orangeman
12-16-2006, 03:51 PM
TEENS' USE OF TECHNOLOGY GETS THEM ARRESTED
by Carolyn Quinn, Staff Writer, (Source:Charlotte Sun Herald)
14 Dec 2006
Source: http://www.mapinc.org/norml/v06/n1693/a04.htm
Florida
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Myspace.com and similar networking sites offer absolute freedom to users, who can exchange information and meet others who share their interests -- from books and movies to fetishes and drugs.
Cell phones allow users to send each other photographs meant to inform, amuse and enrage, all consequence-free.
Not so, actually. That's what two Charlotte County teenagers discovered Tuesday, when each was arrested for crimes allegedly arranged or executed through their use of technology. One was accused of unwittingly setting up a drug deal with an undercover Punta Gorda detective over Myspace. The other allegedly sent some retaliatory photographs to his ex-girlfriend's cell phone, and got charged with transmission of child pornography as a result.
David M. Carroll, 17, 2544 Elkcam Blvd., Port Charlotte, became the first person to be charged as a result of a Punta Gorda Police Department undercover operation in which detectives learn about local narcotics activity by searching Myspace.com, a popular Web site in which members post information about themselves and can communicate with each other. The PGPD operation began Dec. 4, after Detective Thomas Lewis recognized the law enforcement potential of the site his children used for fun.
"My kids were using Myspace.com, and when I went on the computer to see what they were doing on there ... I restricted their use of it, and I started using it myself," the detective said. "I think that if the criminals are going to use the computer to commit crimes, we're going to have to use the computer to solve crimes."
With the help of his 16- and 13-year-old daughters -- who "helped me learn the lingo," he said -- Lewis searched the site for local marijuana peddlers. He found "Dae-Dae," whose page "contained a text indicating that he would sell marijuana," a PGPD report said. Lewis contacted "Dae-Dae" via Myspace, and the two arranged to meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at a Shell gas station on Tamiami Trail to exchange 2 ounces of marijuana for $400.
Carroll arrived at the site with the drugs and another person, the report said. He was charged with possession of more than 20 grams of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and possession of drug paraphernalia. Carroll was released to a parent's custody.
Pam Carroll, The Academy at Charlotte Technical Center student's mother, disapproved of the methods used by police in her son's case.
"It's like entrapment," she said Wednesday. "What my son did was wrong, but what the officers did undercover was, too. It's like bribing these kids because it's right there -- it's easy money."
Pam Carroll said she did not know what was on her son's Myspace page. Lewis said the page -- which could not be found on the site Wednesday - -- contained a large amount of personal information, which he said underscored the need for parents to know what their children post online.
"I just knew so much information -- I knew what his hobbies were, you name it," said Lewis, himself a father of six.
Lewis said that the PGPD's online operation is expected to produce more arrests, and is not exclusively focused on narcotics. The entire detective bureau participates in the operation.
"We see evidence of burglaries, we see evidence on sex crimes, we see a lot of information," Lewis said. "They put it right out there."
The Charlotte County Sheriff's Computer Crimes Unit will begin a similar operation Jan. 1 to search networking sites for information on illicit activity, said CCSO spokesman Bob Carpenter. Currently, the CCSO only searches those sites when a complaint is received.
Michael Brian Beardslee's downfall happened on his cell phone. The 17- year-old Charlotte High School student was charged with three counts of computer pornography and one count of transmission of child pornography after he allegedly sent three photos of himself having sex with a 16- year-old to his ex-girlfriend via his digital camera phone, along with another photo of the girl naked.
According to a PGPD report, he told police he sent the photos because he was upset about the relationship ending. He said he knew the girl he had sex with was a minor and that he took the photographs with his cell phone at his home, 501 Via Esplanade in Punta Gorda.
The transmitted photographs were first reported to police on Dec. 3 in Manor Township, Penn., where the ex-girlfriend was when she received the photographs. Beardslee was arrested at school.
by Carolyn Quinn, Staff Writer, (Source:Charlotte Sun Herald)
14 Dec 2006
Source: http://www.mapinc.org/norml/v06/n1693/a04.htm
Florida
-------
Myspace.com and similar networking sites offer absolute freedom to users, who can exchange information and meet others who share their interests -- from books and movies to fetishes and drugs.
Cell phones allow users to send each other photographs meant to inform, amuse and enrage, all consequence-free.
Not so, actually. That's what two Charlotte County teenagers discovered Tuesday, when each was arrested for crimes allegedly arranged or executed through their use of technology. One was accused of unwittingly setting up a drug deal with an undercover Punta Gorda detective over Myspace. The other allegedly sent some retaliatory photographs to his ex-girlfriend's cell phone, and got charged with transmission of child pornography as a result.
David M. Carroll, 17, 2544 Elkcam Blvd., Port Charlotte, became the first person to be charged as a result of a Punta Gorda Police Department undercover operation in which detectives learn about local narcotics activity by searching Myspace.com, a popular Web site in which members post information about themselves and can communicate with each other. The PGPD operation began Dec. 4, after Detective Thomas Lewis recognized the law enforcement potential of the site his children used for fun.
"My kids were using Myspace.com, and when I went on the computer to see what they were doing on there ... I restricted their use of it, and I started using it myself," the detective said. "I think that if the criminals are going to use the computer to commit crimes, we're going to have to use the computer to solve crimes."
With the help of his 16- and 13-year-old daughters -- who "helped me learn the lingo," he said -- Lewis searched the site for local marijuana peddlers. He found "Dae-Dae," whose page "contained a text indicating that he would sell marijuana," a PGPD report said. Lewis contacted "Dae-Dae" via Myspace, and the two arranged to meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at a Shell gas station on Tamiami Trail to exchange 2 ounces of marijuana for $400.
Carroll arrived at the site with the drugs and another person, the report said. He was charged with possession of more than 20 grams of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and possession of drug paraphernalia. Carroll was released to a parent's custody.
Pam Carroll, The Academy at Charlotte Technical Center student's mother, disapproved of the methods used by police in her son's case.
"It's like entrapment," she said Wednesday. "What my son did was wrong, but what the officers did undercover was, too. It's like bribing these kids because it's right there -- it's easy money."
Pam Carroll said she did not know what was on her son's Myspace page. Lewis said the page -- which could not be found on the site Wednesday - -- contained a large amount of personal information, which he said underscored the need for parents to know what their children post online.
"I just knew so much information -- I knew what his hobbies were, you name it," said Lewis, himself a father of six.
Lewis said that the PGPD's online operation is expected to produce more arrests, and is not exclusively focused on narcotics. The entire detective bureau participates in the operation.
"We see evidence of burglaries, we see evidence on sex crimes, we see a lot of information," Lewis said. "They put it right out there."
The Charlotte County Sheriff's Computer Crimes Unit will begin a similar operation Jan. 1 to search networking sites for information on illicit activity, said CCSO spokesman Bob Carpenter. Currently, the CCSO only searches those sites when a complaint is received.
Michael Brian Beardslee's downfall happened on his cell phone. The 17- year-old Charlotte High School student was charged with three counts of computer pornography and one count of transmission of child pornography after he allegedly sent three photos of himself having sex with a 16- year-old to his ex-girlfriend via his digital camera phone, along with another photo of the girl naked.
According to a PGPD report, he told police he sent the photos because he was upset about the relationship ending. He said he knew the girl he had sex with was a minor and that he took the photographs with his cell phone at his home, 501 Via Esplanade in Punta Gorda.
The transmitted photographs were first reported to police on Dec. 3 in Manor Township, Penn., where the ex-girlfriend was when she received the photographs. Beardslee was arrested at school.