Sunday, August 22, 2010
Case# #99 Pastor Booked for Cyberstalking
Authorities say a DeSoto Parish, Lousiana Baptist preacher has been arrested on three counts of cyber stalking after members of his former congregation accused him of sending threatening e-mails and text messages.
Deputies say 55-year-old Jim Reynolds of Mansfield was freed from the parish jail after posting a bond totaling $3,156. Cpl. Dusty Herring told The Times that Reynolds, former pastor of Graceway Baptist Church in the Carmel community northeast of Mansfield, was arrested on warrants secured through a justice of the peace.
Herring said Reynolds had been involved in an ongoing controversy after he was released from his pastoring duties about two months ago. It was not immediately known whether Reynolds has an attorney.
Labels: controversy, cyberstalker, cyberstalking, emails, parishoners, pastor, threats
Friday, August 20, 2010
Case# #98 Cyberstalking on the Increase
The lucky ones need only change their e-mail address or return goods they did not order. At worst, however, cyberstalking victims end up with a ruined reputation or a plundered bank account.Cyberstalking takes many forms. And the abuse of personal data on the internet to play tricks on people or exert pressure on them is growing, experts say. Cultivation of one's web image and more careful use of personal data can help prevent trouble, however.
A general term used by lawyers and law enforcement authorities for internet offences, cyberstalking is "an artificial concept" that still lacks a precise definition, explained Berlin lawyer Ulrich Schulte am Huelse. Basically, it covers the various ways people are harassed and stalked via the internet.
The risk of victimization rises with the frequency of internet use, experts say.
German police have no statistics on cyberstalking. "It's probably on the increase. We don't keep a record of offences under this heading," said Frank Scheulen, spokesman for North Rhine-Westphalia's State Office of Criminal Investigation, in Dusseldorf.
"As the new media grow and spread, it stands to reason that cyberstalking is growing as well," remarked Professor Harald Dressing, a member of the Mannheim-based Central Institute of Mental Health.
The consequences include personal affronts along with practical problems. "Using other people's names, cyberstalkers buy and sell goods in online and mail-order transactions. They publish harassing homepages and blogs, and commit punishable offenses," Scheulen noted.
He said that sending unwanted e-mails was also common, as was the unauthorized publication or manipulation of photographs or purported statements with suggestive content by the victim.
Most cases of cyberstalking are due to the careless use of personal data on the internet. Victims should notify the police as soon as it occurs, Scheulen said.
"Then the police can trace the perpetrator through the internet service provider and IP address," he added.
If the police have been notified, a warning, cease-and-desist order and damages claim have a good chance of success, noted Schulte am Huelse, who recommended that victims document cyberstalking from the beginning in preparation for legal action.
Careful use of the internet and personal data helps prevent cyberstalking. "Don't reveal personal information such as hobbies or preferences," Scheulen advised. Most importantly, telephone numbers, addresses and names should not be published in chat rooms, he said, because "you don't know who's lurking in the web and to what use the data will be put."
Dressing said that users of social and business networking websites should only allow friends and acquaintances to access their personal profile. After all, he pointed out, no one runs around the centre of town wearing a sign showing their personal data.
ORIGINAL
Labels: anxiety, cyberharassment, cyberstalker, cyberstalking, defamation, fear, personal data, slander
Monday, August 02, 2010
Case# #87 Woman Terrified by Cyberstalker
Tiffany Eisler kicked her boyfriend out of her life last month, or so she thought.A few weeks ago, a friend told her about a fake Facebook page in her name.
"Someone was pretending to be me, with naked pictures, with my phone number up," she said.
Eisler called 17 News to see if police can do anything to help.
She told reporter Anna Velasquez she met Kyle Walker online. Walker was living in Marin County, but within two months, he moved in with her in Bakersfield in late 2009.
In mid-April, a fight over the laundry turned violent.
"He just started kicking all the laundry everywhere," she said. "And, in the process I got kicked in the arm."
Eisler said Walker began to scare her.
"For the next hour or two he continued to tell me how he should beat the crap out of me and burn down my apartment," she said.
She texted her neighbor to call police, and Walker was arrested for spousal abuse and for fighting with the police who came to make the arrest.
She has not seen him since, but believes he is behind the cyber attack that's turned her life upside down.
The fake Facebook page had pictures she shared only with Walker, and the cell phone number Walker had.
"The number he thought he had," she pointed out. "I changed it last week."
Eisler also found more fake profile pages on other social networking sites, and in every case, it told people where they could find her.
"I'm still afraid to get on most sites on the Internet," she admitted. "I recently had to cancel my account with Café Mom because someone is stalking me on there."
Eisler believes her ex hacked into her email address and posed as her when he requested her electricity to be turned off. She lives in an apartment complex, and did not experience any power loss but the bills were going to her landlord.
Eisler saved everything she could when she found the fakes, including an instant-message dialogue she had with Walker Monday night. She asked him to leave her alone and Walker replied he did not know what she what talking about.
He also wrote, "If you think you are going through hell, get used to it, and get ready to go deeper."
That comment made Eisler fear for her safety and the safety of her kids. She is seeking a restraining order for when Walker returns to Kern County for his next court hearing.
Eisler has filed a report with Bakersfield Police about the online harassment, and now a detective has been assigned to the case.
17 News took Eisler's information to Supervising Deputy District Attorney Terry Pelton, who is well-versed in cyber law.
"If the facts are as presented, and if those facts can be proven, then several code sections have been violated," he said of Eisler's case.
Pelton said they are hacking (Penal Code 502.c.2), cyberstalking (PC 653.2), annoying through computer (PC 653m), and stalking (PC 646.9).
Pelton has successfully prosecuted a cyberstalking case where a Delano man created a fake profile of his ex-wife. Pelton said the man posed as the ex-wife and said she had a fantasy of wanting to be raped. The man also gave out the woman's phone number and address.
"Someone showed up at her door," he said.
What is happening to Eisler is not uncommon, and very dangerous, Pelton said.
"It encourages some real sicko out there to come find the woman."
Both the Bakersfield Police Department and Pelton encourage Eisler to keep saving proof of the online harassment.
Pelton also reminds the public of his rule of thumb for social networking: "If you post something you don't want to show your mother at the dinner table, don't post it."
Labels: abuse, bakersfield, california, cyberharassment, cyberstalker, eisler, rape, walker
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Case# #79 Man Arrested for Tracking Woman on Facebook
Cleveland County, North Carolina deputies have arrested a man for cyber-stalking a 38-year-old Kings Mountain woman.Laurence Barnett, 40, is charged with the crime. Deputies say it appears the Marietta, Ga., man may have used information on Facebook.com to track the woman down at her church. She recognized him, saying Barnett repeatedly tried to contact her on the social networking site.
Deputies say internet users should be careful with the information they chose to make public online. On Facebook.com, a user can control their privacy settings to decide who can access their profile.
FROM THIS ARTICLE
Labels: criminal, cyberstalker, facebook, harassment, illegal, Laurence Barnett, North Carolina, online predator, privacy, stalking
