Myspace presents concerns to police agencies
It's the newest craze and everyone who's anyone has a myspace.com Internet account - including gang members, pedophiles, and criminals.
And chances are, so does your child.
Law enforcement agencies around the state have discovered a new cyber playground that has not only gained in popularity with the average citizen and student but with the criminal element as well.
“Myspace is turning out to be a place of amazing stuff that is of interest to police,” said Ceres Police Chief Art deWerk. “It seems people readily advertise things that are criminal in nature.”
De Werk said while “a lot of people can't relate to it,” myspace has become mainstream for youth. He recommends that parents stay on top of their children's use of the website and others. It's not uncommon for teens to upload photos of a sexually suggestive nature “and talk very intimately about their personal lives” which may come back to haunt them later.
“The solution is to teach kids about implications of doing stuff like that,” he said.
Arrests have been made in conjunction with Internet stings that have caught grown men posing as teen-agers trying to procure sexual favors from prepubescent girls and Internet task forces have been assembled within every faction of law enforcement, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation in an attempt to catch those who are trying to pervert the system.
MySpace, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, gives users a free online space, allowing them to customize their profiles, post photos, share images and even play their own theme music, so to speak.
In short, it's part cyber diary, yearbook and part Internet party central and it's become one of the biggest draws on the web for its unique and seemingly innocent nature.
But, as industry analysts have discovered, with more than 60 million users it's really a one-stop shopping center for whatever, or whoever, you might be looking for.
Although MySpace moderators issue a warning that children 13 and younger are not allowed to post profiles and such profiles are routinely flagged and removed, savvy teens know how to get around that particular rule. They simply lie about their age.
Oakdale police had heard about the MySpace connection to the local gang scene but until they were able to find a way into the circle of kids involved, they had to wait for the opportunity to strike.
“We knew they were using it but the opportunity didn't present itself until recently,” revealed school resource officer Brian Shimmel of the Oakdale Police Department.
That opportunity presented itself when the local juvenile who had proudly displayed gang material on her profile had revealed her account to the vice-principal, who then relayed that information to the police department.
A search warrant was obtained for the girl's residence, computers were confiscated, and the girl's parents were given an education.
The girl's website was littered with gang art, pictures of people throwing gang signs, and nearly all of the people listed on her friends' list were affiliated in some fashion to the gang.
The discovery was a jackpot for local police and the missing piece in a puzzle that started roughly two months ago.
“We'd heard that gang members were actively recruiting kids through the MySpace site,” said Shimmel. “And that they were also using the site to coordinate certain efforts in other cities.”
One such planned event was a fight that was supposedly going to happen at Davis High in Modesto involving two different groups from the Modesto and Oakdale area.
“Oakdale kids were supposed to be there,” said Shimmel. “But they never showed.”
Still, police realized more was going on than the average tiff between students.
“The gangs are using different tactics these days to recruit new members and even conduct drug transactions,” said Shimmel. “They're using technology to their advantage and trying to put a positive spin on being a gang member by promoting ‘Brown Pride.'”
And many parents are completely oblivious to the threat living right under their nose.
The open nature of the website's design is part of its draw and its weak spot.
In a rash of similar sex abuse cases around the country, adult MySpace users are accused of preying on underage girls. Recently, a 26-year-old Santa Cruz man was arrested on charges of molesting a 14-year-old girl he met on MySpace while allegedly posing as a teen-ager himself. In a similar case, a 22-year-old Bakersfield man is facing criminal charges after allegedly molesting three underage girls he met through MySpace. Last week, a 27-year-old Maine resident was sentenced to three years in prison for his relationship with a 14-year-old girl he met on the site. She claimed to be 19 in her MySpace profile but he continued to pursue the relationship even after learning her real age. - By JEFF BENZIGER & KIM VAN METER /Ceres (Calif.) Courier
And chances are, so does your child.
Law enforcement agencies around the state have discovered a new cyber playground that has not only gained in popularity with the average citizen and student but with the criminal element as well.
“Myspace is turning out to be a place of amazing stuff that is of interest to police,” said Ceres Police Chief Art deWerk. “It seems people readily advertise things that are criminal in nature.”
De Werk said while “a lot of people can't relate to it,” myspace has become mainstream for youth. He recommends that parents stay on top of their children's use of the website and others. It's not uncommon for teens to upload photos of a sexually suggestive nature “and talk very intimately about their personal lives” which may come back to haunt them later.
“The solution is to teach kids about implications of doing stuff like that,” he said.
Arrests have been made in conjunction with Internet stings that have caught grown men posing as teen-agers trying to procure sexual favors from prepubescent girls and Internet task forces have been assembled within every faction of law enforcement, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation in an attempt to catch those who are trying to pervert the system.
MySpace, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, gives users a free online space, allowing them to customize their profiles, post photos, share images and even play their own theme music, so to speak.
In short, it's part cyber diary, yearbook and part Internet party central and it's become one of the biggest draws on the web for its unique and seemingly innocent nature.
But, as industry analysts have discovered, with more than 60 million users it's really a one-stop shopping center for whatever, or whoever, you might be looking for.
Although MySpace moderators issue a warning that children 13 and younger are not allowed to post profiles and such profiles are routinely flagged and removed, savvy teens know how to get around that particular rule. They simply lie about their age.
Oakdale police had heard about the MySpace connection to the local gang scene but until they were able to find a way into the circle of kids involved, they had to wait for the opportunity to strike.
“We knew they were using it but the opportunity didn't present itself until recently,” revealed school resource officer Brian Shimmel of the Oakdale Police Department.
That opportunity presented itself when the local juvenile who had proudly displayed gang material on her profile had revealed her account to the vice-principal, who then relayed that information to the police department.
A search warrant was obtained for the girl's residence, computers were confiscated, and the girl's parents were given an education.
The girl's website was littered with gang art, pictures of people throwing gang signs, and nearly all of the people listed on her friends' list were affiliated in some fashion to the gang.
The discovery was a jackpot for local police and the missing piece in a puzzle that started roughly two months ago.
“We'd heard that gang members were actively recruiting kids through the MySpace site,” said Shimmel. “And that they were also using the site to coordinate certain efforts in other cities.”
One such planned event was a fight that was supposedly going to happen at Davis High in Modesto involving two different groups from the Modesto and Oakdale area.
“Oakdale kids were supposed to be there,” said Shimmel. “But they never showed.”
Still, police realized more was going on than the average tiff between students.
“The gangs are using different tactics these days to recruit new members and even conduct drug transactions,” said Shimmel. “They're using technology to their advantage and trying to put a positive spin on being a gang member by promoting ‘Brown Pride.'”
And many parents are completely oblivious to the threat living right under their nose.
The open nature of the website's design is part of its draw and its weak spot.
In a rash of similar sex abuse cases around the country, adult MySpace users are accused of preying on underage girls. Recently, a 26-year-old Santa Cruz man was arrested on charges of molesting a 14-year-old girl he met on MySpace while allegedly posing as a teen-ager himself. In a similar case, a 22-year-old Bakersfield man is facing criminal charges after allegedly molesting three underage girls he met through MySpace. Last week, a 27-year-old Maine resident was sentenced to three years in prison for his relationship with a 14-year-old girl he met on the site. She claimed to be 19 in her MySpace profile but he continued to pursue the relationship even after learning her real age. - By JEFF BENZIGER & KIM VAN METER /Ceres (Calif.) Courier
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