Cloaked in the veil of anonymity

Sadly, it is not uncommon to read stories of adults in their 20, 30,40′s or older preying on children in their teens or younger. Parents are often shocked when informed their child may have been abducted or molested by someone they met on the Internet.

Defenders of Sex offenders are quick to point out children are more likely to be victimized by someone they know, as if to diminish their behavior, which may explain why offenders troll the Internet to lure or groom unsuspecting victims. Often cloaked in the veil of anonymity, they send text messages to unsuspecting teens, engage in chat rooms discussions pretending to be much younger and target victims in on-line social networks such as Facebook and MySpace.

The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area in North Carolina recently ran an article about sex offenders and MySpace in their State

Cooper: 2,100 sex offenders in N.C. found on MySpace

The state attorney general’s office says the social networking Web site MySpace has found nearly 2,100 registered sexual offenders from North Carolina among its user ranks.

MySpace says it has removed the offenders.

According to the office of Attorney General Roy Cooper, MySpace turned over the names in response to a subpoena. Cooper’s office says it’s requested similar information from Facebook, another popular social networking site.

The actions are the latest in a push, made by Cooper and other states attorneys general, to remove registered sex offenders from the sites, which are popular among children. In 2007, MySpace handed over to Cooper’s office the names of 245 registered offenders who were using the site.

In return, both MySpace and Facebook agreed in 2008 to strengthen their protections for children.

Should all sex offenders be removed from Social Network sites regardless whether children are present?

Another site, Craigslist, which offers free on-line classified advertisements, has been a site predators have trolled searching for potential victims and recently come under attack for ads placed by escorts services.

On June 23, 2007, a Donna Jou may have met her fate at the hands of John Burgess. 

Donna Jou website

Deborah Kalai Fourzan, (14), has been missing since February 2, 2009 from Tecumseh, Ok.  She is believed to be with James Reimer.

Fugitive, Teenage Girl May Be Headed To Anime Conventions  

Cops in Oklahoma are looking for 40-year-old James Reimer because they believe he took off with 14-year-old Deborah Kalai Fourzan.

In January, Crystal took away Kalai’s cell phone and discovered sexually explicit text messages — that seemed to be coming from Reimer.

Reimer was a close friend of Kalai’s mother Crystal Vanbuskirk and her husband, Richard.

 Chioma Gray, (16), may be in the company of Andrew Tafoya, (22). A felony warrant is on file for Andrew. They may travel to Mexico in a white 2008 Acura TSX with the California license plate 6AXX928.  Andrew has multiple tattoos.  Neither have been seen since.

In a new development in the case of missing Amber Dubois, police have a search warrant for Amber’s Yahoo account. Her status as Endangered Missing hasn’t change and hopefully her account may provide them with new clues.

EXCLUSIVE: New details surface in Amber Dubois case
Missing Escondido teen’s Web activity focus of search warrants

ESCONDIDO —- Friends of missing Escondido teenager Amber Dubois told police last month that the girl had been chatting with boys online, a situation that drew concern from one of her friends, according to court records obtained Friday.

And a forensic probe of the computer used by Amber and her family revealed a bump in Internet activity in the week before the teen’s disappearance, according to an affidavit Escondido police filed last week to get a warrant to look at the computer communications of Amber, who went by the screen name “wolfintheend.”

View warrant

 

 

 

Related Posts:

Missing from Tecumseh, Ok

Austin city limits

Crime, Craigslist and Controversy

John Burgess and Donna Jou

Donna Jou still missing

Related articles:

Missing children in California.

FBI wants help finding man, underage girl

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Contributing to the delinquency of a MySpace minor

When Law Enforcement poses as a teenager on-line in a sting operation to arrest predators, there are those who suggest it is unfair, entrapment etc. So what would do have to they say when a 16-year-old female meets a guy on-line, who presents himself as one thing but turns out to be something much different?

Expert says MySpace meeting should be a warning to parents

Elkhart police believe the 16-year-old met Matthew Sanders on MySpace, where he posed as a 19-year-old from Mishawaka, about two weeks ago

“It’s a very common occurrence of people meeting on social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook; it’s very common that the people set up profiles lying about their information, who they are, how old they are,” said Mitch Kajzer.

Another strange detail: Sander’s web-page listed himself as married, and he lately referred to his wife as “Steph.” The 16-year-old’s name is Stephanie, and there are pictures of her on his web page

In this case he was arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a minor but it is unclear if further charges will be filed.

MISHAWAKA –– The two sisters reported missing at about 6 p.m. Wednesday were located about four hours later by Mishawaka Police Department officers at a residence in the 1600 block of Homewood Road in Mishawaka, according to the department.

The two sisters were picked up by Elkhart Police and returned to their residence, the news released stated.

Matthew Sanders was arrested on a preliminary charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The Mishawaka Police Department characterized the incident as every parent’s nightmare, in the news release.

In what is a new twist a NJ girl, 14, was arrested after posting nude pics on MySpace.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A 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. Legal experts, though, could not recall another case of a child porn charge resulting from a teen’s posting to a social networking site.

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.

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Vallejo girls missing

Kassondre Kuder, 14, and Micah Rose Gonzales, 13 are reportedly missing after attending a Superbowl party on Sunday. Neither girl is listed at the NCMEC as of Tuesday morning.

Two Vallejo girls go missing from party, believed to be in Oakland

Sometime after 7 p.m., Super Bowl Sunday became two Vallejo families’ worst nightmare, when two young teenage girls went missing from a party, the girls’ parents and a law enforcement official said Monday.

“Our department is going full bore looking for these girls,” said Solano County Deputy Sheriff Daryl Snedeker. “We consider them at risk because of their age. We have more than 20 deputies combing the city of Vallejo and other places based on information we’ve developed.”

  

Solano County Sheriff’s Office

Missing Vallejo girls PDF

Sheriff’s deputies searching for two missing Vallejo girls

Note: Is Micah the same girl as the one in this MySpace forum reported missing in December 2008?

MICAH ROSE GONZALES

Endangered Runaway — Missing Since: December 1, 2008 ; age 13

Missing From: GOLDENDALE, WASHINGTON

Age Now: 13 — Height: 5’6″ — Weight: 130 lbs

Hair Color: Lt Brown — Eye Color: Green

Circumstances: Micah may have traveled to California, She is Biracial, Micah is White and Hispanic, She may use the alias first name Lisa

 

 

 

Update 02-04-09: Missing teen calls dad, may soon be home

Update 02-04-09:    Sheriff’s office: Vallejo girls safely home

However with all the allegations regarding previous behavior, should it be the end of the story?

Another Vallejo Missing Child

One child who is listed at the NCMEC as missing from Vallejo is Aleida Carmina Barragan-Panduro who has been missing since May 15^th, 2003.

 

Other child related headlines from Vallejo, California:

VALLEJO — A 15-year-old boy who was shot in Vallejo died over the weekend, police said today.

VALLEJO, Calif.—A seventh suspect is in custody in connection with the beating of a 17-year-old Vallejo high school basketball player.

VALLEJO, Calif.- A Vallejo teenager was arrested Wednesday for Tuesday’s killing of 19-year-old Dewayne McKinney of Fairfield, police said.

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MySpace, Beacon, Facebook

While MySpace has been under scrutiny for allowing predators the ability to prey on children, Facebook has caused concern over it’s Beacon advertisement program.

(CBS) The controversial advertising device many accused of invading the privacy of Facebook users will eventually be a good tool, says Facebook founder and chief executive officer, Mark Zuckerberg.

Facebook remains an independent social networking site, MySpace was acquired for $580 million by News Corp.

About a month ago, we released a new feature called Beacon to try to help people share information with their friends about things they do on the web. We’ve made a lot of mistakes building this feature, but we’ve made even more with how we’ve handled them. We simply did a bad job with this release, and I apologize for it. While I am disappointed with our mistakes, we appreciate all the feedback we have received from our users. I’d like to discuss what we have learned and how we have improved Beacon

MySpace has also campaigned for the industry adoption of  ”Key Principles of Social Networking Sites Safety “

Joint Statement

MySpace Appendix A

MySpace Appendix B

Possible “Myspace” Connection to a Valley Murder

KFSN — The MySpace pages of the two young suspects are filled with violent images and talk of hurt and revenge.

Accused killer 19-year old Dustin Gran shows off his interest in guns on his MySpace page.

A page that’s filled with violent images, he sent this one to 16-year old Brittany Navarra about two weeks before police say the pair killed Krista-Rae Pike.

Sex offenders set up MySpace accounts, records show

By Kevin McDermott

POST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD BUREAU

01/17/2008

Related Posts: Facebook or Face to Face

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Murdered at the Mall

Earlier this month, a gunmen at an upscale mall in Omaha, Nebraska murdered 10 people making national headlines. A story not receiving much press outside of South Florida concerns a murdered mother and child in Boca Raton. Nancy Bochicchio and her daughter Joey, were found murdered at the Town Center Mall.

Like always, the two were together last week at Town Center at Boca Raton when the unthinkable happened: They were tied up, shot and killed in Bochicchio’s SUV parked outside Sears. The city of Boca Raton is offering $350,000 to solve the crime.    Sun-Sentinel

It isn’t clear whether they were specifically targeted or if it was a random act.

Note: TOWN CENTER AT BOCA RATON
Town Center at Boca Raton features approximately 220 specialty stores, including Tiffany & Co.,Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Cartier, Cole Haan, Intermix, Burberry, Kate Spade, Michael Kors, Juicy Couture, BOSS Hugo Boss, Sephora, Tourneau Watch Gear, Swarovski Crystal, Godiva Chocolatier and many others. The department stores are Bloomingdale’s, macy*s, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue and Sears

Reward Flier

The composite sketch is based on a previous attack at the mall.

Police believe the double homicide is linked to an Aug. 7 carjacking and kidnapping at Town Center, in which a gunman held up a 30-year-old woman and her 2-year-old son in the Nordstrom department store parking garage. In that case, the robber held a gun to the toddler’s head and made the woman withdraw $600 from an area bank before taking her back to the parking garage, according to a relative of the toddler.

A composite sketch released Friday by police was based on the woman’s description of the carjacker in the Aug. 7 robbery and kidnapping.

Update 12-19-07    Palm Beach Post

Investigators also are comparing notes with local agencies on other crimes, including the March 23 killing of Randi Gorenberg, who was last seen alive on surveillance footage leaving the Town Center mall carrying shopping bags and holding a cell phone to her ear. She was fatally shot in the head, dumped from her 2007 black Mercedes SUV and found about 5 miles from the mall.

Dade pair sought as links to Boca mall murders

BOCA RATON (CBS4) ― One of two men, wanted for questioning in connection with the brutal murders of a mother and her daughter at a Boca Raton mall parking lot has been taken into custody in Miami. David Goodman, 40, was picked up in Miami Tuesday night and booked into the Miami-Dade jail on an outstanding Broward County warrant for two grand theft counts.

Update 12-22-07:    Surveillance video shows Boca victims at mall

Update 02-04-08      Media Advisory issued last week

The Boca Raton Police Services Department and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office have agreed to form a task force to investigate recent high profile cases including the murder of Randi Gorenberg and the Bochicchio murders. The task force will consist of detectives from the Boca Raton Police Department and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

The Task Force will be based at the City of Boca Raton, 6500 Building. Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and Chief Dan Alexander believe the task force will provide an opportunity to improve communication and coordination into solving these cases.

Sheriff Bradshaw and Chief Alexander will meet with the media at 3:30 p.m.

At 6500 N. Congress Avenue, Boca Raton.

Authority

Sgt. Michael McCutcheon

Boca Raton Police Services.

Update 02-08-08   Boca Raton News

The Boca Raton Police Services Department has created a MySpace Web page specifically to gather information about the murder of Nancy Bochicchio, 47, and her 7-year-old daughter, Joey, in the parking lot of the Town Center at Boca Raton mall Dec. 12.

Myspace  December 12, 2007-The Bochicchio Case link

America’s Most Wanted-

In cooperation with the Boca Raton Police Department – the lead investigative agency – and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, we are releasing the latest sketch of the suspect in the Nancy & Joey Bochicchio murders.
 
The sketch will also be seen during the “America’s Most Wanted” broadcast on Saturday, February 16, 2008 at 9 pm ET/PT on FOX.
 
We’re hoping that the release of this sketch will provide the tip that helps solve this case. All tips are immediately given to investigators for follow up. Tips can be called into 1-800-CRIME-TV or sent in through the AMW website, www.amw.com.

Update 02-21-08   Palm Beach Post- Investigators drain pond where victim’s SUV found

Update 12-12-08 Police: Husband Was Likely Target Of Boca Murder
Stewart Gorenberg Used The Same Luxury SUV When He Frequented Escort Clubs And May Have Been The Intended Target, According To Police

PALM BEACH COUNTY (CBS4) ― Randi Gorenberg was murdered over a year ago after leaving a Boca mall in a vehicle she often shared with her husband.

Police on Friday said there is another clue they are pursuing: her husband who drove the same SUV, visited prostitutes for years in Broward, and may have been the killer’s intended target for a possible robbery.

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