt, said: "This woman was writing that I should be prosecuted for deserting the dead.

"She asked why I did not stay to help the dying when in fact we had been told to evacuate the carriage.

"At the time I was having nightmares. I would wake up hearing people screaming and think that we had all walked away from the carriage.

"It was relentless psychological warfare. She sent me hundreds of emails and made false accusations about me publicly on her website.

"I have never understood why she has gone for me like this. I find it horrific that a woman could do this to another woman." Miss North said she feared for her safety. " have no idea what she will do next," she added. "I am concerned that she will just turn up at my door.

"I have given her every opportunity to stop. I ignored her at first and then wrote to her asking her to leave me alone. I even offered to have a woman-to-woman chat to her on the phone to sort it out.

"I thought that the trial last month would be the end of it all but now she has gone on the run. I just hope she is caught soon." (note: Lowde was caught and is currently out with a gag-order on her about this case as it is ongoing)

On her internet blog, Lowde - who has a grown-up son - describes herself as a graduate researcher and psychologist.

During the police inquiry, she claimed she was being stalked by Miss North and has vowed to clear her name. (note: THIS IS A TYPICAL PATHOLOGICAL PROJECTION THAT HAS BEEN USED BY OUR EXPOSED CYBERPATHS WHEN THEIR REMORSELESS ACTIVITIES HAVE BEEN EXPOSED! Count: Beckstead, Jacoby, YidwithLid, Thomas and others in that "boo-hoo I am the victim here" nonsense Cyberpaths feed to law-enforcement!

Sounds a lot like Ed Hicks' "I am writing a tell-all book to get the TRUTH out there."; O.J. Simpson's "looking for the real killer"; Scott Peterson's "I am innocent - everyone takes a boat out on Christmas Day in freezing cold weather to dump a body"; Yidwithlid's whitewashed version of events; and the other Cyberpaths who write us or have their friends write us threatening us if we 'don't remove the slander' or the Psychopath's whose versions of reality are enough to make your head spin.)


A prosecution source said: "What she has said to Rachel is incomprehensible. It beggars belief that someone could be so cruel."

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

MORE ON FELICITY JANE LOWDE

FELICITY JANE LOWDE'S VERSION & WEBSITE

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Canada Online Predator Sentenced to Prison

A Winnipeg, Canada man who abused and assaulted women he met online or over the phone was sentenced Tuesday to eight years in prison, minus 1½ years for time already served.
Photobucket

Terrance Moquin, 38, was described in provincial court Tuesday as a predator and master manipulator who has committed a long list of similar offences.

His latest convictions are for assault, uttering threats and violating probation.

Court heard that in April 2007, Moquin met a Winnipeg mother on a telephone chat line.

Their communications continued online until they arranged to meet in person. The day after that first meeting, he moved in with her.

Over the next six weeks, Moquin assaulted the woman several times and attacked and threatened her 12-year-old daughter, court was told.

According to court records, over the past 15 years Moquin was convicted several times after using phone chat lines and the internet to connect with his victims, employing various aliases. He would often tell them he was a military man from the U.S. working in Canada.

Once he gained women's trust, Moquin would steal from them and begin terrorizing them, court heard. Most of the time, they would end up assaulted and defrauded, with their children abused in some way.

In one case in 2004, Moquin used a hypodermic needle to inject a boy with an unknown substance that gave him double vision, according to Crown Attorney Cindy Soldice, who called Moquin "sadistic" and "relentless."

Soldice requested a prison sentence of seven years, but provincial Judge Ken Champagne decided on eight years, with credit for time already served.

MORE ON THIS PREDATOR

Friday, April 17, 2009

Boston Hunts for the "Craigslist Killer" of Online Escorts

Boston police are searching for a man who may be using Craigslist to lure masseuses and escorts to posh hotels to rob and even kill them.

Police released a surveillance camera photo on Wednesday showing a man walking in the lobby of the Marriott Copley Place hotel while typing on a Blackberry the previous night, around the same time a New York City woman was found dying in the hotel.

Photobucket

Investigators said the man was "a person of interest" in the case.
"What we believe is that there are a series of independent operations that are occurring, and it’s very difficult for the hotels to police them because they don’t know who it is that’s coming in to use their rooms," Boston Police Superintendent Edward Davis told The Boston Globe. "We've been monitoring it very closely, but it's very difficult to completely eliminate it."

Police said 26-year-old Julissa Brisman of New York City was found with multiple gunshot wounds to the torso, Davis said. She was rushed to Boston Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.

Davis said police believe Brisman was a victim of an attempted robbery.

Police said the same man was photographed Friday at the Westin Hotel in Boston, where a 29-year-old Las Vegas woman was found bound and robbed.

Investigators said both victims offered massage services on the Craigslist.org Web site.

A massage table was found set up in Brisman's room. Authorities believe she had been in a struggle at the door of her 20th-floor hotel room before she was shot.

Lucy Slosser, a spokeswoman for the Marriott Copley Place, said the hotel has beefed up security following the shooting.

"We haven't seen an increase in crime at the hotel, so we believe this to be an isolated incident," Slosser said.

Slosser said the hotel was not fully occupied Tuesday night.

PICTURES of the Alleged Killer from the BOSTON GLOBE

More from FoxNews on the victim


SOURCE

Thanks to OneofSeven for this tip!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Paul S. Krueger - The 'Millionaire Match Music Man" Con Artist

more reasons to NEVER EVER do ONLINE DATING! or HOOK UP WITH ANYONE ONLINE!

by Lou Sessinger

A homeless man who used a phony investment scheme to con women he met at an Internet dating site will find a home for the next few years behind the walls of a state prison.

Paul S. Krueger, 50, who has former addresses in Souderton, Telford and Hatfield, pleaded guilty Friday in Montgomery County Court to one count of felony theft charges for scamming victims out of $100,000, which he then gambled away at Atlantic City casinos. Judge Thomas C. Branca accepted the recommendation of the prosecution and defense and sentenced Krueger to three to seven years at the State Correctional Institution at Graterford.

Krueger was also ordered to repay the 13 victims of his scam a total of $100,000, something the prosecutor said Krueger likely will be unable to do. Had not the prosecution and defense negotiated Krueger’s guilty plea by dropping some charges and consolidating others, the con man could have faced a maximum sentence of 174 years in prison if convicted on all counts, his lawyer, Chief Public Defender Stephen Heckman, explained to his client during Friday’s hearing.

The judge also sentenced Krueger to a concurrent sentence of 2 1/2 to 5 years in prison for violating the terms of his probation from a similar crime he pleaded guilty to in 2006. In the most recent crime, he’d met his victims on an Internet dating site called MillionaireMatch.com, which describes itself as “the first, most effective and largest site in the world to connect with, date, marry successful, beautiful people."

Krueger passed himself off as a Grammy nominated sound engineer in the recording industry who was looking for investors. Some of the women, who lived in various parts of the country, had friends who also invested in Krueger’s nonexistent business. In all, 13 people gave Krueger between $500 and $20,000 for a total of $100,000.
“All the money was lost in the casinos,” said Assistant District Attorney Robert J. Sander, who heads the economic crime unit. “Mr. Krueger had a bad gambling habit. All the money’s gone. He was essentially homeless and living on the streets of Atlantic City when he was arrested.”

Although Krueger was ordered to begin repaying his victims when released from prison, Sander said,
“He probably is never going to make restitution. You can’t get blood from a stone, and he doesn’t have anything. When he gets out of prison, we’ll see what happens.”

Lou Sessinger is a columnist with The Intelligencer and phillyBurbs.com.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE WHOLE DATELINE NBC SHOW ON KRUEGER

Are YOU a Possible Victim of Paul S. Krueger?
Click here
and
Click here
for more information

This guy sounds like EVERY SINGLE ONE of our cyberpaths (listed on the Right Column here).

If you have issues with this story - please contact the NEWS MEDIA who published it in the first place and the District Attorney (their phone number is:
610-278-3090) in this. Not us. We are just reporting what the media has already.

Thanks to 'Gypsy' from the EOPC Support Group for this one!

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Costume Designer Charged with Cyberstalking


By Donita Naylor and Tatiana Pina

The problem started with a poorly made SpongeBob costume, and ended with a cyberstalking arrest.

In between, Tracy Sisson says, were two years of harassment: prank calls, hangups, telemarketing calls and phony applications, as many as 60 a day.

In 2001, Sisson, 33, of Cranston, Rhode Island (U.S.) ordered the character costume, called a Yellow Cheese to avoid copyright infringement, and put $500 down on a costume resembling Bob the Builder, for her party rental business. But she was not happy with the quality of the Yellow Cheese, she said in an interview Wednesday, because of unsightly glue drips. When she called Bruna Puppets and Costumes, of Providence, to cancel the builder costume, owner Ann Bruno refused to return her deposit.

Sisson and her husband, Keith, own Absolute Fun Party Rentals and the Absolute Fun Party Center, in Cranston. She and Bruno, 59, met again in 2006 when Sisson was arranging mortgages at Able Financial Services and Bruno got a job there. Sisson told her boss that she felt uncomfortable working with Bruno and planned to leave. Bruno was laid off, she said.

Later that year, around September, Sisson told the police she began getting mysterious phone calls and Internet messages from companies indicating she had filled out applications. She had not. Her phone was ringing as she came home from the hospital with her third son. “I was walking in the door with my brand-new baby, and someone was calling for my husband.” It was a female voice, she said, and the caller hung up.

Was her husband having an affair while she was giving birth?

On Monday, the police charged Bruno, of West Warwick, with cyberstalking, a misdemeanor. She was issued a summons to appear at District Court, Warwick, on April 14.

Earlier that day, Sisson called the police from the Cranston Public Library, saying she recognized a woman at the computers who might be involved. Bruno wasn’t aware that two officers were standing behind her, a police report said. They watched as she typed Sisson’s name and business address onto an application.

Bruno told the police she was the victim, that she had received harassing phone calls and that applications were filled out in her name.

She said that Sisson had gotten her fired from her job.

Sisson’s business, operating a party center and renting items for home parties, started seven years ago. It’s a family operation, she said. Nieces and nephews appear as characters in costumes, her sister does face painting and temporary tattoos and her husband delivers water slides, moon-bouncers, tables, chairs and tents.

Bruno, who started designing fashions as a student at Cranston High School East, has a shop in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Providence. The shelves are lined with costume heads of bunnies, Mickey Mouse-like creatures and characters that Bruno has made, along with wigs, vinyl go-go boots and costumes she has sewn, such as a Southern belle. Bruno refused to comment.

Tracy Sisson said she started asking callers how they got her number and was told she or her husband had filled out cards at a home show or business expo. Neither had attended those shows, she said.

ARTICLE HERE


Typical - the cyberharasser plays VICTIM! Sounds like Angela Buer, Nathan Thomas, Dan Jacoby, Yidwithlid, Ed Hicks...

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Another Facebook Stalker Arrested

ANOTHER REASON TO NOT USE SOCIAL NETWORKING! OR MAKE YOUR PROFILES PRIVATE AND LIMITED TO PEOPLE YOU ACTUALLY KNOW ONLY!

~~~~~~~

Cyberstalkers sometimes hide behind computer monitors or anonymous usernames.


A Georgia (U.S.) man, who local police say obtained personal information on a Cleveland County woman through a social networking Web site, reportedly hid from police Sunday under insulation at an abandoned home.


Laurence Odell Barnett, of Marietta, Ga., recently made the trip to North Carolina to see a woman in her late 30s, according to Cleveland County Sheriff's Capt. Alan Norman.
But feelings weren't mutual between the two.

A Cleveland County Sheriff's Office K-9 apprehended Barnett, 40, after he sought concealment from authorities in an attic of a vacant Oak Grove Road home.

"Mr. Barnett had viewed a Facebook account of a female that lived here in Cleveland County and was able to retrieve enough information through the Internet on the victim to come here," Norman said. "He showed up in the county at a nearby location where she was at."

Law enforcement was immediately contacted, Norman said, but Barnett fled the scene.
Deputy Doug Bryson was the first to arrive at the abandoned home Barnett was believed to be hiding in. Given the situation, he called for backup.

Norman said Deputy Bryan Ledford arrived shortly after with his K-9 partner, Zane.
The dog reportedly found Barnett stashed away in the attic, hidden underneath insulation.

Zane made the apprehension, Norman said, which might have saved an officer from being injured in a confrontation.

Barnett was arrested and charged with misdemeanor breaking and entering, resist, delay or obstructing an officer and cyberstalking. He was denied bond.


Norman said the incident goes to show that online predators are in fact out there and a little caution can go a long way.

"I would urge individuals not to list any information that might give an individual an area where they may live," Norman said. "In today's times, it's fairly easy to narrow down where a person does reside with the tools and technology available to people such as Mr. Barnett."

SOURCE

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Man Found Guilty of Cyberstalking - Jailed


A 28-year-old Missoula, Montana (US) man has pleaded guilty to cyberstalking for sending threatening e-mails to his former girlfriend.

Jeffrey D. Grob pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Missoula on Thursday. He faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced on June 19. Grob remains jailed.

Prosecutors say Grob sent the threatening e-mails to his former girlfriend from October through December 2007. The e-mails included death threats and some included pictures of dead women.

An Oct. 15, 2007 e-mail said: "I hope you die!!" One on Nov. 24 read: "I'm going to slit your throat. If you ever come back to Montana again I am going to slit your throat." Another e-mail included a picture of a dismembered woman and said: "This will be you."

The woman now lives in Seattle.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Monday, April 06, 2009

Trying to Recruit Prostitutes - Through MySpace

By Helen Croydon

Ordinary women are being lured into prostitution through networking sites with offers of glamour and cash.

MYSPACE Pictures, Images and Photos

After a friend was approached through her MySpace profile with the promise she’d “earn £100 an hour having fun”, I went undercover to find out exactly what these girls are being lured in to.

The flattering email – from “Jules” – complimented her on her appearance and told her she’d be able to “select the type of clients she sees and approve every appointment”.

It also assured her that security checks would be taken care of.

So, to expose the reality, I emailed Jules, calling myself Charlotte and pretending to be interested.

Two days later I turned up to meet her at a London Tube station, armed with a small bag of clothes.

She’d asked me to bring a selection of sexy outfits so she could take photographs and put my “working” profile up on the web right away.

Jules reeked of alcohol and later apologised for “being a bit tipsy”. She’d been with a client that day and had been drinking champagne. “You get a lot of that in this job. So if you like champagne you’re on to a winner,” she laughed.

We settled into a nearby Starbucks and she immediately reassured me: “You’ve got the job by the way. This is not really an interview – if we like the look of you, you can start.”

She didn’t ask about my background, my age, whether I’d done this before and she didn’t question my emotional state.

The only questions she asked me in the course of our two-hour meeting were what sexual acts I was uncomfortable with and what days I was unavailable to work.

She never once made any reference to safe sex or asked if I’d had sexual health checks myself.

She told me the going rate is £100 an hour. She charges a £25 booking fee plus a £10 fee for every hour.

But for the first five bookings, she takes an extra £10 per hour because she claims it takes extra time to push the profiles of new girls. That means her recruits are expected to perform a series of sexual acts for just £55, and to arrange their own transport.

“We used to be able to charge more, but with the credit crunch it’s gone down, and there are much less overnight stays,” she said. “You would have got a lot for those – around £800.”

Jules explained that the price could vary from week to week.

“If we find you’re getting loads of inquiries we might put your prices up but if you’re not getting much response from the website, and it does happen, we’ll have to put your prices down.”

I asked her how the security checks were done. “Oh, that’s Jonathan, he does all the client side of things, I don’t know how he checks, but trust me, he does.”

Having supposedly calmed my fears about safety, she went on to paint a glamorous picture of a life full of luxury hotels and gifts. “I’ve not bought perfume for two years,” she bragged.

“You’ll meet so many interesting people. I’ve had all sorts of clients from High Court judges to electricians.”

After a half-hour chat, she was keen to get me to the hotel to do the paperwork. She had a room booked that she’d used to entertain a client earlier.

She wanted to use the room to photograph me. I asked if we could do the paperwork in the hotel bar – unwilling to have my photos taken by a stranger.

Jules ordered a large glass of wine and water for me then produced three sheets of paper.

The first page asked for my real name, a “working name” and physical details such as height, bra size and eye colour.

I gave a false name but she never checked my ID. If I ever went missing on a job – how would anyone find me?


The second page was to select the type of male client I’d prefer. The third listed the sex acts I may be expected to perform. They were colour coded: white for what was “normal”, yellow for “what I can refuse to do” and blue for what would merit “extra payment”.

The “extras” included “unprotected sex” and “unprotected sex until completion”. There were some phrases I’d never heard before. Jules didn’t offer to explain them.

After half an hour another girl joined us for the photo session. Jules had recruited her the day before.

Jane (her “working name”) was mouse-like. “I’d never normally do this,” she confessed as Jules went outside for a cigarette, “but so many things are bad in my life right now.

“I split with my boyfriend and then I lost my job and I just can’t get anything. I went to two other agencies from an advert on the internet. But both of them ripped me off.”

She reluctantly told how she’d given them an “appointment fee” of £200 or more then the so-called agencies disappeared without trace. “I have bills to pay, and this could just be what I need,” she concluded.

Worryingly, she seemed to genuinely believe that escorting was a good way of getting out of a bad situation.

Even more alarmingly, despite admitting she was in a very vulnerable state of mind, she was willing to be represented by a stranger who contacted her on the internet.

Certain types of prostitution are legal in the UK but for girls who chose to do it there is a significant risk to personal safety and emotional stability.

Chris Student from the International Union of Sex Workers warns: “I’d never encourage this type of work. But if people are going to do it they need to know exactly who they are working for, get ID, ask to meet other workers. This is an industry where there is a particular danger.”

Jules was persuasive and charming and it’s easy to see how girls hungry for money could trust her – and her reassurances that male clients go through security checks.

But what she does is another argument against having an open profile online. Anyone could be studying your photos, sizing you up as a possible sex worker.

Jules told me MySpace kept deleting her account when they found out she was contacting potential recruits. But it didn’t deter her. “I just start a new profile up again,” she laughed.

A MySpace spokesperson said: “We have measures to monitor emails, but unless something in the language triggers an alert, we can’t investigate. If someone reported a potential abusive email, we’d look into it.”

Excerpt from the MySpace email:
Hiya, you seem like an adventurous, fun-loving girl… perhaps you’d be interested in this?

Would you like to earn over £100 an hour having fun, part-time, with flexible hours to suit you? Working as little or as much as you want?

I’m an escort working together with part-time girls from 18 to 35 who earn on average over £100 an hour. Everyone works flexibly with hours to suit them – some work up to 10 hours a week, others only a couple of hours a month – it’s entirely up to you.

All the girls choose the kind of client they see and approve every appointment before it’s finalised.

The agency does all the marketing, sales and security so you have nothing at all to bother about except the appointments.

Thanks

Kisses, Jules

SOURCE

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Ohio Judge Cyberstalked and Threatened

Any of this behavior familiar to our readers? - EOPC

An Ohio man allegedly set fire to a car belonging to City Court Judge Christopher Anderson and for two months harassed Anderson and a woman described as the Ohio man's estranged wife, federal court records state.

A federal indictment filed last week against Thomas Slapnicker, 26, of Mentor, Ohio, states Slapnicker posted bogus Internet pages posing as Anderson and the woman.

In the indictment, the victims are identified as "CA" and "CS." Court records filed in Ohio reference a string of police reports filed by Anderson and the woman with Lake Station police.

Police acknowledged on Thursday that the alleged victim "CA" was Anderson.

The complaints include reports of threatening phone calls and e-mail messages from Slapnicker to the couple in January and February. They also allege that Slapnicker made bogus Web pages on the site Myspace.com posing as Anderson and claiming the judge was a pedophile.

Lake Station Police turned the investigation over to federal authorities, Chief Mike Stills said.

"My first inclination was to have an outside agency look into it, with the victim being an elected official here," Stills said.

The Ohio records state Lake Station investigators have surveillance camera footage that shows a vehicle identical to one Slapnicker owns driving away from Anderson's home on Jan. 22, the night Anderson's car was set on fire.

Slapnicker allegedly called his estranged wife after the fire and threatened to burn down Anderson's house.

Slapnicker was arrested last week in Ohio. He is due for a hearing in federal court in Hammond today, his attorney, Roseann Ivanovich, said.

Slapnicker served nearly five years in the military, earning commendations for his conduct in combat, Ivanovich said. He was honorably discharged in 2007, she said. The couple has a 3-year-old child, she said.

"I was surprised this case was charged federally," she said Thursday. "He's a nice young guy who's got a lot to deal with from his service and his divorce."

ORIGINAL ARTICLE


(Of course it was charged Federally! In the U.S. cyberharassment is a FEDERAL CRIME. The fact it took ONLY 2 months to get charges? Is because the victim is a judge. Other victims wait YEARS for charges! But it does catch up with these pathological internet harassers.)
ABOUT CYBERSTALKERS
Cyber stalkers can be broadly categorized into three types. (Sometimes these categories overlap).

The obsessional cyberstalker
This is the most common type of cyberstalker and he or she usually has had a prior relationship with the victim. The stalker cannot come to terms with the fact that their relationship is over. He or she then takes a lot of trouble to coerce the victim into re-entering the relationship or has his or her revenge on the victim by inducing fear and making his or her life miserable.

One should not be misled by believing that this stalker is harmlessly in love and incapable of causing real harm.

The delusional cyberstalker
This type of stalker is usually unrelated to the intended victim. Most of the time, contact is achieved through the Internet. These stalkers suffer from mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, psychopathy, bipolar disorder, narcissism, etc. This is why, sometimes, they are severely deluded into believing that their victim is in love with them even though they may have never met. These false beliefs keep them tied to their victims. This particular condition is also known as erotomania.

A delusional stalker is often a social outcast because of his or her mental illness and this makes him or her all the more desperate for companionship. Victims often tend to be married and from high profile professions such as celebrities, doctors, teachers, etc.

The most common type of stalker from this group is the type which pursues a celebrity and this syndrome is better known as the "obsessed fan syndrome". Delusional stalkers are very difficult to shake off.

The vengeful cyber stalker
These cyber stalkers are typically disgruntled employees and ex-spouses, ex-lovers or ex-friends who are resentful towards their victim due to some reason or the other. The motive for them is the feeling that THEY were the ones who have been victimized first and that they are merely teaching their victims a lesson.
EOPC EXAMPLE

His or her actions are similar to that of the obsessional stalker but they differ in motive. He or she is usually hell-bent on inducing fear in his or her victims by blackmailing or threatening them after taking over their computers.
EOPC EXAMPLE

WHAT MOTIVATES A CYBERSTALKER/ HARASSER?
The following are general motivations for any cyberstalker. The more fearful cyberstalkers tend to have more than one motive.

Anonymity of the Net
As mentioned before, the very nature of anonymous communications through the Internet makes it much easier to be a cyberstalker than a stalker in the real world.

Obsession for love
It is often the case that when relationships that begin online or in real life are halted abruptly by one person, the rejected lover cannot accept the end of the relationship. This leads to the rejected one pursuing his or her ex-lover online as well as offline.

One major problem related to obsessional stalking is that since it often starts off as real romance and intimacy, much personal information is shared between both persons involved. This makes it all the easier for the cyberstalker to harass his or her victim by using personal information against him or her or publicizing them.

Obsessions may also start as pastimes or for psychological reasons. These stalkers live in their own fantasy realms, so it is usually unnecessary for the victim to have done anything to attract his or her attention in the first place. Obsessional stalkers are usually jealous, possessive and manipulative people.

Revenge & Hate
It may start of as a mere argument blown out of proportion, leading eventually to a relationship based on intense hatred and a need for revenge. The criminal behavior may also be triggered off as a result of a rude comment posted online. The offending party may regret his or her action immediately but the offended party is not that easy to shake off.

Sometimes, hate-centred cyberstalking is triggered off for no reason at all. This is another indication of the psychological instability of cyberstalkers. Death threats and vulgar messages via email or through live chat messages are a common manifestation of this type of stalking.

Ego-centrism
Some stalkers are least interested in the damage they do to or how close they get to their victims. They are only interested in the process of gaining control over their victims just to prove to themselves or their friends that they can. They do not have any grudge against their victims but are simply using them as a means to exhibit their power and control to their friends or doing it just for the challenge. The unlucky victim is usually chosen at random.

Apart from the fact that they are highly manipulative and risk-taking, these stalkers do not suffer from any mental illness. Most people who receive threats online are fooled into believing that their harasser is more than capable of carrying out their threats. In fact, more often than not, this type of stalker is a child or teenager who cannot possibly have the means of carrying out the threats made.

IMPACT ON VICTIMS
Cyberstalking undermines the reputation and credibility of the Internet as a platform of information and for communication.

Being stalked can be an extremely fearful experience... Receiving messages filled with hatred or obsessive desire from someone whose face they have never seen before can be extremely terrifying. This is even more so if they start thinking that they themselves had done something wrong to deserve such treatment.

The knowledge that one is being continually pursued for whatever reason in the real or in the cyberworld is not something one handle if he or she keeps his or her fear inside. A new user of the Net may be so traumatized by such an experience that he or she may be too frightened to use the Net ever again. The worst thing that could happen is that the victim is convinced by the stalker to meet him or her in the real world and is then raped or assaulted or even murdered in a secluded area.

Such incidents severely undermine the reputation and credibility of the Internet as a worldwide platform of information and for communication.
~~~~~~~~~~~

The Ohio man charged with cyberstalking two Lake Station residents, one of whom is the city judge, will undergo a psychiatric evaluation before continuing with court hearings.

In a hearing Friday in Hammond federal court, Magistrate Judge Paul Cherry ordered the evaluation of Thomas Slapnicker, 26, of suburban Cleveland. Slapnicker's lawyer, Roseann Ivanovich, requested the evaluation.

Ivanovich told Cherry that Slapnicker is an Iraq war veteran suffering post-traumatic stress disorder. Slapnicker is also going through a divorce, Ivanovich said. She said that she was not convinced Slapnicker understands his situation, and she isn't sure he is capable of helping with his defense.
(PTSD is suffered by our victims... and our victims don't react this way. So clinical differences MUST be drawn between combat-related PTSD and trauma-related PTSD. The former's victims tend to act out, the latter's victims tend 'act IN.' - EOPC)

Cherry suspended hearings pending the evaluation.

Slapnicker remains jailed.

The federal investigation into Slapnicker started when someone set fire to Lake Station City Judge Christopher Anderson's car in his driveway about 2 a.m. one morning in late January or early February, said Lake Station Police Chief Mike Stills.

Anderson told police Slapnicker had been harassing and threatening him, Stills said. A detention order filed against Slapnicker in Ohio federal court describes Anderson as a "friend" of Slapnicker's wife. Anderson suggested Slapnicker as a suspect in the fire, Stills said.

Slapnicker has not been charged in the car fire, but he faces charges filed last week in Hammond federal court that he used MySpace and other Web sites to harass two Lake Station residents. Anderson is not mentioned in the indictment, but police have named him as one of the alleged victims.

Slapnicker is accused of using Web sites to invite people to one victim's home for sexual favors. The indictment states Slapnicker posed online as a second victim, using MySpace and other sites, to make that person appear to be a racist pedophile.

Slapnicker is charged with four counts of making threatening phone calls Feb. 12 and two counts of violating a protective order by interstate cyberstalking.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE


SUPPORT BOARD FOR STALKING VICTIMS

If you are being CYBERSTALKED or HARASSED EOPC CANNOT intervene for you - CLICK HERE for what to do Do not allow even law enforcement to tell you this is 'not a big deal.' Insist that they file charges and get a copy of the charges! Be a 'polite pest' and follow up frequently. Move up the ladder of command if you have to. Involve local politicians - many Representatives have people in their local offices to help citizens get the services THEIR TAX DOLLARS PAY FOR.


YOU CAN SHARE COPIES OF THE RELEVANT LAW WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT IF THEY DO NOT "GET IT'" (more links to the right regarding the law & cyberpaths, cyberstalking & cyberharassment)



Interstate Threatening Communications and Cyberstalking
  • The statute governing threatening communications is 18 U.S.C. § 875.
  • Whoever, with intent to extort from any person, firm, association, or corporation, any money or other thing of value, transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years or both (b).
  • Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both (c).
  • Whoever, with intent to extort from any person, association, or corporation, any money or other thing of value, transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any threat to injure the property or reputation of the addressee or of another or the reputation of a deceased person or or threat to accuse the addressee or any other person of a crime, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both (d).
18 U.S.C. § 875 Interstate Communications
  • Threatening Communications
  • Threatening to injure property or defame
  • Intent to communicate
  • Communication in interstate commerce
  • The communication is reasonably perceived by the recipient as threatening
  • Threat of harm to a person. U.S. v. DeAndino, 958 F.2d 146 (6th Cir. 1992) (although not necessarily a specific person).

§ 875(c) Threatening Communications

  • Intent requirement for 875(c)
  • Intent to communicate
  • Reasonably perceived by recipient as threat of bodily harm
  • Subjective intent to threaten is not required. U.S. v. Morales, 272 F.3d 284 (5th Cir. 2001).
  • Intent to make an interstate communication is also not required. U.S. v. Darby, 37 F.3d 1059 (4th Cir. 1994).
  • Interstate commerce requirement -- An internet communication need only travel out of state to fulfill interstate commerce prong. U.S. v. Kammersell 196 F.3d 1137 (10th Cir. 1999).

CASES

U.S. v. Kammersell, 196 F.3d 1137 (10th Cir. 1999)

U.S. v. Morales, 272 F.3d 284 (5th Cir. 2001)

A communication is a threat if in its context it would have a reasonable tendency to create apprehension that its originator will act according to its tenor. The threat must be made knowingly which means voluntarily and intelligently and not by mistake or accident. To distinguish political hyperbole from a true threat, “in order to convict, a fact finder must determine that the recipient of the in-context threat reasonably feared it would be carried out.”

The Court found that the language of 18 U.S.C. § 875 doesn’t require intent to communicate the threat to the specific victim.


U.S. v. Alkhabaz, 103 F.3d 1492 (6th Cir. 2001)
  • Facts: D posted stories depicting sexual violence to a usenet group. One of these stories involved the torture, rape, and murder of a young woman who shared the same name as one of D’s classmates at the University of Michigan. Some time after, D and his friend (computing from Ontario Canada) exchanged email messages expressing an interest in sexual violence.
  • D was arrested under 18 U.S.C. § 875 for sending threatening interstate communications. The District Court dismissed the indictment against D, finding that his stories and messages did not constitute true threats and were protected speech. The government appealed the dismissal of the indictment.
Court ruled these constituted “a communication containing a threat” under § 875(c), a communication must be such that a reasonable person (1) would take the statement as a serious expression of an intention to inflict bodily harm (the mens rea), and (2) would perceive such expression as being communicated to effect some change or achieve some goal through intimidation (the actus reus).”

Cyberstalking Statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2261A
* Whoever . . . [uses] any interactive computer service, or any facility of interstate or foreign commerce to engage in a course of conduct that causes substantial emotional distress to that person or places that person in reasonable fear of the death of, or serious bodily injury to, any of the persons described in clauses (i) through (iii) of subparagraph
(B) . . .
  • (i) . . . person;
  • (ii) a member of the immediate family . . . of that person; or
  • (iii) a spouse or intimate partner of that person;

Cyberstalking Statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2261A
History Behind 18 U.S.C. § 2261A

* Enacted as part of Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA).
* Created the federal crime of stalking, largely in response to highly publicized murder of actress Rebecca Shaeffer.

CASES
U.S. v. Bowker, 372 F.3d 365 (6th Cir. 2004).

* D argued that 18 U.S.C. § 2261 overbroadly included certain protected speech. The Court rejected this challenge as it found that D hadn’t pointed to anything in particular. The court also rejected D’s vagueness challenge, finding that the reasonable person standard in objectively discerning threatening behavior would apprise the reasonable person reading the statute of what conduct was prohibited. Further, it found harassment and intimidation to be words of common understanding.

U.S. v. Bell, 303 F.3d 1187 (9th Cir. 2002).
* “course of conduct” means a pattern of conduct comprised of two or more acts.”

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Online Predator Targetted Mothers


Man acted out death threats against children; More prison time sought

by Mike McIntyre

He is described as a serial predator who scours the Internet for vulnerable single mothers, wins their hearts with a bogus tale of bravado and then terrorizes them and their children.

Terrance Moquin has left a trail of dashed hopes and devastated victims across Canada and in the United States in a 15-year crime spree. Now a Manitoba Crown attorney wants the justice system to fight back.
"He's sadistic, manipulative and relentless in his offences. He appears to be unstoppable, whether he's on parole, probation, on release or, for that matter, even when he's in jail," prosecutor Cindy Sholdice told provincial court Judge Ken Champagne in calling for a seven-year prison sentence.

"He is capable of extreme physical and mental violence against vulnerable individuals."

Moquin, 38, is expected to learn his fate Tuesday morning after being convicted of his latest crimes, which involve befriending a single mother of two children in an online chat room and then assaulting her when the relationship turned sour in 2007. Moquin was on parole and probation at the time and required to report all relationships to justice officials, which he failed to do.
"Over and over and over again... he manipulated his probation officers. They never suspected a thing," Sholdice said during her sentencing submissions last week.

Like past victims, Moquin told the woman his name was really "Lane Kidd," a former U.S. Marine and trained sniper from Texas who had fought in Iraq and moved to western Manitoba to pursue a successful career in the oil and trucking industry. He even proudly showed off his army tattoo.

Moquin's adult criminal history dates back to the early 1990s, when he repeatedly attacked his wife when she confronted him about his penchant for using phone-sex chat lines. He forced the woman to perform oral sex on him while holding a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her in front of their young son, court was told.

Moquin got out of jail in 1998 and quickly befriended a married woman in Red Deer, Alta. He eventually moved into the home -- her husband was on a lengthy work-related stint overseas -- and began to administer "corporal punishment" to her three children, aged 7, 9 and 11.

His most disturbing act involved telling the kids he was going to kill them all and forcing them to choose the means -- a beating, hanging or throat-slitting. Moquin then began to act out the death scenarios, even tying a dog collar around one child's neck and holding him over the side of a staircase, court was told.

He was given two years in prison and three years' probation for those incidents. A parole report claimed Moquin displayed a "callous disregard for the rights of others."

Moquin continued a similar pattern of behaviour following his release, meeting nearly a dozen women in Manitoba through the Internet.
Their romances usually ended when Moquin got caught stealing money from them and/or abusing them and their children, court was told.

Moquin received several short jail terms in the early 2000s, usually not for more than about six months at a time.

In 2005, he befriended a married woman from Minot, N.D. and convinced her to come to Winnipeg to post bail for him after one of his arrests for breaching terms of his probation. She left her husband and children, believing Moquin's story that he'd got into a fight while "defending the American flag" with a rude Canadian, court was told. She was intercepted by police who told her the truth about her online lover.

Moquin has spent the past year in custody, and the Crown is seeking up to six more years in prison. Defence lawyer Jody Ostapiw said her client only deserves another year behind bars, saying he can't be given extra punishment just for being a chronic "liar."

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

MIKE ON CRIME