Match (dot) WRONG

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Man She Met on Dating Site Beat and Raped Her

(USA) A petite, disabled Army veteran and single mother stoically told a judge how a man she met through an online dating site brutally beat, choked, raped and sodomized her after she invited him into her home.

She was testifying during a bond hearing for Corderell St. George, who’s charged with rape and false imprisonment in the Feb. 5 incident. He has been held without bond in the Muscogee County Jail since his arrest Feb. 28, and defense attorney William Kendrick tried to persuade Superior Court Judge William Rumer to set a bond so St. George could be released.

After hearing from the victim, Rumer declined.

The victim testified that after the assault, she helped police track St. George down by posting a fake profile to the online dating site “Plenty of Fish,” through which she first met him. She said he had deleted his old profile on that site and posted a new one, but had not changed his photograph.

Using the fake profile she’d created, she made contact with him, and not realizing who she was, he started making the same pitch he’d made to meet her before, she said.

Prosecutor LaRae Moore cited that testimony in arguing St. George would remain a danger to others were he released from jail. Having attacked the woman in her home, where she still lives, he presents a danger to her as well, Moore said.

The woman described what began as a pleasant meeting. St. George did not drive, and first invited her to his house, saying he had a roommate. His roommate turned out to be his girlfriend, who also testified Thursday, saying he'd been living with her since she met him in November 2013.

The victim said she hadn’t felt comfortable meeting St. George at his home, so as he walked toward her house Feb. 5, she met him halfway and gave him a ride there.

Around 11 a.m., while her teenage son was at school, she and St. George sat at her dining room table, played cards and had a few drinks. He seemed “mild mannered” and “quiet,” she said.

That changed abruptly: “From out of the blue, he hit me,” she said.

Screaming, she ran for her front door and unbolted one of its locks before he dragged her back, saying “Shut up, b---h,” she said. He ordered her to give him oral sex, she said. When she fought back, biting his hand and reaching for a bottle to hit him with, he beat and choked her, she said.
He choked her so hard she began to vomit, both on the pillow on her bed and the couch in her living room, she testified. He pulled a weave from her hair, and their violent struggle destroyed her flat-screen TV and an end table, she said.

Finally she persuaded him she had to use the bathroom, and as soon as she was free, she ran naked out the door to tell her neighbors, who went back in with her to confront him, she said. They found her home vacant and her back door standing open.

Clear to anyone in the courtroom was the disparity between the size of the victim and the suspect. She testified she was 5-foot-1 and weighed 135 pounds. Moore said St. George is 6-foot-6. He reportedly weighed 220 pounds when arrested.

Testifying on St. George’s behalf was a grandmother who said he’d lived with her most of his life, before moving in with the girlfriend. “I’ve never seen a violent side,” she said.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE FOUND HERE

Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2014/04/10/3049777/woman-testifies-man-she-met-through.html#storylink=cpy

Bullies & Predators Feel Invincible Behind a Keyboard

While this article talks mostly about school-aged kids and online bullies - make NO MISTAKE - adults (and cyberpaths) bully, harass, threaten and stalk online and much of the same principles apply - EOPC

Hearing that her son's life had been threatened online brought Bonnie Harris a mix of emotions.

She was scared and nervous for her son, but her heart also went out to the troubled boy behind the violent threats.

"It was upsetting. We were all torn," the former Plattsburgh resident and mother of three recalled.

"I don't know how big of a threat he really was, but the police acted on it immediately. At the time, I felt like it was a serious threat, and we were worried about it for a long time."

What started out as a friendship turned into problems that spread to the Internet and involved more than a dozen area teens targeted by an apparent "hit list" posting and an extensive police investigation.

Online bullying and harassment is something local authorities say they're all too familiar with.

"This is a huge issue," Plattsburgh City Police Juvenile Officer Robert Annis said.

"Kids (and adults) seem to be bolder when they're behind a computer, and it gets out of control. It can become an all-night thing. People are just so open online."

'FEEL INVINCIBLE'
As the only juvenile officer in the city, Annis has investigated a number of online bullying and harassment cases during the last few years, most involving girls ganging up on female classmates.

One case involved a black student who received cruel and racist Instant Messages, while another involved a girl who was viciously tormented about her physical appearance.

"I think they feel invincible online," Annis said. "Often, they (the complaints) aren't always major things, but we deal with all of them. We try to nip it in the bud as soon as possible."

State Police Computer-Crimes Investigator Jerome Miner said people "will do things online that they would never do in person," like harass others and share explicit photos and personal information.

Miner, too, has seen his share of teen-related computer complaints, like creating fake MySpace pages to embarrass and insult others.

DRAMA
School officials have also found that online issues outside of school can find their way into the classroom.

"The technology has been a problem and an issue for sure," AuSable High School Dean of Students Suzanne Miller said.

"And it's hard for us sometimes because how far can our reach go outside of school? It's something that we're really concerned about. The anonymity factor is huge and leads to problems."

Emily Lennon, who just graduated from Saranac Lake Central School, said she hasn't been harassed online but has heard of many instances of it, especially among younger Internet users.

"The drama and problems are so much worse with younger kids, like Middle School students," the 17-year-old said.

Bailey Annis, 16, of Saranac Lake said Instant Messages and social-networking sites let teens communicate faster in both positive and negative ways.

"It kind of elevates the gossip," she admitted.

Kelly Petrashune, who just finished her junior year at Saranac Central School, has seen mean pictures and nasty comments posted online.

"And I see MySpace pranks all the time."

WIDESPREAD ISSUE
According to a national i-Safe America study of teens across the nation, about 42 percent of students reported having been bullied online. One in 4 say it has happened more than once.

About 35 percent report having been threatened online, while 21 percent of a random sample have reported receiving mean or threatening messages.

More than half of the students interviewed admitted to being mean or hurtful to their peers online.

Annis said many area schools have become proactive about trying to prevent and stop online harassment, which can lead to criminal charges, such as aggravated harassment.

SPECIAL TRAINING
Law-enforcement agencies have also been beefing up their training and technology to deal with the array of new online crimes.

One aspect of the Plattsburgh City Police Department's annual training is for threat assessment, including online warnings.

"We've dealt with hit lists being put online, and that's one of our biggest fears ... a school incident," Annis said.

"We basically go on alert mode if that happens."

He said that often the first step to bringing online harassment and threats to light is for teens to tell their parents.

"Sometimes, parents don't want to pursue charges; they just want it to stop."

Harris said she didn't know about the online threats until her son was confronted over the phone.

"He (the offender) had messaged him before, but I didn't know. I think a lot of kids don't tell their parents what happens online, and it's important that they do."

original article here

MATCH.com Strikes Again - Woman Raped on First Date

A woman who was brutally beaten and raped on a first date with a man she met on Match.com has testified about how she faced additional humiliation from defense attorneys who tried to use her Google searches as evidence against her.

Jennifer Bennett was 23-years-old when she was attacked in the apartment of Thomas Bray, a 37-year-old anesthesiologist, and she decided to go public following the attack in hopes of encouraging other sexual assault victims to report their attacks.

Though she expected to be questioned by police and interrogated by Bray's prominent attorney, she did not expect that they would try to use her own Google searches against her in an attempt to diminish the seriousness of the attack.

According to The Oregonian, Bray's lawyers ordered Ms Bennett to turn over her Google searches because they wanted to show that around the time of the February 2011 attack, Ms Bennett searched for the definition of rape. Defense attorneys believed that this would help support Bray's story that their sexual was rough but consensual, and Ms Bennett regretted it after the fact so she was looking for a way to argue her way out of it.

Victims advocates, however, decried the move. Meg Garvin, director of the National Crime Victim Law Institute said 'it's subjecting them to re-victimization by the system'. The filing for the search results was the first of its kind in Oregon, and though the both the county judge ruled that the order was justified and the state supreme court ruled that too much time had passed to appeal, the district attorney did not comply with the order.

Google also refused to turn over their user’s information as protected by the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act unless she agreed, which she did not. In the end, Ms Bennett didn’t turn over her searches or her journals, but the sympathetic judge did not react with a contempt of court charge.‘I chose not to because I didn't think it was fair or correct,’ Ms Bennett told The Oregonian.

Instead of penalizing the victim, the jury sentenced Bray to spend the next 25 years in jail as he was found guilty of rape, sodomy, strangulation and assault.He was also facing charges that stem back to an alleged sexual assault of a prior girlfriend, but her claims were dismissed since the judge found them to be less valid because she continued to date him after the incident took place.

He will also have to pay a $112,000 fine, and $50,000 of that money will go the Ms Bennett, who moved to Oregon just months before the attack after accepting a job as a research chemist at Western Washington University.

Aside from the unusual invasion into Ms Bennett’s privacy, the story of the attack is becoming a disturbingly familiar trend as there have been many instances of sexual assaults during dates that came to fruition via online dating sites.

In Ms Bennett’s case, she met Bray at a drink at a bistro in downtown Bend, and they then went together to Bray’s condo which was directly across the street for a glass of wine.  Very soon after entering the condo, Ms Bennett was beaten, raped, and strangled until she passed out. She said that the abuse took place over the course of several hours.

After reporting the crime to police, she suffered scrutiny from both internet trolls and local news reporters, who published the police report and highlighted her bra size. She has since moved to Seattle.

‘Yes, I was raped. It doesn't make me a bad person. I didn't make poor choices. I was not the criminal,’ she told The Oregonian.  (Bray’s sentencing is) the one nugget that I could hold on to through all of this-- that a dangerous criminal will be off the streets.’

original article found here

Research Volunteers Were Actually a Predator's Targets.

(U.K.) A 'calculating sexual predator' posed as a gynaecological researcher to lure young women to his flat and sexually assault them.

Student Liam Ryan, 21, posted an ad on the Gumtree website calling for female volunteers to take part in 'global medical research', in exchange for £500. More than 200 women, mainly cash-strapped students, responded to Ryan's online advert, but only three - including a 19-year-old - agreed to be examined. The women were promised £500 for undergoing an invasive internal examination at Ryan's flat in a tower block in Birmingham. But when the former business management student failed to hand over the cash, the police were informed.

Ryan pleaded guilty to two charges of assault by penetration and three charges of engaging in sexual activity without consent at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday. He was jailed for four and a half years, ordered to sign the Sex Offenders' Register for life and was made the subject of a ten-year sex offender prevention order.

Detective Constable Susan Mabbett of West Midlands Police said after the sentencing: 'Liam Ryan is a calculating sexual predator who deliberately targeted vulnerable women via the internet. If it had not been for the courage of these women who contacted us, I have no doubt that he would have continued to offend. I commend their strength of character which has resulted in this man being jailed. When released he will be closely monitored. Of course, all of this comes too late for them. They will forever be haunted by their attacker’s depraved acts.'

The court was told that Ryan, who ran his scam from his flat in Highgate, Birmingham, claimed to be carrying out international medical research for a Canadian university.

One 19-year-old victim was subjected to a degrading 40-minute attack that Ryan claimed was important scientific research, the court heard. She returned home to Manchester but only realised she had been sexually assaulted when she received no cash after the so-called examination. She reported the incident to Greater Manchester Police who contacted West Midlands Police.

Ryan was arrested last December on suspicion of sexual assault.

Officers swooped on Ryan’s home where they discovered thousands of pages of mobile phone records and emails from 200 women. All the women were contacted by police but only a handful came forward to say that they had realised the project was a scam and had not pursued Ryan’s offer. Others could not be traced. They discovered Ryan had targeted a 24-year-old PhD student from Birmingham who became suspicious and refused to take part in the examination.

When officers quizzed Ryan he initially claimed the project was legitimate but later admitted he had invented the story in order to abuse women.

original article found here

The Importance of Erasing Your History if You're an Abuse Victim

SOUTH DAKOTA, USA - A Sioux Falls man is accused of tying up and beating his girlfriend after discovering she had used the Internet to research how to leave an abusive relationship.

Police spokesman Sam Clemens says 20-year-old Jose Sanchez allegedly tied up the 18-year-old woman with a belt and electrical wire and then beat her for about 20 minutes before she persuaded him to take her to a hospital.

A judge set bond for Sanchez at $10,000 on charges of aggravated assault, kidnapping and interference with emergency communications.

A home telephone listing for Sanchez was disconnected on Wednesday.

original article here

Crackdown on Facebook "Burn" Pages

By Pamela Owen

(U.K.) Schoolchildren have been setting up special Facebook 'burn' pages to post vile and abusive messages about their peers.

Police have now said they are cracking down on the phenomenon and have warned pupils to start removing their names and comments - many of them sexual - off the pages.

Officers estimate as many as 700 students are involved in the sites - which are inspired by the cult film Mean Girls - in which students write hurtful and often fabricated gossip in a 'burn book'. So far eight of the pages in the Portsmouth area of Hampshire have been shut down after police and schools contacted Facebook.

However many, including Portsmouth Burn which has 712 friends, are still being used.

Police have warned pupils who continue to post messages on the pages that they could face investigation and prosecution.

At Park Community School in Leigh Park, near Havant, Hampshire, 50 students were members of a 'Hampshire burn' page.

Three students - a former male pupil, a year 11 boy and a year 10 girl - were victims of particularly depraved sexual comments.

Sue Walker, deputy head, said: 'Last week it came to my attention there were a number of 'burn' sites - 'Hampshire Burn', 'Leigh Park Burn' and others. I had 178 pages of the Hampshire Burn site downloaded and it was deeply unpleasant stuff. I knew immediately this was something that could get out of control and that we had to act quickly.'

Miss Walker called on schools officer PC Justine Lewis, who has since been talking to pupils about the consequences of being involved in such sites.

In particular, students could face charges of harassment and assault that could result in up to two years' imprisonment. PC Lewis said students had been given a short amnesty over the weekend to withdraw their names and comments.

'We don't want to criminalise children but if they don't take themselves off we will be calling them in individually, talking to their parents and considering criminal charges,' she said. 'This is a very difficult area to police but I'm really pleased schools have taken positive action and safer neighbourhood teams are working closely with them.'

A 'Purbrook Burn' site was taken down after the headteacher of Purbrook Park School, in Waterlooville, Hampshire, called a meeting with all 40 pupils who were members of the group.

Paul Foxley said a year 11 girl admitted to creating the page and took it down the same day. 'I made it very clear to the students that their online safety was extremely important to me - I will not tolerate any rude comments online or in person,' he said. 'As a result, a girl owned up to setting it up and it was gone in a day. She was very remorseful but we did give her a five-day internal exclusion as it was a very serious mistake on her part.'

A Facebook spokeswoman said anyone concerned about online bullying should contact the site immediately so their dedicated team can investigate and take down any offending sites immediately.

original article found here

Wife Traumatised by Husband's Harassment

(U.K.) Fireman Ben Walker began a campaign of harassment against his estranged wife just hours after being convicted of violently assaulting her. The violent thug was convicted of punching, kicking, throttling and even holding a power drill to the stomach of Amanda in May. But the abuse did not stop after he was convicted of assault by beating and common assault.

Newcastle Magistrates’ Court heard the “obsessed and intimidating” former crew manager at Gateshead East Community Fire Station bombarded his wife with text messages leaving her “suicidal”.

Walker, 31, who has been living at his father’s house in Staffordshire since moving out of the High Heaton home the couple shared, pleaded guilty to harassment and said afterwards he hoped he could now “start his life again”.

Prosecutor Rebecca Gibson said Walker’s “vile campaign of harassment” against his wife who he met on the internet and married after a six-month romance, had started the same day he was convicted and quickly escalated.

“The Crown requested a restraining order but the defence claimed that it wasn’t necessary because Walker accepted that the marriage was over and he was going to move away,” she said.

“But since that day he has sent her over 100 text messages.”

Magistrates heard that on May 8 Walker went to his former marital home, on Southlands, and persistently banged on the door for over half an hour. When his wife didn’t answer, he waited until she left the house and then followed her and prevented her from getting out of the car.

The court also heard a Facebook page was also set up to support Walker, with 220 members, on which many “vile and threatening comments” were posted.

Ms Gibson said Amanda was “traumatised” by what had happened and that she has gone from a “happy, highly confident individual to a physical wreck”. She said: “Her peace of mind has gone, she feels a prisoner in her own home and is scared to answer the phone or socialise with friends as she fears retaliations. She has had substantial time off work due to stress and her job is at risk.

“Her faith in men has been shattered and she can’t start relationships. It’s turned her world upside down and she can’t sleep. It is an ever present worry. She will spend the rest of her life wondering if she is at risk. She is under the long-term care of her GP and at her lowest she felt suicidal.”

When arrested Walker admitted sending texts with the aim of reconciling the relationship. Denise Jackman, defending Walker, said her client had misunderstood an instruction to send future legal letters directly to Amanda as a sign she was contemplating reconciliation.

“Walker thought it was her way of wanting to sort things out,” she said. “He accepts he texted her but nobody has seen all of these 100 texts. He knows the position he’s in.

Ms Jackman added: “He met this lady and then his life went down the pan. He accepts his marriage is at an end.”

Walker was handed a 24-month community order, with supervision, and 66 hours unpaid work. He was also slapped with a two-year restraining order with conditions not to contact Amanda Walker unless through his solicitor.

Speaking outside court after the hearing last week, Walker said he wanted to put his “disastrous” marriage behind him. He added: “I’m very sorry to be leaving the North East.”

original article here

UPDATED! JAMES BRIAN ELLINGTON - Arrested AGAIN!

ARRESTED AGAIN!

It appears that James Brian Ellington was arrested in June 2011 for
Intent to Sell Drugs and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance

According to the website below his next court appearance is July 27, 2011
http://iapps.court.state.ny.us/webcivil/ecourtsMain

It is the Third Tab Down: WEBCRIMS (Public User)
in the Right Margin

Contact the Assistant District Attorney in this case
if you have information regarding Ellington.

__________________

UPDATE - MARCH 2011:
He's out and Back in NYC posing as a 'golf pro.'
Please read the comments section on this post!

Ellington, listed as one of our cyberpath/ predators was arrested in New York City in May 2009.

Let's hope someone throws away the key on him. He was probably trying to con more money, sex and a free place to stay out of her.

A man was arrested for assaulting his female friend when she demanded he leave her Upper East Side apartment, police sources said yesterday.

James Ellington, 34, threw the 34-year-old woman to the floor of her apartment on East 91st Street near First Avenue at 12:30 a.m. Friday, cops said. He then allegedly grabbed her by the throat.

Police were called and arrested Ellington on assault charges.

FROM THIS NEWS SITE

CASE DETAILS

He's using a Legal Aid Attorney - let's just hope the courts read the internet postings about him and sentence him accordingly.

What goes around, Mr. Ellington...

OUR ORIGINAL POST ON ELLINGTON

Match.Com Promises to Check for Sex Offenders

Match.com has decided to check members against a national registry of sex offenders following a lawsuit—though the company says the move is not in direct response to the suit.

A California entertainment executive sued for the action earlier this month after she was allegedly attacked by a Match.com member with a history of sex assault convictions.

The president of the popular online dating site said executives had earlier considered such screenings, but concluded that the registries were "historically unreliable."

But now, she said," a combination of improved technology and an improved database enables a sufficient degree of accuracy to move forward with this initiative."

Still, she said the company's new policy was no substitute for subscribers remaining vigilant on dates: "We want to stress that while these checks may help in certain instances, they remain highly flawed, and it is critical that this effort does not provide a false sense of security to our members." The policy will be implemented in the next 60 to 90 days.


(SO WHY ARE YOU STILL USING ONLINE DATING!??? - EOPC)

_____________________________________
(opinion - response:)

Match.com, Don't Bother Screening Sex Offenders
The effort may do more harm than good

By Evann Gastaldo

In response to a lawsuit, Match.com announced it will start checking its members against a national sex offender registry—but that's not news worth getting excited about, writes Benjamin Radford on LiveScience. "There are several obvious flaws with the plan," including the fact that members can register for the dating site using a fake name and someone else's address to avoid being matched. Even if members' identities and addresses were somehow verified, sex offender registries themselves "are notoriously unreliable."

Besides, Radford points out, statistically speaking, a person "is far more likely to be sexually assaulted by someone who is not listed on any sex offender registry than a convicted sex offender."

So there are plenty of reasons why the cross-checking will be far from foolproof, but that won't prevent many women from having "a false sense of security" because of it, he concludes.

original article here

Woman Sues Match.com After Being Assaulted

GOOD FOR HER!!! - EOPC
_____________________

A California woman has sued popular website Match.com, saying she was sexually assaulted by a man she met through the online dating service.

The civil lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court contends the alleged assailant had previously faced sex crime charges and that the website could have prevented the attack if it had checked his criminal background. The woman suing the website is an entertainment executive identified in court documents only as Jane Doe.

Her attorney Mark L. Webb said his client was attacked at her home by Alan Paul Wurtzel after the two went on a second date at Urth Caffe in West Hollywood last year.

Wurtzel's attorney Sharon Morris said the incident involving Webb's client was "a consenting sexual encounter between two consenting adults."

A court spokeswoman could not confirm whether charges had been filed in connection with the recent court case.

In a separate case, Wurtzel was charged with two felony sexual assault counts in Los Angeles Superior Court last year. He pleaded not guilty to those charges. The case's next court date is April 26.

The civil suit filed Wednesday demands that Match.com screen its members for sexual predators. The lawsuit asks for a temporary injunction barring the site from signing up more members until Webb's client's demands are met.

Webb said basic screening would have prevented the attack and revealed Wurtzel's history.

Match.com attorney Robert Platt said the company can't be expected to screen users.

"Then you'd have to ask for people's social security numbers, which they don't want to do. And of course you'd have to pass on the cost to the consumer of doing this," he said.

The company has no liability, he claimed. "There is a provision on the website saying that they're not liable for this, and it lets people know that they're not providing this service and people use it at their own risk."

Threats + Nude Photo on the Net = Arrest

(Texas) David Keith Clark may have said and done too much. At least, that's what an arrest warrant alleges about the San Antonio man. According to San Antonio police, he attacked a woman he used to live with, threatened her through text messages, and posted a nude photograph of her on the Internet.

The 32-year-old has been arrested on assault and telephone harassment charges. He remains in the Bexar County Detention Center trying to make bonds that total nearly $20,000.

Police said the initial physical attack happened on Nov. 13 in the 9200 block of Ridge Branch. The warrant said he strangled a woman he used to be romantically involved with until she could not breathe. The victim reportedly managed to free herself and scream for help. Investigators said Clark ran from the scene.

Another arrest warrant said the suspect started sending the victim threatening and harassing text messages following the attack. The victim claims the texts were even being posted on a computer website.

The arrest document describes the texts as derogatory and repeatedly threatening. In fact, the suspect even said he'd be waiting in bushes to jump out and slash the victim's throat police said.

Investigators said Clark went so far as to post a topless picture on the Internet of his ex. Then, police said he attached a berating phrase to the picture.

The victim filed a complaint with SAPD. Clark was arrested.

original article here

Charged with Assault AND Facebook Stalking!

A woman who accused her ex-boyfriend of assaulting her, also told the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday that he was also stalking her on Facebook.

The accused pleaded not guilty to assault and also denied the cyber-stalking allegations.

The allegations are that the two, who were once in a relationship, had an argument after the complainant disconnected the accused man's cellular service, which was in her name. She alleged that during a confrontation, the accused hit her.

She also told the court that the accused was sending her constant text messages and emails and had also created several fictitious Facebook accounts, which he used to send her 'friend requests'.

The accused, however, said the complainant was upset because he decided to end the relationship, and had even warned him that he would pay for "messing with a vindictive bitch." He said he did not create the Facebook accounts and suggested that the complainant was the type who would let her friends do it just to get him in trouble.

Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey had harsh words for both parties. She warned the complainant against using her emotions and plotting revenge and also told the accused to leave her alone, both in reality and virtually.

original article here

E-Harmony Date Ends up in Assault Charges

(even MORE reasons to STAY OFF online dating sites! They are packed with predators. - EOPC)

A Virginia (USA) man has been charged with sexually assaulting a woman he met on an online dating site, the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office says.

John Swann Evans, 34, is charged with abduction with intent to defile and forcible sodomy.

Police say Evans met a 37-year-old Loudoun County woman on the eHarmony online dating site in June.

In July, the two met at Evans' home, where he held her against her will and sexually assaulted her, police say.

Evans is currently being held without bond at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center.

Investigators believe there may be other victims who have not come forward.

If you are a victim or know of someone who may be a victim, contact Investigator B. Ochsman of the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Division at 703-777-0475.

original article here

major hat tip to OneofSeven

Man Enlists Other Man Online to Rape His Wife

A man used the online advertising service Craigslist to enlist another man to rape his wife in the couple's home, police said Wednesday.

The 25-year-old North Carolina man faces first-degree rape and other charges. The press is not naming him to avoid identifying his wife, a victim of sexual assault.

His wife called police early Sunday morning and said a man with a knife raped her in the bedroom of their home in Kannapolis, about 25 miles northeast of Charlotte, authorities said. Her husband was in the room, police said. Their two young children were also home, but were unaware of what was happening, authorities said.

The husband sought someone in the ads to come to his home and have sex with his wife using "scare tactics," police said. It was without her knowledge or consent, police said.

Authorities are still investigating the identity of the man who attacked the woman and it wasn't known if the husband paid him to do it. The woman was not seriously injured, but was treated at a hospital and released.

Investigators turned their suspicions to the husband after his statement didn't add up and because there were no signs the attacker broke into the home. The husband was jailed Wednesday on $200,000 bond.

"We share the public's horror that such a crime was committed, and our heart goes out to the victim," said Craigslist spokeswoman Susan MacTavish Best.

The online classified site had been criticized for its "erotic services" section, which Craigslist agreed to do away with last month after a Boston medical student, deemed "the Craigslist killer," was charged with killing a woman he met on the site.

A Kansas City, Missouri, man was sentenced last month to 29 years in prison for raping a woman who advertised in the section.

SOURCE

N.H. Sexual Predator Uses Online Dating to Find Victims

Information sought on Hampton, New Hampshire sex-assault suspect
(from 2008) Following a probable cause hearing involving sex assault suspect Thomas Currier on Wednesday, prosecutors involved in the case are urging anyone who may have had contact with the Hampton Falls resident to contact police as soon as possible.

Currier, 34, of 6 Marsh Lane, is currently being held without bail at the Rockingham County House of Corrections and has been charged with aggravated felonious sexual assault.

The charge alleges that Currier drugged a female dinner guest and then sexually assaulted her at his home Aug. 3.

At his Wednesday hearing held in Hampton District Court, Currier waived probable cause through his attorney, Olivier Sakellarios.

Sakellarios argued the issue of bail during the hearing, stating his client should have the right to post some type of cash bail and not be held without even the possibility of release.

Deputy County Attorney Tom Reid petitioned the court to maintain Currier's bail status during the hearing and told the court the alleged sex assault may not necessarily be an isolated incident.

Reid said that according to several women who have come forward since his arrest, Currier has displayed a course of conduct over the past several months that leads Reid to believe Currier is a danger to the community.

Currier is alleged to have met the women through various online dating services, such as Match.com and PlentyofFish.com, and allegedly made attempts to get women to meet him at his residence.

Reid also revealed Currier is currently being investigated on another outstanding charge of criminal threatening and theft.

According to the deputy county attorney, on Aug. 7, Currier is alleged to have invited another woman over to his house and after she refused to engage in some type of relations with him, he threatened to shoot her and then stole her purse and money that was inside of it.

All of the individuals that have come forward have reported Currier getting angry when they refused to meet him at his home alone, said Reid.

Another disturbing factor, Reid said, is that Currier's 11-year-old daughter was present during some of the encounters.

Reid said that if the court chose to amend bail, he would ask for it to be set at $500,000 cash.

"The community is in too much danger from him," said Reid.

Sakellarios argued Currier is an upstanding citizen and father and should be given the opportunity to work and provide for his children.

The Manchester attorney even presented a witness at the hearing and stated that she was familiar with Currier and he never made any sexual advances toward her when she spent the night at his house.

Since Currier was arrested, two other women contacted Foster's via e-mail with similar stories of having nearly met up with Currier at this home.

The women were directed to police, who later confirmed the woman relayed similar information to law enforcement.

During the hearing, Reid maintained that all of the women that have come forward so far have no relation to each other and no motive to bring forward such allegations.

Ried urged anyone who may have had contact with Currier online or in some other form to notify police.

Following the hearing, Judge Francis Frasier said he would take the bail arguments under advisement and make a ruling at a later date.

Original article

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Two men are in custody in New Hampshire on rape charges, in a case in which police say women were drugged, then raped after meeting the men through an online dating service.

After the arrest of 34-year-old Tom Currier of Hampton Falls this month, authorities said they heard from other women who reported online contacts with Currier. He is being held without bail on two rape charges.

Saturday, police announced another man, 32-year-old Shawn Hutchins, was arrested on two counts of rape and one of acting as an accomplice to Currier. Hutchins is being held on $500,000 bail.

Meanwhile, police want to hear from anyone who has had online contact with Currier or Hutchins. They say Currier met women on Match.com and Plentyoffish.com. They say he went by the name AWalkToRemember08 on Plentyoffish.com.

Second article

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.

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

Do a Criminal Search on Them!

Confirm your worst suspicions about the one that got away

“Do you really know who people are?” That’s the slogan for pay site PeopleFinders.com's freshly launched (and totally free!) companion site, CriminalSearches.com. Do you want to know? Everybody has something to hide — so the cliché goes. That’s where CriminalSearches.com comes in.

Totally free and possibly the most intuitive Web site of its sort, CriminalSearches.com painstakingly culled and standardized the disparate record-keeping practices of counties, municipalities, cities and states to provide an almost-instant snapshot of neighborhoods and people with criminal records.

Parents may favor the comprehensive Sex Offender section of the site, which includes photos and details of offenses with its record returns. Meanwhile, privacy advocates are apoplectic. What’s more, critics decry such sites as yet another attack on America’s privacy — not to mention potentially disastrous inaccuracies, incorrect or incomplete information provided by the original record keepers.

Still, nobody’s talking about the totally awesome aspect of this whole criminal record compilation. Why settle for Google stalking your ex when you can confirm your worst suspicions by looking them up on CriminalSearches.com? Who wants to read about happy marriages and job satisfaction on Facebook?

Do it! Do it now! CriminalSearches.com your ex!

That Power Point presentation can wait an extra minute. If you’ve ever questioned for one second the direction your life’s taken — or even if you haven’t — it may do wonders for your self-assurance. I myself never doubted ditching that age-inappropriate bad boy once I finally extracted myself from that unfavorable situation in my late teens. For years however, I did beat myself up for the length of time it took me to finally see the light. But two seconds on CriminalSearches.com washed away any remnants of self-recrimination that may’ve been lurking.

My ex Loser’s name returned almost-immediate confirmation that getting out of that relationship — not to mention that state — was the right choice, even if it took me longer than I’d prefer. There, under Loser’s name, corresponding birthday and county of residence was an early conviction that occurred before we became involved, one of which I was previously aware.

(Sad to say, at the time, his run-in with Johnny Law was part of the attraction – that’s before I wised up and started finding my dates in music magazine classifieds, under “Guitarist Available.”)

In the years since I ended my acquaintance with Loser, there were a couple of shocking additions to Loser's record — most appalling, a record of child abuse/neglect accompanied on the same date with a creepily oblique “O” offense for “Other.” (CriminalSearches.com conveniently color codes offenses with letters for quick reference: Red “S” for sex offense, purple “V” for Violent, etc.)

My inner Sherlock piqued but stomach nauseous, I chose not to pay the $40 to get further details from the affiliated PeopleFinders.com. Instead, I called a friend and insisted she do the same. Always game for a good Internet scavenger hunt, she inserted the name of a former beau she knew for a fact had some sort of police record related to owning a pet wolf that mauled some dude — and fully expected to see his name pop up with the specified “O” icon.

Nothing.

So I turned to my sister. Seeing as we share a genetic predisposition for bad seeds, I felt certain she’d get some positive returns in the ex department. Instead, she decided to search for herself.

What she found was a woman of a similar name living in an entirely different state and a list of that woman’s traffic offenses — yet no acknowledgement of my sister’s identity let alone her own speeding ticket legacy. Disappointed, she made what some might consider a risky move and looked up her husband — fully expecting to find his own collection of traffic offenses.

Again, nothing.

So she tried Charles Manson and came up with many — but none that appeared to be THE Charles Manson. So she tried some more recent notorious criminals of somewhat less renown, (who, along with Charles Manson, she never, ever dated) and found their records straight away.

Then she was on to her ex-husband, a man we lovingly refer to as “Wingnut.” Alas, nothing. A search for our other sister’s husband also proved an exercise in futility as we’re unsure of his birthday and he shares a ridiculously common name. She then moved on to her neighbor, of whom she’d heard rumors of a youthful indiscretion. But again, there were so many people who shared his name, the search was inconclusive.

My sister reasoned that she could probably find out his birthday and search again, but by then, she was bored. What’s more, he's good guy and also a friend so she wasn’t so sure she really wanted to know what he did in his younger years. Which, given omissions and possibilities of incorrect or misinterpreted information, is probably the best policy when using such sites. Consider it like your horoscope — for entertainment value only.

Like my friend, who we’ll call “Grumpy.” He checked up on each member of his family just for giggles and learned that his buttoned-down uncle got busted for drug possession in 1979.

“Wow!” Grumpy reported. “I love this Web site.”

ORIGINAL