Poking society in the eye with a sharp pointy stick
Craigslist trial juror dismissed:
One of the jurors was dismissed from the trial of Katherine Ann Olson’s alleged murderer Michael John Anderson.
The juror became upset after Anderson’s attorney pointed a replica of the gun used to kill Katherine at the jury.
If I didn’t know better I’d swear the defense attorney is trying for a mistrial.
Putting Your Best Faces Forward:
Just wanted to thank Julia Angwin of the Wall Street Journal for giving MyCrimeSpace a mention in her article about the book Stealing MySpace.
NJ girl, 14, arrested after posting nude pics:
Update: Teen arrested for nude MySpace pics may avoid jail:
I’m sure by now you’ve all heard about the 14-year-old girl from New Jersey who was arrested on child porn charges for posting explicit nude pics of herself on MySpace.
In the past I’ve had no problems with teens who get charged for child porn when they posted pics of another underage kid on MySpace but this is just idiotic. Even Maureen Kanka, the mother of Megan Kanka the namesake of Megan’s Law, says this girl needs help not prison.
According to the second article link I posted more than like the girl will avoid jail time by entering into a plea with prosecutors. Again this is idiotic. The only thing the girl is guilty of is lack of common sense and a lack of self respect.
However I do think that somebody should be charged with a crime. Her parents should be charged with negligence for allowing this to happen in my opinion. I know the law doesn’t work that way but in a perfect world this girl’s parents, or parent, would be held liable for not keeping better track of their daughter’s online activities.
This is how girls end up getting abducted. As a parent you need to remain ever vigilant of your kids’ online activities.
And for those pervs who I know are looking for the pics in question I have it on good authority that they can be found here.
Plea deal off the table for Dunbar rape suspect:
The plea deal for Dunbar Village gang rape suspect Jakaris Taylor has been taken off the table. Taylor previously reached a plea deal that would have put him behind bars for 20 years if he testified against the other suspects, Nathan Walker, Avion Lawson and Tommie Poindexter.
Taylor has refused to answer questions from the attorneys representing the other suspects.
In November of 2007, Taylor and his cohorts allegedly broke into a woman’s apartment in the Dunbar Village apartments and gang raped the woman and forced her to have sex with her 12-year-old son.
Now Taylor will be going to trial with the others. That trial is scheduled to start in May.
I received an e-mail from reader Jacqueline whose friend is being harassed by scammers since Jacqueline’s friend responded to a scam rental ad on her local craigslist for a property in Santa Monica, California. According to Jacqueline they are contacting her at least twice a day and calling her on her cell phone at odd hours.
The scammer goes by the name of Rebecca Andre, using the e-mail address of roselin.andre@yahoo.com and claims to be the wife of another scammer that I’ve posted about before, Andre Ulla. The e-mail pours it on thick with claims of disability and cancer…
How are you doing today? Thank you very much for taking your time to write me, it is my sincere pleasure to write you back, and to let you know that the two bedroom apartment you are making enquiry of is still available.Utilities Inlcluded: Heat, Gas, Electricity, Water, Dryer, Washer, Internet/Cable and a secured parking space. Available from now, security deposit of $600 is required before move in,after two weeks of move in,first month rent will be required. Well trained pets are also allowed.Let me quickly introduce myself to you. My name is Rebecca and my husband’s name is Andre Ulla.My husband is the owner of the apartment you are making enquiry,but right now he’s in West Africa on a missionary work, l was suppose to travel with him, but some months before he traveled, l had a very serious car accident, that affected my back bone and brain, that lead to my disability, now l am using wheel chair and l find it very difficult to talk, but l can still communicate through any means of writing, that is the reason why l was unable to traveled with my husband. Right now, l am staying with my mother. She is also suffering from lungs cancer.Actually I and my husband both resided in our apartment before he traveled to West Africa on a missionary work, so we both agreed to rent/lease our apartment, to somebody that can take absolute care of it, in order to enable me pay for my mother’s hospital bill and take care of myself, We will not like to experience what we experienced from our last tenant, he destroyed most of our valuable home appliances ,and l know how much my husband spent to replace the things our last tenant destroyed in our apartment before he moved out.To be honest with you, a whole lot of people are contacting me regarding our apartment, but l am not sure of who to accept due to our past experience, so we’re taking our time to look for a responsible person, that can take proper care of our apartment, as if it is his/her own. My husband is a very busy man, due to the nature of his job, but he said if l find a responsible person, that promise to take care of our apartment, l should let him know. We don’t ever want to take the risk of putting our apartment in care of an agent again, because our last agent just leased our apartment, to somebody that destroyed most of our valuable home appliances, since my husband is a very busy person, he said l should be very careful with the kind of person l rent out our apartment to.lf you can assure me that, you will take absolute care of our apartment, as if it is your own, we will be more than happy to have you as our new tenant to be.Here is the address of our apartment (redacted) As soon as l hear from you, l will send you more information regarding our apartment. Expect to read from you soon, once again, thank you very much for the time you took in writing me me.. l must tell you that l really appreciate it.
Yours Sincerely
Rebecca
Even with the new additions to the old scam we still have some of the same old trademarks of the scam. First off the owner is in West Africa, missionary work and in a subsequent e-mail the ‘renters’ asked for the money to be couriered to them.
I advised Jacqueline to tell her friend that if they call again to let the scammers know that they’re on to them and to contact the Internet Crime Complaint Center.
Drug agents crack down on prostitution via Craigslist:
A picture really is worth a thousand words isn’t it? Anyway those beauties have been arrested in Marion County, Florida on various craigslist prostitution charges.
Arrested on prostitution charges were: Ashley Mullinax, 40; Sally Rice, 18; Melissa Young, 24; Gidget Temperato, 41; Michelle McCray, 36; Tina Wilbur, 28; and Vosheya Barcello, 19.
I also noticed this line from the article…
One of the complaints was from a woman who was angry because her husband, following a tryst with a prostitute advertising on Craigslist, brought home a sexually transmitted disease.
Wouldn’t that make the man’s wife a victim? But I thought prostitution was a victimless crime?
Update: Escape will bring about changes at juvenile detention center:
Teen suspect in school shooting soon caught after escaping Knoxville facility:
If you’ll recall 15-year-old Jamar Siler allegedly shot and killed Ryan McDonald in the cafeteria of Central High School in Knoxville, Tenn. last August.
Apparently Siler didn’t care for his accommodations as he tried to make a break for it earlier today. Siler and another inmate were caught two hours after they bolted.
It sucks that he doesn’t like the living quarters but I’m pretty sure Ryan McDonald isn’t thrilled about his either since it’s six feet under.
No word yet if Siler will be tried as an adult yet but I’m sure this little stunt won’t help.
Cell mate: Anderson bragged about Craigslist notoriety:
Defense request to let jurors dry-fire gun in Craigslist murder trial rejected:
35-year-old Gregory Wikan also spent some time in jail with Michael John Anderson. Mr. Wikan is also a former professional cage fighter. He was in jail for violating his probation. Wikan testified that when word made the rounds that he was a cage fighter Anderson approached him.
He said Anderson told him: `I’m better known than you are.’
“I said, `Well good for you; I didn’t feel that it was it was a contest,”’ Wikan testified. “He asked me if I’d heard of the Craigslist murder…He was cold-faced; There was no expression.”
Wikan said he urged Anderson not to discuss the case, but Anderson said he didn’t care:
“He said they’re trying to put him away for a long time. They found a girl in the trunk, and (he said) he was pretty much guilty of it.”
Anderson’s attorney argued that this was just a ploy Anderson used to make himself appear tougher in jail to protect himself from physical or sexual assaults.
Wikan also claims that he made no deals for his testimony.
Wikan told the courtroom that he came forward with this information after he was released because “she could be somebody’s mom, somebody’s daughter…”
“I just felt I needed to do this if I had information that was important to the case,” Wikan said.
It also seems that Anderson’s attorney is trying to establish that the shooting was accidental because he asked a weapons expert how delicate the trigger to a .357 is and could it have gone off if dropped.
I’ve never fired a .357 before so any weapon enthusiasts out there feel free to weigh in.
RI man charged with using MySpace to solicit sex:
A resource officer in a middle school in West Warwick, RI received complaints about a man who was contacting some students there inappropriately on MySpace.
The West Warwick police then set up a fake MySpace posing as a 13-year-old girl. That’s how they were able to capture 28-year-old Edgar Braley. They arrested him when he showed up to a pizza joint where he thought he was meeting the ‘girl’.
Former inmate in jail with Craigslist suspect testifies:
21-year-old Joshua Young spent time in jail with Katherine Ann Olson’s alleged killer, Michael John Anderson. When he asked Anderson why he did it Young said “he wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone.”
The defense immediately objected to this statement claiming that what Anderson actually said was “I wanted to know what it felt like.” The defense contends that Anderson was talking about sex.
Something the jury didn’t hear was a story about how Anderson crapped on another inmate’s food tray as a ‘practical joke’. Instead what the jury heard is that Anderson played practical jokes in jail.
If I was in jail on a murder charge I don’t think I would be playing practical jokes. Not only does it show that he’s not taking any of this seriously but it could get him hurt.
Young said he has made no deal in exchange for his testimony.
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