Pandora's Blog

Want to keep your kids safe from online predators like these here 45 dudes?? Use PC Pandora computer monitoring software.

In this story, a police officer assigned to a rape case became her online predator…

June 10, 2013
Experts: Sexual Predators Often Known By Victims
From WKBN

The Youngstown police officer accused of soliciting sex from a 14-year-old is the second law enforcement agent to be charged with inappropriate conduct with minors this year.

Detective Sgt. Robert Lodwick was assigned to investigate a rape involving a 14-year old girl, but he’s now accused of possessing naked photos of her and soliciting sex from her online. Back in February, a probation officer with the Mahoning County Juvenile Justice Center found himself behind bars as well. [READ FULL STORY]

A 24-year-old Nevada man was arrested for posing as a teenager and soliciting and extorting nude photos from a 16-year-old girl…

June 12, 2013
Sparks man arrested in alleged Facebook scam to extort compromising photos of teenage girl
By Steve Timko, Reno Gazette-Journal

A Sparks man was arrested Tuesday after allegedly posing as 17-year-old boy on Facebook to get compromising photographs of a 16-year-old girl and then threatening to share them with the girl’s classmates if she didn’t provide more or meet him.

Jimmy Gallegos, 34, was being held Wednesday on $20,000 bail after Washoe County School District police arrested him on suspicion of extortion.

School police chief Mike Mieras said Gallegos, a casino worker, and the girl established contact on Facebook in mid May with Gallegos pretending to be a 17-year-old student at a local high school. The girl is a student at another high school in the area. Mieras said he did not know which one. [READ FULL STORY]

A 21-year-old man was busted in a sting operation in Louisiana when he tried to solicit sex from what he thought was underage girls… but it was the cops.

Acadiana’s Multi-Media News Station

June 12, 2013
Troopers arrest online sex predator
By Devin Bayliss, KLFY

Tuesday Louisiana state police arrested an Erath man for illicit behavior involving juveniles as part of their program “Operation Child Watch” to protect children from sexual predators.

Beginning in February of this year detectives with Louisiana State Police have partnered with federal officials for an investigation of online chat rooms. During this investigation the detectives posed as young girls on chat sites.

During this time the detectives encountered 21 year old Micah Landry who they say had explicit sexual conversations involving photographs with the detectives he believed to be young girls. After setting up a meeting Landry was taken into custody yesterday without incident. [READ FULL STORY]

A 23-year-old man in California was arrested in a sting op when he showed up to meet what he thought was an 11-year-old disabled girl he had met online for sex… it was the cops.

June 14, 2013
Petaluma man arrested in child sexual predator sting
By David Louie and Matt Keller, KGO

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) — A Bay Area man is accused of a sickening crime. He was busted in an online sting operation in which police say he took the bait to meet an 11-year-old girl with disabilities for sex. The girl didn’t exist, but the charges he faces sure do.

It’s the kind of crime that no one wants to think about, but it can happen on a street corner or in a neighborhood anywhere in the Bay Area. We have a very behind the scenes glimpse into what it takes to arrest predators and the toll it takes on detectives. [READ FULL STORY]

And now the big one… once again Florida is just a brimming pool of online predators. Must be the heat… though a lot of these guys came from all over. Polk County Sheriff’s once again held a week-long online sting op, and this time caught 41 guys!!

June 17, 2013
Polk sting targets child sex predators, nets 41 arrests
TBO.com

A tax accountant who serves as a church deacon, a youth football coach, a Disney World costume designer and a Dunedin retiree were among 41 people arrested during a weeklong Polk County sting targeting online sexual predators, officials said.

Those arrested included suspects from Wisconsin, Georgia and Alabama who investigators said traveled to a Polk undercover location to have sex with who they thought were 13- to 15-year-old boys and girls, the sheriff’s office said.

The 40 men and one woman responded to ads and chatted with undercover investigators on social media sites, including Backpage and Craigslist. The operation ended Sunday.

Suspects came from a variety of social and economic backgrounds. Eleven admitted they were married. They ranged in age from 65-year-old Floyd Edward Weir, of Dunedin, to 18-year-old Erin Vickers, who accompanied her 35-year-old boyfriend to meet with a 14-year-old girl, deputies said. [READ FULL STORY]

One of the best Op Eds I’ve read in a while that directly addresses the notion that cyberbully victims can fix their woes by simply unplugging and turning their heads…

This sums it up:
Why should you have to cut yourself off like that because someone has decided that you’re their target? You shouldn’t. It’s called victim blaming, and I’m sorry to say but it is prevalent in our society. Instead of dealing with the bullies themselves and why they’re doing what they are, we blame the victim for somehow provoking the action or tell them to just get over it; they’re jealous of you, or insecure about themselves. The bully may be doing it because of that, but that is no excuse for psychologically or physically harming another person.

PC Pandora computer monitoring software will let you know if you have a cyberbully in your house operating in secret, so you – the parent – can fix the situation.

June 10, 2013
Don’t tell cyberbullying victims to log out – ask if they need help
By Grace King, from stuff.co.nz

OPINION: I’m absolutely awed by the amount of positive feedback I have received about my last column on what it’s like to be cyber-bullied.

In saying that, I have also received many questions. There was one in particular that I have been asked by many, both my peers and adults; Why not just go offline? Turn off your computer, turn off your Facebook, go outside and forget about it.

There are a few reasons that this won’t work in cases like this. If you were being bullied in real life, would you just stop going to the place you were bullied? Would you stop going to school or work? Who in reality would just hide away in their house hoping it would all just blow over.

I don’t think that really, anyone would. It might work for a few days, maybe a week or so, but eventually you’d have to go back to school, go back to work, go back on the computer. It’s a temporary fix, one that in the long term just isn’t a feasible option. [READ FULL STORY]

A cyberbully in New Jersey was found and is now being charged!

PC Pandora computer monitoring software will let you know if your child is a cyberbully, so you can step in and stop them before they get in trouble with the law (aside from the fact that it is just plain wrong to do)…

June 14, 2013
Student identified in Manchester Regional cyberbullying attack
By Richard Cowen, NorthJersey.com

NORTH HALEDON — A student at Manchester Regional High School has been identified as the alleged cyberbully believed to be responsible for launching a series of vulgar online attacks against other students in January, school and law enforcement officials said Thursday.

The Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office informed Manchester Regional officials in a letter this week that the Passaic County Sheriff’s Department, which investigated the case, plans to file juvenile delinquency charges against the female student.

Dr. Richard Ney, the Manchester Regional superintendent, said the school would reopen its investigation now that it knows the identity of the alleged attacker. The Board of Education is ultimately responsible for meting out any punishment to the student, which would be independent of the criminal proceeding, he said.

“Now that we have the name of the perpetrator, there will be some kind of disciplinary action or remediation,” Ney said. The district’s anti-bullying coordinator, Chris Wacha, would take on the investigation and report to the school board within “about five days,” Ney said. [READ FULL STORY]

Come one, parents. Wake the hell up! Please!

BAD Fact: parents overwhelmingly have no clue what their kids are doing online
GOOD Fact: PC Pandora computer monitoring software will tell you what they are doing!!!

June 4, 2013
Tweens spending more time online and engaging in riskier behavior than parents realize
By Shannan Younger, ChicagoNow.com

A survey released today revealed that parents are seriously underestimating the amount of time their tweens and teens spend online. Even more surprising, a vast majority of parents believed that the internet was a safe for their kids. The McAfee survey, “Digital Deception: Exploring the Online Disconnect between Parents and Kids,” showed that teens and tweens online engage in a lot more risky behavior than their parents realize.

Here are some interesting stats from the poll of 1,173 young people aged 10 to 23 years old and 1,301 parents:

• 82 percent of tweens (ages 10-12 in this study) believe that social media sites are very safe, or somewhat safe, and 79 percent of parents agree.
• Many tweens share personal information, with nearly half posting photos of themselves, and 29 percent sharing their phone number.
• More than 80 percent of the parents of tweens said that they don’t have the time or energy to keep up with everything their children do online. Only 9 percent say they know how to find out what their children are doing online.
• Parents of tweens are particularly overwhelmed. Tweens are well aware, with 58 percent claiming that they know how to keep their online use a secret. A quarter of tweens admitted they had cleared or hidden what they have done online.
• Close to 87 percent of kids check their social media accounts daily.
• A quarter of the young people surveyed said they’d witnessed cruel behavior online, mostly on Facebook.
• 71% of parents said that they have had a conversation with their child about being safe online, but the young responders had a different story. Only 44% of young people said that they had had such a conversation with their parents.

[READ FULL STORY]

This is an interesting story I found, actually more sad than interesting. Written by Hemanshu Nigam (used to be the Myspace Chief Security Officer and then started his own company – good guy), he gives a short commentary on the impact of online media and teen suicide. There are places of help at the end of the piece.

Look folks, the bottom line is this – we, as parents, have the duty and obligation to know how your young children (meaning under the age of 18) are using that internet we supply them with. It is just as much up to us to make sure they are being safe and not talking to predators, as it is to make sure they are not using the internet as a weapon to destroy the life of someone else.

The statistics vary on the percentage of victims that will tell their parents when they are being cyberbullies… but one statistic is undeniable and absolute: 100% of bullies NEVER tell their parents what they are doing. So it is up to us to find out.

If you cannot prove your child is not a cyberbully, then you are not doing your job as a 21st century parent. Plain and simple. And the first parents to say “not my kid, he/she would never do that” are usually the ones with bullies operating in secret in their homes, right under their noses.

Be a parent. Use PC Pandora monitoring software to know if your child is a cyberbully… or talking to a predator… or doing anything else dangerous or stupid on the internet…

June 3, 2013
Online Media and Teen Suicide
Hemanshu Nigam, Founder, SSP Blue; Former NewsCorp/MySpace CSO;

In the wake of 12-year-old Gabrielle Molina’s suicide late last month, devastated parents and startled communities are seeking answers for how to best protect children and teens from the pressures of cyberbullying and digital harassment. Molina, a repeated victim of aggression from peers at school, also may have dealt with recurrent bullying online. A video of Molina fighting another student worked its way onto YouTube before her death, and Molina made reference to cyberbullying events in a suicide note left behind before she hanged herself in her home in Queens Village.

According to a preliminary report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 38,285 deaths were attributed to intentional self-harm in 2011, which represented the 10th leading cause of death for the year. During the same year, the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey found that 16% of high school students experienced some form of digital bullying within the past year.

Clearly, the pressures children and teens face online are more considerable now than in years passed. Victims are often unable to separate themselves from bullies who are just a click away online. Hateful text messages and the spreading of inappropriate content on social media, cell phones and video websites also represent serious concerns for parents, law enforcement agencies and educators. In addition to intentional aggression, today’s young people are also more aware when they are left out of social events due to real-time updates on Facebook. [READ FULL STORY]

This week, there are two stories of uncaught predators… one is from Canada – the other features a friend of PC Pandora – Bill Latchford. I REALLY wish I could embed the video, but please follow the link to the 2nd story below to watch the story!

And, of course it goes without saying, PC Pandora monitoring software will let you know if your kids are talking to an internet predator!

Online predators are abound in Canada…

June 7, 2013
Parents be warned: Kids sharing nude photos online, Ridge Meadows RCMP report
By Thandi Fletcher, The Province

It was the simple click of a photo posted to her teenage daughter’s Facebook page that left a Langley mom deeply disturbed.

The link opened up a series of shocking images showing two young children, who looked about eight years old, performing sexual acts on each other.

“It’s disgusting,” Traci-Lee Burchell told The Province. “It makes me sick to my stomach.”

Burchell regularly keeps tabs on her daughter Hailee’s social-media activity, but she never expected to find child pornography posted to the 16-year-old’s Facebook profile.

The photo appeared on Hailee’s page without her knowledge after she did something almost every other teen regularly does on social media — she “liked” a page with a picture of a cute kitten that had gone viral.

Hailee’s just one example of how efficient Internet predators are becoming at reaching children on social-media websites. Even more shocking, police say, is that predators are now going after even younger kids. [READ FULL STORY]

There’s a predator targeting kids in central PA…

June 8, 2013
Local Online Predator Lurking?
By Aaron Cheslock, WTAJ-TV

STATE COLLEGE, CENTRE COUNTY – One investigator says there might be an online predator in central PA.

State officials say child abuse and neglect rates reached an all time high in 2012.

One way the crime has evolved is through social media.

WTAJ News spoke to a local investigator who thinks there’s a man posing as a woman online right now in central PA.

An investigator in Tyrone says there’s a person on Facebook with a woman’s picture who’s friends with around two dozen boys in Tyrone.

He says the picture’s been altered and thinks it could be a dangerous online predator. One of many that could be in our area.

Whether it’s Facebook or Twitter, online predators are a real threat in central Pennsylvania.

Bill Latchford says an altered picture, and a lot of young boys as friends, leads him to believe an online profile is probably fake. [CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO WITH OUR FRIEND BILL LATCHFORD!!]

I have literally been saying this for years… PC Pandora computer monitoring software will let you know who your kids are talking to and making friends with online this summer…

June 5, 2013
Summer break leaves kids vulnerable to online predators
By Kim Russell (WXYZ)

As school lets out for summer, investigators say more and more kids fall victim to child predators online.

The U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations Cyber Crime Center is working to bust internet predators. It is responsible for more internet crime prosecutions than any other agencies.

“Last year there were more than 1,600 arrests worldwide, and among them 1500 were in the United States,” said Acting Agent In Charge William Hayes.

He wants to share with parents the information he has learned through his investigations into predators, so that they can protect their kids.

Hayes says the biggest recent change is how predators are targeting kids. They are now using not only home computers, but cell phones, iPods, iPads, and apps to contact potential victims.

As a result parents need to be more vigilant than ever. [READ FULL STORY]

Bills that were making their way through state house legislatures in Montana and Iowa recently died. Montana, FYI, is the only state in the nation without laws against bullying and cyberbullying…

If you are wondering why these bills fail, it is because people actually believe this:

Rep. Jerry Bennett voted against both measures in the House Judiciary Committee. The Libby Republican said he was bullied in high school because of his short stature, but he coped. Parents should use common sense and unplug their children’s mobile devices to help them avoid ridicule, he said.

Really? So your solution is for the victim’s family to just unplug themselves and ignore it, while the cyberbullies can go ahead and use the internet to destroy the namesake of a child? That is your solution? You don’t think there should be something in place to help the victims deal with the torment and end it, and you feel that those who wage war anonymously online should just be allowed to do it??

PC Pandora monitoring software will let you know if you have a bully operating in secret in your house so you can be an effective parent and key person in ending this epidemic (since the government doesn’t seem to want to be)…

If you have a victim in your home, PC Pandora will help you record and keep a record of everything!

What a shame…

June 9, 2013
Montana schools look to step in after anti-bullying legislation fails
By KATHRYN HAAKE, Associated Press

HELENA, Montana — A middle school classmate promised to make Jill Sharp’s life a living hell after the talented athlete won a coveted spot on a dance team in Sidney.

Sharp thought it was an empty threat, made out of jealousy. But then the girl attacked Sharp’s dancing ability and tarnished her reputation using social media sites such as MSN Messenger, Myspace, Facebook and Twitter.

Sharp, now 20, told her story this year before the Montana House Judiciary Committee as it was considering an anti-bullying bill. She described how the taunting messages continued to appear through middle school and high school.

“But I was always taught that I would be the bigger person,” Sharp said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “I just hoped this person would grow out of it.”

She finally went to her high school principal with a thick file documenting the posts and messages. The principal recommended she take legal action, but that proved to be a dead end.

“Montana doesn’t have any legislation against bullying in general, and no law saying that you have to be a good person,” said Sharp, who recalled that police told her that her adversary could say whatever she wanted to online.

Montana is the only state in the nation without laws against bullying and cyberbullying, according the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. But even with the nationwide push against bullying in recent years, it’s not clear whether such laws actually work. [READ FULL STORY]

June 9, 2013
A crackdown on cyberbullying bill failed to advance in Legislature
WHBF-TV

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A bill designed to crack down on cyberbullying failed to advance in the Legislature this year, but Gov. Terry Branstad says he plans to keep working to toughen Iowa’s anti-bullying laws. Branstad promised Thursday that he would hold another state summit on bullying, as he did last fall, and will work to get a bill passed next year. [READ FULL STORY]

Reminder parents: everyone does dumb things on Facebook. Better to teach your kids wrong to avoid stupid mistakes like this… know what they are doing and what they are saying and how they are representing themselves online with monitoring software like PC Pandora…

This is the best fast-food social media mishap since the KFC sink girls… Yeah, I am SUUUURE they were tossed out and not served… suuuure…

June 5, 2013
Licked Taco Bell Shells Not Served to Customers, Company Says
By Susanna Kim, ABC News

Taco Bell said the taco shells licked by an employee in a viral photo were not served to customers as part of training for a new product and “were in the process of being thrown out,” but the employee has been fired.

The product is presumably Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos, which were released in March. A photo of a man in uniform in a Taco Bell restaurant is seen licking a stack of about 30 taco shells. [READ FULL STORY]

FAIL on the employer’s part, which in this case is a Sheriff’s Department…

June 4, 2013
W.Va. woman says she was fired for Facebook post

WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) — A secretary who says she was fired over a Facebook posting made from her home computer and on her own time is suing a West Virginia sheriff’s department for federal civil rights violations.

Sonya Olako says she was fired last year because she told people to avoid a restaurant owned by a friend of her boss, Ohio County Sheriff Patrick Butler.

She sued Butler and the County Commission in Ohio County Circuit Court in March, but the case was moved Monday to U.S. District Court in Wheeling.

Butler declined comment Tuesday. County Administrator Greg Stewart didn’t immediately return a message.

Olako contends her constitutionally protected rights to free speech, due process and a speedy trial were violated. [READ FULL STORY]

An interesting new survey from McAfee that basically says “yeah, your kid’s on Facebook…” But you can (and SHOULD) know what they are doing with PC Pandora computer monitoring software…

June 4, 2013
Tweens posting on Facebook without parents’ supervision: survey
Many preteens are active on social media and think the sites are ‘very safe,’ according to a survey from online security company McAfee.
REUTERS

Most U.S. tweens, 10- to 12-year-olds, have at least one social media account and many go online without any supervision from their parents, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

Facebook is the most popular platform among tweens. Although the site says users must be at least 13 years old to log on, 85 percent of tweens said they have an account and a similar number admit they use it every day.

“Younger and younger kids are going out there really unsupervised,” said Michelle Dennedy of the online security company McAfee, which commissioned the poll of 1,173 young people aged 10 to 23 years old and 1,301 parents.

The threats to children of unsupervised use of the Internet are well known and range from identity theft, cyberbullying and sharing photos and videos to pornography and sexual predators. [READ FULL STORY]

Here are 4 huge major reasons to know who your kids are talking to online and how you must stress internet safety with them… Use PC Pandora monitoring software to know who your kids are talking to online and who is trying to talk to them…

The headline says 2, but there is actually a 3rd person mentioned arrested a couple weeks ago…

May 30, 2013
Two arrested in child sex sting in Staunton
By Brad Zinn, Newsleader

STAUNTON — Police on Thursday announced the arrests of two men who reportedly were ensnared in a sex sting targeting online predators.

Staunton police said Joseph A. Alentado, 35, of Harrisonburg, faces charges of use of electronic means to solicit sex from a child, prostitution, attempted carnal knowledge of a child and misdemeanor distribution of marijuana.

Shawn M. Ogden, 22, of Staunton, is charged with two counts of attempted indecent liberties with a child and two counts of use of electronic means to solicit sex from a child.

On May 19, former Staunton police officer John C. Nuckolls, 55, was arrested on two charges of attempted indecent liberties with a minor and two charges of use of electronic means to solicit sex from a minor. Police said Nuckolls also was arrested at a Staunton home after making arrangements to have sex with what he believed was a 14-year-old girl. [READ FULL STORY]

The victim here is not under age, but she fell into a predators trap nonetheless…

June 3, 2013
Woman raped at gunpoint by man she met on Craigslist
By Richard Webster, Examiner.com

Investigators from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department are searching for a 19-year-old man believed to be from Zionsville, Ind., who has been accused of raping a woman he met on Craigslist. The woman met the suspect on-line in November. The couple met face-to-face for the first time last week, which is when a kidnapping and multiple rapes occurred.
Related topics

According to a June 3 report by The Indy Channel, the rape suspect responded to an ad placed by the victim in which she was seeking “slutty emo boys 18-24 yrs old.” [READ FULL STORY]

Maybe some slight good can come of this tragedy. Hopefully this mother’s cries of awareness will not fall on deaf ears…

PC Pandora computer monitoring software will let you know if your child is using the computer to talk to strangers online and set up meetings with them…

May 30, 2013
Mother Of Slain Teen Nichole Cable Says She Wants To Keep Teens Safe Online
By Treye Green, International Business times

Kristine Wiley wants to work with school principals to keep teens safe from online predators.

Wiley’s 15-year-old daughter, Nichole Cable, was allegedly killed by a man who used a fake Facebook profile to get her to meet up with him. Kyle Dube was charged on Wednesday with the murder and kidnapping of the teenager.

Dube, 20, allegedly lured Cable out of her Glenburn, Maine, home by posing as a friend. He planned to kidnap the teen so he could later “discover” her and “be the hero,” said an affidavit released by police, reports the Associated Press. [READ FULL STORY]

Good news is you live in Florida. A new bill was signed into law to help deal with cyberbullying. Watch the video below of reaction from students… and remember, computer monitoring software like PC Pandora will let you know if your child is a cyberbully…

May 30, 2013
Gov. Scott signs “cyberbullying” bill into law
By Leslie Postal, Orlando Sentinel

Gov. Rick Scott today signed a bill (HB 609) that expands Florida’s current anti-bullying law to include “cyberbullying” and to include some activities that occur off campus and on privately owned electronic devices.

The law expands the scope of the state’s 2008 law, which prohibited bullying in public schools. That law did not specifically mention cyberbullying, though it defined unacceptable conduct that would fit the typical description of that word — bullying through technology or electronic communications.

The new law also specifies that students can get in trouble for cyberbullying that occurs off campus if their actions “substantially” interfere with a victim’s ability to take part in school activities or disrupts “the orderly operation of a school.”

During committee meetings, some school administrators voiced concerns about that portion of the bill, fearful they could get in trouble for trying to monitor things students do off campus, on their own computers or phones.

The law says school officials have no obligation to monitor such behavior, only to respond if it causes a substantial on-campus problem. [READ FULL STORY]

A great profile piece of the ICAC office (Internet Crimes Against Children) up in Boise Idaho. You can help these cops out by doing your part and knowing who your kids are talking to online with PC Pandora computer monitoring software. Every cop out there doing this job will tell you it is imperative you monitor what your child does on the internet and who they are communicating with… why would you ignore their warnings?

May 28, 2013
Busted! Cops show how they catch sexual predators in Idaho
By Jacqulyn Powell, KOBI Idaho

BOISE, Idaho (KBOI) – It’s not just on reality TV. Police are taking down sexual predators every day, right here in Idaho. They take a different approach than what you may have seen on TV, and it’s all about saving kids from being sexually abused.

Boise detective Tim Brady investigates for Internet Crimes Against Children. He says the best way to stop people who are hurting kids is to find the guys who share child pornography online. That’s because 80 percent of the time, people who are trafficking child porn are also sexually abusing one or more children.

Instead of pretending to be a young boy or girl, Brady and his partner pretend to be predators who want to trade porn. They talk to predators in chat rooms. [READ FULL STORY]

You know this story is old if Myspace is in the title… a 19-year-old in Maine said she met a man on Myspace when she was 15… they became friends, she became a sort of ‘nanny’, and he got her pregnant. He is not denying paternity (which test confirm) and he was not arrested, only charged with sexual abuse of a minor…

Know who your kids are talking to online with PC Pandora computer monitoring software…

May 29, 2013
Man charged with sex abuse of minor after impregnating girl he met on Myspace
By Abigail Curtis, Bangor Daily News

PALERMO, Maine — Police last week charged a Belgrade man with sexual abuse of a minor after a 19-year-old woman said that he impregnated her when she was just 15, after they had met through the social networking website Myspace.

The sexual contact allegedly happened in Palermo, where Charles Eaton, now 41, was living at the time, Chief Deputy Jeff Trafton of the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.

Trafton said that the woman reported the alleged crime at the end of January.

She told police that after she met Eaton online the pair e-chatted for a couple of months. Then she began helping him out with his children and did housekeeping at the Palermo home he shared with another woman.

The woman told police she has had DNA testing done on her child which shows that Eaton has a 99.9 percent likelihood of being the father. [READ FULL STORY]

Another senseless tragedy… right here in my town. This could have been prevented. I hope the bullies and their parents are proud of their work.

Sooner or later, parents will get it. Sooner or later, they just have to understand that they are the key to preventing this. Don’t let your child be a bully. Know what they are doing online and how they are treating others.

Just as much as you fear your child may be a victim, you should dread the notion you child is a bully. It’s up to you to find out either way and stop it…

May 27, 2013
Queens girls, 12, hangs herself as it’s revealed school cyberbullies called ‘her a slut and a whore’
Gabrielle Molina of Queens Village was found hanged at home. She left a note saying she was being harassed by students at her school, Jean Nuzzi Intermediate School 109.
By Joseph Stepansky, Vera Chinese, Tom Tracy, Ben Chapman and Ginger Adams Otis, New York Daily News

The devastated parents of Gabrielle Molina said the 12-year-old girl had been tormented by schoolyard bullies for months — and the abuse may be the reason she hanged herself in her Queens home.

The tragic tween’s older sister Georgia, 15, found the girl’s body about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday in their shared bedroom at their Queens Village house, their sobbing mother Glenda Molina said Thursday.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly confirmed Thursday that Gabby left a suicide note that talked about being bullied.
Cops are investigating whether Gabrielle was a victim of online harassment as well as face-to-face abuse.

Pals of hers said Gabby got into a fistfight with another girl that was videotaped and posted on YouTube. They also said she had a history of cutting herself and had recently broken up with a boyfriend.

“There was information in the suicide note concerning cyber bullying,” Kelly said. “Detectives have taken two computers from the home and they will shortly be analyzed. It’s a terrible tragedy.” [READ FULL STORY]

Know what your kids are doing online with a program like PC Pandora computer monitoring software. Be the 21st century your kids and your community need you to be.

Know what your kids are doing on Facebook with PC Pandora… before they do something dumb. Like this…

Be careful who you become friends with through Facebook. Yeah, they met in real life, but their friendship was developed over Facebook. Something tells me they are not going to still be friends.

May 16, 2013
Boy meets Facebook ‘friend’ and then burglarizes her home: cops
The 24-year-old victim chatted with Mark Thomas, 26, on Facebook for a few weeks. Then when they agreed to meet up, he allegedly stole her sunglasses, rings and cellphone from her home in Upper Darby, Pa.
By Lee Moran, New York Daily News

Mark Thomas said he had to go back to the victim’s apartment for his sunglasses but then ran back to steal her stuff, police say.

A Facebook friendship turned ugly when a woman met up with a man she’d been talking to online — and he ended up burglarizing her apartment.

Mark Thomas, 26, allegedly stole his 24-year-old victim’s sunglasses, rings and cellphone Saturday night from her home in Upper Darby, Pa.

Cops say the woman had met Thomas, from Yeadon, at a party several months ago and the pair became friends on the social networking site. [READ FULL STORY]

Hahahahah

May 17, 2013
Australian politician apologizes for ‘liking’ Facebook pic of exposed teen
Peter Collier, the West Australian Minister for Education, fell victim to the ‘sneaky nuts’ prank back in 2011 when he accidentally ‘liked’ a Facebook photo showing a then-16-year-old’s private parts. The gaffe was recently revealed and Collier said it was a ‘silly mistake.’
By Victoria Taylor, New York Daily News

An Australian official was recently reminded to tread the social media waters carefully.

In 2011, Western Australia Minister for Education Peter Collier “liked” what he thought was an innocent Facebook picture of a 16-year-old member of the WA Young Liberals and an older man. It turned out that the teen was flashing his genitals in the photo.

It went unnoticed until late April when the teenager drew attention to the social media blunder. [READ FULL STORY]

This is so very sad and so very sickening. Thank GOODNESS these kids are not too bright and they got caught… we will be following this on the blog, but it should be started here in the Facebook FAIL column…

May 19, 2013
Chicago Teens Accused Of Gang-Raping Girl, Posting Video To Facebook, Will Be Tried As Adults
By Andres Jauregui, The Huffington Post

Three Chicago teens accused of gang-raping a 12-year-old girl at gunpoint and posting the video to Facebook will face charges as adults, Cook County prosecutors announced Friday.

A judge ordered Justin Applewhite, 16, Kenneth Brown, 15, and Scandale Fritz, 16, each held on $900,000 bond. The teens each face one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault.

The alleged sexual assaults took place at Fritz’s house Dec. 15, 2012. Fritz had the girl meet him at home, and then took her into the basement and allegedly raped her. According to court documents, Fritz threatened the girl, who had pleaded him to stop, by showing her a gun, and is alleged to have later filmed Applewhite and Brown raping her. [READ FULL STORY]

Hah. Not the first of these stories we’ve reported on…

May 20, 2013
Lad provokes cops on Facebook: ‘Catch me if u can’ … and they do
Nidhi Subbaraman, NBC News

When a U.K. police station posted a fugitive’s mugshot on its Facebook page, the cheeky lad wrote in from his personal account: “Catch me if u can.”

“In the past it’s taken us several weeks to get a hold of him,” Inspector Umer Khan, who runs the department’s Facebook page, told NBC News. [READ FULL STORY]

This is the very sad and unfortunate conclusion to last weeks’ report… this 20-year-old man is being charged with the murder of 15-year-old Nichole Cable. She went willingly to meet her (accused) killer; they had been talking to each other for a couple months online.

Details have yet to emerge on the cause of death or how police know Dube is involved…

This is why you need to monitor what your child is doing online and on social media. It is not an invasion of their privacy. They have no privacy in your home on your internet. If you don’t know what your kids are doing online, in your home, and on their devices (that you bought for them) you are – quite frankly – failing as a 21st-century/digital parent…

Don’t let this happen to your princess…

May 21, 2013
Kyle Dube charged in death of Nichole Cable
By Krister Rollins, WLBZ-TV, Bangor, Maine

BANGOR, Maine – A 20-year-old man was charged with murder Tuesday after a 15-year-old, whose mother thought she was going to meet a Facebook friend for the first time, never returned home.

Kyle Dube of Orono, Maine, was charged in connection with the death of Nichole Cable of Glenburn, Maine, after a body presumed to be Nichole’s was found in a wooded area Monday night, Lt. Christopher Coleman of Maine State Police said at a news conference.

The teen had been missing since Mother’s Day, May 12, and on Sunday about 500 volunteers searched the Glenburn, Hudson and Old Town area in suburban Bangor for clues to her disappearance. The area is about 110 miles northeast of Portland, Maine.

When he was charged, Dube was already in jail. He had turned himself in Friday to the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department on an unrelated charge, Coleman said.

He is serving a 90-day sentence for a high-speed motorcycle chase and crash in June, according to the Bangor Daily News. He had led police on a chase that reached speeds of 150 mph before his motorcycle hit a police cruiser. In 2011, he was convicted of carrying a loaded firearm or crossbow in a motor vehicle. [READ FULL STORY]

May 21, 2013
Family remembers Nichole “CoCo” Cable, warns of social media dangers
By Nick McCrea, BDN Staff

GLENBURN, Maine — Clutching a panda bear pillow close to her chest because it smelled like her daughter, Kristine Wiley said parents need to be vigilant about their children’s online activity.

“If this saves somebody else’s child, then this won’t have happened for nothing,” Wiley said through her tears Tuesday afternoon in her Spruce Lane home.

Police found what they believe is 15-year-old Nichole Cable’s body near a dirt road off Gilman Falls Avenue in Old Town at about 9:30 p.m. Monday night. Kyle Dube, 20, of Orono was charged with intentional and knowing murder about 11 a.m. Tuesday morning, but police have not said what led to his arrest.

Investigators have not released details about what, if any, relationship Cable had with her accused killer, but family members say social media played a role in the events that led to her death. They said they could not provide details of the investigation, but that more information would be released in the coming days. Cable’s biological father declined to comment Tuesday.

Tyler-Ann Harris, a friend of Cable’s who attended a police press conference Tuesday, said Dube and Cable had been “hanging out” for the past 1½ to two months.

Cable’s stepfather, Jason Wiley, said parents should have access to their young children’s social media accounts and text messages, “no matter how upset kids get with the invasion of privacy,” because it could save a life. [READ FULL STORY]

Know what your kids are doing online and who they are talking to with PC Pandora computer monitoring software…

A new Pew study shows that 60% of kids on Facebook (which is 94% of kids asked) say they use the highest privacy setting. Doesn’t mean they won’t get in to trouble… just means not as many people can see it.

May 21, 2013
Teens say they are in control of online privacy, image
Kim Painter, Special for USA TODAY

Just 14% of teens make their Facebook pages public.

Teens are posting more and more personal information on social media sites, but most also are taking formal and informal measures to protect their online privacy and reputations, a new survey finds.

The Pew Research Center survey, out Tuesday, finds teens are much more likely than they were just a few years ago to post pictures of themselves (91%), name their hometowns (71%) and use school names (71%), e-mail addresses (53%) and cellphone numbers (20%).

The big reason: Facebook, which was just coming into broad use when researchers last asked teens about sharing such information in 2006, says Pew researcher Mary Madden. She is a co-author of a report based on focus group interviews and on the telephone survey of 802 youths ages 12 to 17 and their parents.

The survey found 94% of teens who use any social media use Facebook and that 81% say it is the site they use most often — though the report also says teens “express waning enthusiasm” for Facebook and increasingly use other sites, such as Twitter (26%), Instagram (11%) and Tumblr (5%) to socialize and share images and information.

But when teens are on Facebook, 60% say they use the highest privacy setting, which allows their posts to be seen only by friends. Another 25% allow posts to be seen by friends of friends and just 14% have public pages, making them very similar to adult users, Madden says. On Twitter, 24% post only to approved followers. Most teens say they check Facebook privacy settings frequently and know how to use them.
The survey shows teens take additional steps to protect their privacy and reputations on Facebook and other sites:
• 61% have decided not to post something because it might reflect badly on them in the future.
• 59% have deleted or edited something that they posted in the past.
• 53% have deleted comments from others on their profile or account.
• 45% have removed their names from photos tagged by others.
• 31% have deleted or deactivated an entire profile or account.
[READ FULL STORY]

PC Pandora computer monitoring software will let you know what your kids are doing online.

This one speaks for itself… happy Friday…

May 15, 2013
Amy’s Baking Company crashes and burns on Facebook after Kitchen Nightmares show
By Eileen Brown for Social Business

Amy’s Baking Company Bakery Boutique and Bistro leapt to defend its brand. And it failed spectacularly.

Chef Gordon Ramsay was asked in to help Sam and Amy Bouzaglos save their failing business, and the advice was filmed for his show Kitchen Nightmares, airing last Friday.

Unusually for Ramsay, he quit the show, saying that he could not help the two owners because they were “incapable of listening”.

The couple took to Facebook to respond to criticism and comments that appeared on the company’s Facebook Page. Unfortunately, their comments elicited more negative feedback and derision, comments on Reddit, and negative reviews on Yelp.

The original comments and responses to criticism have now been removed from the Facebook page.

However, the Buzzfeed post gives you a good idea of the tone and manner of the original posts. Many comments are trolling messages that should not have been responded to on a public forum such as Facebook or Reddit.

What made things worse for the Bouzaglos was their response to the criticism levelled against them. The company Facebook page was filled with equally critical and abusive language directed at the commentators. [READ FULL STORY]