Pandora’s Blog

I like to do this weekly blog series/posts because I want to remind parents that MySpace is a worldly organization – meaning that people on the website are from all worlds. There is no prejudice to potential members.

While these stories don’t have to do with monitoring your kids specifically, it’s a simple matter of “know who is sitting next to your child online and maybe trying to be friends with them.”

1. Recently, a 20-year-old man befriended a 21-year-old girl on MySpace, luring her to his home, and attempting to kidnap her. She escaped and called in the fuzz. What a nice guy.
2. Also, an 18-year-old guy who was dating a 15-year-old girl posted the nude pics she ‘sext’ed to him on MySpace. What a gentleman. I wonder who the next lucky lady will be to land such a great guy.

I don’t understand why every parent isn’t using a program like our PC Pandora computer monitoring software, so they can KNOW who their kids are talking to online. Let’s face it, they aren’t going to tell you. I don’t think a 15-year-old girl would tell her parents she is sending her 18-year-old boyfriend nude pics of herself. It’s important to know.

Anyway, here are the stories for your reading pleasure…

June 29, 2009
Alleged MySpace kidnapper indicted
By Christopher Magan, Staff Writer

XENIA — The Bellbrook man who allegedly used a fake MySpace account to lure a woman to a local home to kidnap her has been indicted on three charges.

Darren Casey, 20, faces charges of attempted abduction, criminal tools, both felonies, and telecommunications harassment, a misdemeanor, according to a three-count grand jury indictment released Monday, June 29.

Casey is accused of arranging a meeting with a 21-year-old Waynesville woman at a Bellbrook home in March. When she arrived, he jumped out in a ski mask and grabbed her, police said.

She escaped and helped police locate Casey through information he posted on MySpace.com, a social networking Web site.

Casey has been summoned to court July 17.

Thursday, July 2, 2009
WA teen jailed for posting nude pics on MySpace
By Rob Piercy, KING 5 News

EVERETT, Wash. – An 18-year-old ended up in jail this week, accused of posting nude photos of his Arlington ex-girlfriend on MySpace.

“Sexting” is the term for when someone uses their phone to send text messages containing nude photos of themselves.

A 15-year-old student at Arlington’s Haller Middle School sent nude photos to 18-year-old Tyler Deccio. When they broke up, the photos ended up on MySpace.

“She thought she could trust him, thought he was a nice kid, probably thought he would keep those pics private,” said Lisa Wojciechowicz, spokesperson for the Arlington Police Department.

When they broke up, police say Deccio started text messaging threats to her – demanding more nude pictures.

“He was making demands of very specific pictures of her body, and specific circumstances and making some veiled threats,” Wojciechowicz said.

Police say he threatened to show the pictures he had to her family. Then he created an account on MySpace with her name, the pictures and crude comments.

She went to a school counselor, who went to police.

“There were about half a dozen pictures of her,” Wojciechowicz said.

Deccio appeared in court yesterday. Officers arrested him on suspicion of harassment, and sex crimes for posting nude pictures of a minor. All three are felonies.

Police say this case is reminder to keep what is private — private.

When police arrested Deccio, they say he admitted to everything and told them he thought his girlfriend was cheating.

A judge released him on his own recognizance, pending formal charges.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 6th, 2009 at 2:56 PM and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.