Two Fun MySpace Stories…
These two stories came across my desk last week.
In the first one, a 14-year-old girl from New Jersey is being charged with child pornography after posting nude photos of herself on MySpace. Nice. Bang up job parenting there…
In Ohio, a 34-year-old man is charged with conspiring with a 16-year-old boy in Indiana to carry out a columbine-style massacre at the student’s school and another undisclosed location. The man also plead guilty to child pornography charges. Oh, and they met on MySpace. Nice. Another great job parenting.
When will parents learn – YOUR KIDS ARE NOT ANGELS!!!! You need top watch what they are doing online. You can’t give them technology this powerful and then turn your head as they use it. They are absolutely doing something you don’t know about – the only thing that varies is the degree of serious danger they can put themselves in. Don’t be stupid. Be responsible. Monitor their internet and computer usage. Use PC Pandora monitoring software to help you keep an eye on them and keep them safe. With tools like PC Pandora at your disposal, any excuse just amounts to weak and lazy parenting.
March 26, 2009
Girl faces child porn charges for nude photos
THE ASSOCIATED PRESSA 14-year-old New Jersey girl has been accused of child pornography after posting nearly 30 explicit nude pictures of herself on MySpace.com — charges that could force her to register as a sex offender if convicted.
The case comes as prosecutors nationwide pursue child pornography cases resulting from kids sending nude photos to one another over cell phones and e-mail.
MySpace would not comment on the New Jersey investigation, but the company has a team that reviews its network for inappropriate images. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children tipped off a state task force, which alerted the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office.
The office investigated for a month and discovered the Clifton resident had posted the “very explicit” photos of herself, sheriff’s spokesman Bill Maer said Thursday.
“We consider this case a wake-up call to parents,” Maer said.
The girl posted the photos because “she wanted her boyfriend to see them,” he said.
It is not a crime to view the photos, Maer said, but it is illegal to download them. Authorities are looking at additional arrests but have no plans to charge people who accidentally viewed the photographs, such as any of friends who have access to the girl’s profile.
Investigators are looking at individuals who “knowingly” committed a crime, he said, declining to comment further because the case is still being investigated.
The teen, whose name has not been released because of her age, was arrested and charged with possession of child pornography and distribution of child pornography. She was released to her mother’s custody.
If convicted of the distribution charge, the girl would be forced to register with the state as a sex offender under Megan’s Law, said state Attorney General Anne Milgram.
Some observers — including the New Jersey mother behind the creation of Megan’s Law — are criticizing the move to prosecute teens who send racy text messages or post illicit photos.
Maureen Kanka — whose daughter, Megan, became the law’s namesake after she was raped and killed at age 7 in 1994 by a twice-convicted sex offender — blasted authorities for charging the 14-year-old girl.
The teen needs help, not legal trouble, she said.
“This shouldn’t fall under Megan’s Law in any way, shape or form. She should have an intervention and counseling, because the only person she exploited was herself.” The teens are making poor choices by posting nude images but aren’t pedophiles, she said.
“Megan’s Law … it’s for sex offenders,” Kanka said. “These kids aren’t sex offenders.” Called “sexting” when it’s done by cell phone, teenagers’ habit of sending sexually suggestive photos of themselves and others to one another is a nationwide problem that has confounded parents, school administrators and law enforcers.
Prosecutors in states including Pennsylvania, Connecticut, North Dakota, Ohio, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin have tried stop it by charging teens who send and receive the pictures. In northeastern Pennsylvania, a prosecutor recently threatened to file child porn charges against three teenage girls who authorities say took racy cell-phone pictures that ended up on classmates’ cell phones.
Milgram, the attorney general, could not recall another case in New Jersey in which a youth was charged with child porn for posting photos of themselves to a social networking site. She cautioned parents to get on those sites and monitor what their kids are talking about and posting.
“Unfortunately, youth don’t have the same judgment as adults,” she said, “and often, adults don’t have the same technical savvy as the youth.”
March 26, 2009
Ohio man sentenced in Indiana school plot
By M.R. KropkoCLEVELAND (AP) — An Ohio man accused of plotting with an Indiana teenager on MySpace to carry out a Columbine-style attack at the boy’s high school was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison.
Lee Billi said he was sorry and asked for help before he was sentenced in Cuyahoga County court.
“I apologize for what happened,” Billi quietly told the judge. “I was in a Catch-22. I was in a job that didn’t provide medical. I need help. That’s all I can say, I need help.”
Billi, 34, pleaded guilty in February to inciting to violence and received a three-year sentence on that charge. Billi also pleaded guilty to 38 child pornography charges and one count of possessing criminal tools, referring to his personal computer. He received a combined sentence of seven years the other charges.
Prosecutors say Billi, of the Cleveland suburb Lakewood, and a 16-year-old Indiana boy in April discussed carrying out the attacks at the high school and another unidentified location.
Authorities have said a deputy working at the school discovered the alleged plot in Internet postings in which the teenager allegedly discussed his support for the “Columbine shooters,” a reference to the 1999 massacre at a Colorado high school in which two students killed 12 classmates and a teacher, and then committed suicide.
Billi’s brief remarks in court shed no light on what he intended to happen through his online chats. He could been sentenced to more than 300 years on all the charges.
“This defendant was discovered before anything worse occurred. Thank heavens for that,” Judge Timothy McMonagle said.
The judge gave Billi credit for about 11 months served county jail and labeled him as a sexual offender.
Public defender William Thompson told the judge that Billi and the teenager were fantasizing and had no intent of following through on a violent plot. Thompson said Billi struggles with complicated emotional problems.
Billi has no prior criminal record and worked as a security guard, Thompson said.
Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Jennifer Driscoll told McMonagle that the threat was real.
“They had set a date. They had code words. Mr. Billi was coaching this boy about how to get guns and how to make bombs. This man is a danger,” Driscoll said.
Billi had been downloading child pornography since 2002, she said. The pornography was found when police checked his computer for evidence of online chats with the teen in South Bend, Ind., who pleaded guilty in June to plotting to attack Penn High School near Mishawaka. He was placed in juvenile detention.
Authorities who investigated believe the two chatted online about also targeting a place with an underground parking garage, but the location was not identified.
The Indiana boy told authorities he did not know the man with whom he had communicated.
