Volume 5, Issue 11
February 13, 2007
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The Child Protection eNewsletter WiFi Networks Turn Internet into Hideout for Criminals… With nearly 46,000 public access points across the country -- many of them free -- hundreds of thousands of computer users are logging on every day to wireless networks at cafes, hotels, airports and even park benches. And although the majority of those people are simply checking their e-mail and surfing the Web, authorities said an increasing number of criminals are taking advantage of the anonymity offered by the wireless signals to commit a raft of serious crimes -- from identity theft to the sexual solicitation of children. Read More Here "We're not sure yet how to combat that," said Kevin R. West, a federal agent who oversees the computer crimes unit in North Carolina's State Bureau of Investigation. "Free wireless spots are everywhere, and it makes it easy for people...to sit there and do their nefarious acts. The fear is that if we talk about it, people will learn about it and say, 'I can go to a parking lot, and no one will catch me.' But we need to talk about it so that we can figure out how to solve it.""Unsecured networks are a treasure trove for neighbors," said John Sheehan, program manager of the CyberTipline at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. "Those looking to access illegal content obviously feel they have anonymity" and can get away with it. One way to combat it is for people to secure their wireless networks by making them password-protected. But, authorities said, businesses and cities that offer free connections need some way to track the users, such as filtering measures that could scan to see who is accessing the network. California seeks extradition of convicted killer Joseph Duncan… California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has demanded that a convicted killer accused of kidnapping two Idaho children be shipped to his state to be tried for the 1997 slaying of a 10-year-old boy. Read More Here But the U.S. attorney's office in Boise insisted Thursday it has custody of Joseph Edward Duncan III. Duncan was charged in Idaho with kidnapping and killing 9-year-old Dylan Groene and kidnapping his sister Shasta Groene, then 8, who was the only survivor of a 2005 attack on the family's home. vol3_iss42, vol3_iss43 and vol3_iss44 Duncan is already in prison after pleading guilty in October in Idaho to kidnapping and killing the children's mother, Brenda Groene; her fiancé, Mark McKenzie; and her 13-year-old son Slade. In other news…  Jury selection began Monday in the trial of John Evander Couey, a 48-year-old convicted sex offender who faces the death penalty for Jessica Lunsford’s 2005 slaying vol3_iss24 if he is found guilty. Read More Here Circuit Judge Richard Howard denied a defense request to further delay the trial, saying, “The fact of the matter is, this case is going forward.” A few minutes later, he began questioning prospective jurors about their knowledge of the heavily publicized caseThree girls who were imprisoned by their mother in a house of indescribable filth for seven years may never recover from the ordeal, experts said. Read More Here The girls were shut away from the outside world, existing in almost complete darkness, playing only with mice and communicating in their own language. When they were discovered, their home in a smart, upper middle-class Austrian suburb had no running water and was filled with waste and excrement a meter high. The floor was corroded by mice urine. The mother was said to have been summoned to court nine times during the seven years after complaints by the father and neighbors, but officials never found a reason to investigate the case more closely. Illegal drug use in the United States has dropped sharply since 2001 but abuse of prescription drugs remains a problem, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said. Read More Here Walters said overall use of illegal drugs among young people is down 23 percent from 2001, with 840,000 fewer teenagers using drugs now. He credited drug testing for much of the decline and urged its expansion in schools. About 1,000 school districts carry out drug tests, which can trigger an intervention that keeps a young drug abuser from carrying the habit into adulthood. A Walt Disney World employee who dressed as the characters Goofy and Beast from "Beauty and the Beast" has been arrested on child pornography charges. Read More Here Roommates of Matthew Wendland, 20, tipped police to images in Wendland's room of children in sexual poses, according to an Orange County Sheriff's report. The former roommate of one of the nation's most prolific child molesters was sentenced Friday to at least 800 years in prison for sexually abusing three boys. Read More Here Fred Everts, 36, was convicted last year of molesting the youngsters, ages 3, 9 and 11. He was sentenced to 800 years to life under California’s enhanced sentencing law. A federal judge ruled Friday that California's ban on sex offenders living within 2,000 feet of places where children gather can't be applied retroactively. Read More Here U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton said there was nothing in the so-called Jessica's Law that specified its provisions were intended to be applied retroactively. He added that state law requires the statute apply from the date it takes effect. A retired Marine captain accused of having sex with young girls while working as a teacher in Cambodia was being held on a sex charge in the U.S., federal authorities announced. Read More Here Michael Joseph Pepe, 53, arrived Wednesday at Los Angeles International Airport accompanied by federal agents after being expelled from Cambodia, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement. Trial began Monday for a woman charged with murder in the death of her developmentally disabled foster son. Prosecutors say Liz Carroll and her husband wrapped 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel in a blanket, bound him with packing tape and left him in a closet last August while they went to a family reunion in Kentucky for the weekend, returning to find the boy dead. Read More Here *for access to member only sites like the New York Times, use the ID "JohnDoeID" and the password "whatever". On sites asking for an email address, feel free to use "info@childprotectionprogram.org" Unsubscribe |
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