Beaten man leaves hospital

6-5-2009 Pennsylvania:

The man who was pummeled by Kensington vigilantes for his alleged connection to the rape of an 11-year-old girl was released from the hospital yesterday as new allegations arose that he groped another woman the day he allegedly attacked the girl.

Jose Carrasquillo, 26, was released from Temple University Hospital about noon and taken into police custody at the Special Victims Unit where he was questioned about Monday's assault on the girl and other possible assaults.

Video footage released by police yesterday shows Carrasquillo on Monday walking on Kensington Avenue near Orleans Street alongside the girl and her sister, who was dropped off at a day-care center before the attack.

Police said the 11-year-old was on her way to Russell Conwell Middle School when Carrasquillo threatened to shoot her and then raped her in a nearby back yard.

Just an hour earlier, police say, Carrasquillo entered the cafeteria of Kensington High School for the Creative and Performing Arts - at Cumberland and Coral streets, about a mile from where the 11-year-old was approached - and groped a teenage girl, who later identified him as her attacker.

Bogus letter claims Aurora man is sex offender

6-10-2009 Colorado:

AURORA - The wording of a letter recently sent anonymously to people in one metro-area neighborhood would scare any parent. But the allegations made against Aurora Hills Middle School security officer Ray Hall are not true.

The letter claims a sexual predator is on the loose that neither the "City of Aurora nor the Schools want you to know" about.

It alleges that five victims have come forward claiming abuse.

"My stomach just kind of went, it just dropped," Hall said. "Every time you go outside you wonder are people thinking, 'Is this this kind of person?' because you know other people have read the letter."

Hall says letters were sent to his neighbors and the superintendent of Aurora Public Schools. The district and Aurora Police confirmed to 9NEWS that they have received no reports of abuse.

"Our investigators have found nothing to substantiate the allegations made in the letter," said Aurora Police Detective Shannon Lucy.

Hall's wife, Jan, who spoke to 9NEWS in April, says the letters have been hard on the family. 9NEWS has been investigating since.

"It kind of chokes me up. It gets you upset. When the second letter came last week I was pulling into the driveway and a neighbor said, 'Did you know there's a letter saying your husband is a sexual predator of children?'" Jan Hall said.

Posters Hung Falsely Identifying Man as Sex Offender

7-5-2009 Nebraska:

Omaha (KPTM) - Some Papillion residents woke up to some bizarre postings Friday morning.

Flyers claiming an area man was a sex offender were posted on numerous street and school signs.

"I was shocked. I was shocked in a way," says Janet Amfinson. "It's a defamation of character. I think it's nasty thing to do to someone."

The woman lives nearby the man whose picture is posted on the flyers.

They're family friends, and she says the phrases plastered on the poster saying 'pedophile' and 'Level 3 Sex Offender' aren't true.

"Absolutely not. Absolutely not," she says.

FOX 42 isn't releasing the man's full name or address because it looks like Amfinson is right.

A quick check of the Nebraska State Patrol's online registry of sex offenders doesn't list the man, which it would have to if he were a level three offender, as the poster claims.

FOX 42 talked with 'Erik' by phone Friday.

He said the posters were a lie and that he has police looking into it.

A Papillion police officer would only confirm off camera they're investigating, but need witnesses who may have seen someone hanging the flyers to step forward.

Amfinson says someone needs to be held accountable for publicly damaging the reputation of a man who has a family himself.

"I was angry that somebody would do that to somebody when he's trying to raise this child," she says.

A look at the online inmate search for Nebraska Department of Corrections also has no record for the man. ..Source.. by Todd Unger

FBI: Anniston man hired undercover agent to kill neighbor

9-2-2013 Alabama:

BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC) - A disabled Army veteran from Anniston has been charged in a murder-for-hire plot against his neighbor, FBI officials said Monday.

Allen Wayne Densen Morgan, 29, is accused of hiring an undercover FBI agent to murder a man he believed raped his wife days earlier, according to court documents filed by the FBI.

The affidavit says an FBI agent called Morgan pretending to be a member of the Ku Klux Klan on Thursday, Aug. 22. The agent called to verify that Morgan wanted to hire someone to kill his neighbor.

[READ THE FULL COURT DOCUMENT HERE]

Morgan told the agent that he had just confronted his neighbor in Munford and fired several rounds at the ground to intimidate him. He said he didn't intend to kill the neighbor then because "several people were present."

According to court documents, Morgan described how he wanted his neighbor murdered by stating, "I want this man hung like a tree like an animal. I want his [expletive] cut off and I want him cut...I want him hung from a tree and gutted...that's how I want him to die. Die a slow painful death and that's it."

Morgan said he would discuss payment with the supposed hit man when they met up on Sunday, Aug. 25.

Deputies: St. Augustine woman stalked, extorted victims

8-14-2013 Florida:

Investigators say woman reported false crimes in attempt to impact their personal, professional lives

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. - A 39-year-old St. Augustine woman is accused of extorting and stalking six victims over the last year.

St. Johns County deputies said Tawny Blazejowski was using the Crime Stoppers tip line, the Department of Children and Families hotline, and the cyber tip line with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to make false reports of sexual and physical child abuse against the complainant.

Investigators said Blazejowski continually reported false crimes against several victims in an attempt to impact their personal and professional lives.

"There was enough evidence to support that it was her sitting at a keyboard actually sending out that information," said St. Johns County Sheriff's Sgt. Catherine Payne. "Stating that they were suspects of either physical child or sexual child abuse. So in turn the department of children and families would get involved."

During the investigation, detectives said they found evidence to support Blazejowski was using various means to threaten and extort her victims. Blazejowski was arrested in April and charged with two counts of extortion. She was released on $100,000 bond.

Deputies arrested Blazejowski again Wednesday on charges of extortion, four counts of aggravated stalking and making false reports to DCF.

"It appears there was some type of romantic relationship that went awry and that's how they are all connected," said Payne.

Colorado mob attacks man falsely thought to be child molester

5-21-2013 Colorado:

A group called the American Indian Movement in Pueblo said police weren’t doing enough to solve recent attacks.

Residents took matters into their own hands and chased down a man they thought was a child molester, pelting him with rocks and leaving him with a bloody face, police in Colorado said earlier this week.

The man was questioned and released by Pueblo police, who said there was no evidence linking the man to earlier attacks in the neighborhood and that he had no background of sexual assault.

Residents had formed a group called the American Indian Movement and were patrolling their neighborhoods, saying cops weren’t doing enough to find a man suspected of two sexual acts involving children.

“Our lives our in danger,” member Rudy Reddog said at a local rally on Monday.

On Sunday, a mob chased a 54-year-old man it considered suspicious.

Pursuers surrounded him and punched him in the face, police Capt. Tom Rummel said. Responding officers shoved the man into a police car and whisked him to the station for questioning. He was not seriously injured.

“The primary officer on the scene said get him out of here,” Rummel said, according to the Pueblo Chieftain.

One incident involved the sexual assault of a girl in her home. In the other, authorities said, a man with the same description exposed himself to another child.

“We went through the right channels in contacting the police, but there hasn’t been much response,” said group member Alex Pacheco.

“We can’t wait around any longer without doing something. These are children that this man is after, and we can’t let any more children get hurt by him.”

Rummel said police had notified the media and posted warnings on social media about the attacks.

The man chased by the mob declined to press charges, Rummel said.

“He said folks were reacting to a bad situation, and he told the officer, ‘I don’t want to go that route,’” Rummel said. “He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

His name was not released. Rummel said he cooperated with officers and gave them a DNA sample, which ruled him out as a suspect. ..Source.. by Deborah Hastings

Two Sex Offenders Now Homeless in Mason County

Normally I would ignore this story but this one contains a very important element, first the words of the story:

6-8-2008 Washington:

... The second homeless sex offender is 20-year-old _____. ___ also recently become homeless/transient in Mason County and is required to register after pleading guilty to Child Molestation 1st Degree in 2005.

He has been assessed by the Sheriff’s Office as a Level 1 Sex Offender but due to his homeless status, ______ is now considered a high risk to re-offend and that assessment has been raised to Level 3.

-There isn't any professional research in the world that declares "homeless persons" as high risk to reoffend, this is a arbitrary and capricious decision by the Sheriff's office. This is a vindictive move on the part of the Sheriff and the ACLU needs to step in taking the Sheriff to court.

_______ is described as a white male, five-foot-eight, 140 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes.

_____ has given his status as: “Transient/Homeless within Mason County.” ..News Source.. by Dedrick Allan

6 plead guilty to beating man with hammer

4-20-2011 Pennsylvania:

A Latrobe woman, her mother and four men pleaded guilty on Friday to charges they broke into a man's home and beat him with a claw hammer.

Police said Felisha Hardison, 25, told her mother and a group of men that she was raped by 25-year-old Cody Wightman. That report led to their driving to Wightman's home, kicking in his door, punching and kicking him and finally hitting him with a claw hammer.

In court yesterday, Hardison, along with Brian Lehman Jr., Justin Libengood, Steven M. Kozemchak, Daniel Robert Chew Jr. and Hardison's mother, Judith Lundgren, pleaded guilty to charges related to the April 18, 2010, incident.

According to court records, police said Hardison and her mother picked up the men and drove them to Wightman's home. The women sat in a minivan during the assault and were charged as accomplices.

"(Wightman's) injuries were limited to a cut on his head that required some stitches, and some bruises," said Assistant District Attorney Chris Flanigan, who recommended plea bargains for each of the defendants.

Hardison pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy, burglary and aggravated assault, and to charges of filing a false report with police in which she alleged she was sexually assaulted by another man.

Police: Vigilante Thought Innocent Man Was Child Molester

5-4-2012 Colorado:

Fort Collins Man Accused Of Kidnapping, Assault

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- A Fort Collins man faces kidnapping and assault charges after police said he abducted a man he apparently mistook for a child molester.

Brandon Benhamin Mau, 32, was arrested Tuesday afternoon by a SWAT team.

Investigators believe Mau threatened a man with a knife and forced him into his vehicle Monday on West Plum Street near Taft Hill Road, reported the Fort Collins Coloradoan.

Mau released the man at City Park. Police said the man sustained minor injuries from the knife.

Police found no basis for Mau’s claim that the victim was a molester, said Detective Jim Lenderts.

A SWAT team was called to arrest Mau because he has a criminal history, Lenderts said.

Mau was arrested without incident and booked on suspicion of first-degree kidnapping, second-degree assault, third-degree assault and felony menacing.

According to state court records, Mau was booked into the Larimer County Jail on a $250,000 bond.

Mau’s criminal history includes a 2009 arrest on a burglary charge involving assault or menacing, criminal mischief, felony menacing and possession of a dangerous weapon.

He later accepted a plea agreement to possessing an illegal weapon and was sentenced to two years of probation, according to state court records. ..Source.. by Thomas Hendrick, News Editor

Two Charged In Pennsylvania Vigilante Attack

4-3-2012 Pennsylvania:

READING, Pa. ( - Police in eastern Pennsylvania say a pair of neighbors viciously assaulted a man out for an evening walk in the mistaken belief he was stalking children.

Exeter Township police say the men charged Friday had overreacted to a Facebook post about a suspected child predator in the area.

Police say the 58-year-old victim was out for a walk on March 21 when he was violently confronted by Dennis Sinnott.

Authorities say neighbor Mark Eldredge saw the encounter and joined the attack. Eldredge had been driving around to distribute flyers about the alleged child stalker.

Police have since determined the suspected predator is actually a 76-year-old man who scavenges trash.

Eldredge faces charges including assault. Sinnott faces charges including harassment. Neither could be reached for comment. ..Source.. by myfoxphilly.com

FL- E-mail identified wrong man as sex offender

5-11-2009 Florida:

Mix-up offers a cautionary tale to those who hit 'send' in haste

EAST MANATEE - Thomas Carpenter's job as a tae kwon do instructor for children requires a high level of trust from parents.

In one lesson, Carpenter plays the role of a creep who grabs the children's shoulders; to get away, the elementary school-age students thrust up their arms to push off Carpenter's hands before giving him a hard shove so they can run away.

The parents chat casually among themselves as they watch through a glass window at Carpenter's studio on State Road 70, just east of Interstate 75.

"I'm 100 percent comfortable with what happens here in class," said parent John Schultz.

But Carpenter's reputation took an unfair beating recently when someone sent an anonymous and erroneous e-mail alleging that Carpenter was a state-registered sex offender.

"I am writing to inform you that the owner and chief instructor of this facility is a registered sex offender," said the April 18 e-mail, sent to several businesses in the plaza shared by Carpenter's Family Taekwondo. "Obviously, this person should not be dealing with children. I urge you to ... make local parents aware of the potential danger they could be putting their children in."
The e-mail was incorrect. Carpenter is not a sex offender, and now the sender, if he or she can be identified, could face criminal charges and a civil suit as a result.

For Carpenter's lawyer, the situation is a cautionary tale of how in a world of instantaneous communication -- and in a society that places a virtual scarlet letter on sex offenders -- people had better have their facts straight before sending out warnings about strangers.

"This is the downside to the easy public access to information about sex offenders," said attorney Kevin Bruning of Sarasota. "Even the average person has to understand the impact of what they're saying because if you're wrong, it could be devastating for that person."

AR- Father Accused of Shooting Sex Offender

3-26-2009 Arkansas:

HELENA-WEST HELENA, AR---A man in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, is behind bars accused of shooting a registered sex offender he claims raped his young daughter.

The shooting happened on March 25, 2009, on Oakland Avenue. Police charged 26 year-old Jimmy Haynes with first degree battery for shooting his girlfriend's father, registered sex offender Kovadis Maxie.

According to police reports, Haynes accused Maxie of raping his young daughter. Police say Haynes confronted Maxie at his home, pulled a gun, and shot him in the leg.

Maxie had a trip to the hospital, but he did not go to jail.

In the state of Arkansas, Kovadis Maxie is listed as a registered sex offender. He was convicted of first degree sexual abuse. He is listed as a Level 3 offender, which means he has a high risk of re-offending.

Helena-West Helena investigators say they did not arrest Maxie because there is no proof of the sexual assault of which Haynes is accusing him.

Haynes also picked up a child endangerment charge. Police say that's because during his scuffle with Maxie, he tossed his loaded gun into the car near his two year-old son.

Police say this case should be a lesson to never take matters into your own hands. Detective Dennis Cox says, "An incident like this where matters were taken into their own hands, what they've done is more or less hurt themselves and their family. Because the seriousness of the situation it's a possibility the father is not going to be around for his children for a long time."

Jimmy Haynes is facing up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the felony battery charge. If you suspect child abuse call your state's child abuse hot line listed below:

..News Source.. by Tenikka Smith

FL- Flier alerts to "sex offender" - but isn't true

5-11-2003 Florida:

CAPE CORAL, May 9, 2003- A Cape Coral man is trying to clear his name after bogus fliers were circulated in his neighborhood accusing him of being a child molester. For Michael Wheeler, it's a living nightmare.

Imagine what it would feel like to find out your neighbors think you're a sex offender.

"The first thought that went through my head is how could I be accused of something I think is the worst crime anybody could commit," said Wheeler.

Wheeler is living in a nightmare.

"None of the neighbors wave at us or smile at us anymore," said Wheeler.

Officials with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement confirmed Michael Wheeler is not a sex offender, even though dozens of fliers went to his neighbors saying he was.

Wheeler now believes the first fliers probably went out a year ago. The same time he said his neighbors started to act funny.

"The kids won't play with my son anymore," said Wheeler.

Some neighbors said they were fooled by the letter that looked legitimate

CO- Flier falsely calls resident sex offender

10-18-2008 Colorado:

Puebloan, 67, goes door-to-door to clear his name, reputation with neighbors.

Reputation is a hard thing to restore.

One Puebloan is trying, however, after his neighborhood was plastered with fliers last week falsely stating he was a child sex offender.

"I was very fortunate that most of my neighbors that I talked to thought it was a bunch of crap," the 67-year-old man who preferred not to be identified said Friday. "My wife and I went door-to-door to tell people that I am not a sexual offender. I wanted to make sure that people who have children in the neighborhood knew it was a bunch of crap."

As many as 25 fliers were distributed in the victim's neighborhood between midnight Oct. 6 and 4:30 a.m. Oct. 7, according to police.

The fliers were distributed under the guise of a neighborhood watch group. It stated that the victim was charged with sexual assault on a child and stressed children's safety. "Remember there is no cure for these people," the flier said. "Help each other by watching your neighbor's children . . . Protect the Children!"

The flier also referenced a national sex offender database, but listed the wrong Web site for familywatchdog.com.

The victim's name isn't listed on the aforementioned Web site, or on any official sex offender lists, according to police. A father of two grown children, three grown stepchildren and 10 grandchildren, police found the man has no criminal history.

"If you want accurate information, you go to your local law enforcement. Some of these Web sites are not accurate or up to date," said Detective Pat Heine, a member of the police department's Neighborhood Watch program and crime prevention unit.

"If people choose to put a generic flier out about a so-called sex offender, they need to know there are libel laws. This is so destructive. It's destructive to the family, destructive to the individual, it's destructive to the neighborhood."

The victim said he's offering a reward for information about the incident. Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers at 542-7867.

"I'm a good neighbor and I intend to stay that way," the man said. "I wish I knew what the reason behind this was."

An accurate and free list of neighborhood sex offenders may be obtained at the police record division or sheriff's office, Heine said.

They also can be accessed on the Web sites of the Pueblo Police Department, Pueblo County Sheriff's Department and Colorado Bureau of Investigation. ..News Source.. by NICK BONHAM, THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

CO- Man accused of harassing sex offender

5-9-2008 Colorado:

Public spectacle draws police

A registered sex offender who drives around town with a puppy in his lap and hangs out at schools, parks and soccer games has one man so unnerved he made a public spectacle of himself Wednesday morning outside the Battlement Mesa Activity Center.

Travis Metcalf made such a display that he was issued a citation by police for disorderly conduct after allegedly threatening a registered sex offender. He has a court appearance set for June 25.

Other witnesses to the outburst told attendants inside the activity center, 398 Arroyo Drive, to call the Garfield County Sheriff’s Department because a fight between two men was imminent, Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Tanny McGinnis said.

Metcalf said he was telling everyone that Timothy Alan Larsen, 62, of Battlement Mesa, is a registered sex offender.

Larsen was convicted of sexual assault on a child in 1997, spent seven years behind bars and is now a free man, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

TX- Texas school says father of assault victim stabs student

4-29-2008 Texas: UPDATE 4-30-08

HOUSTON - A father was arrested at a high school Monday where he allegedly stabbed a boy he thought had witnessed a sexual assault against the man's daughter.

Both of the girl's parents were in a security area outside the main campus of Wunsche High School north of Houston when the father saw the boy and stabbed him three times with a knife, district spokeswoman Karen Garrison said.

"A campus police officer was nearby when the incident occurred and very quickly intervened and arrested the man," Garrison said. Since the assault occurred just outside the main doors, other students were not nearby, she said.

The stabbing victim was taken to a hospital, where he was listed in good condition.

The parents were at the school to talk to administrators about the alleged assault of their daughter, which they reported over the weekend.

Garrison said the sheriff's department is still investigating that alleged assault of the girl; a call to the sheriff's department was not immediately returned Monday evening.

The father, identified as Ruben Carlos Cuellar, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. There were no records Monday afternoon to indicate whether he had an attorney. ..more.. by Yahoo News

---

Lawyer says angry father may have stabbed wrong boy
4-30-2008 Texas

HOUSTON - The distraught father accused of stabbing a boy he believed was a witness to a sexual assault on his daughter may have attacked the wrong person, the boy's attorney said Tuesday.

The 17-year-old high school junior spent the weekend with his parents and did not attend the party where the sexual assault allegedly took place, attorney Fernando Valdes said.

NH- Report: Rape lie ignited dad's rage

10-19-2007 New Hampshire:

WEARE – The man who beat up his 15-year-old daughter's boyfriend in the high school parking lot last month did so after the daughter reported the boy had raped her, according to court documents.

The girl later admitted lying -- the sex was consensual, she said.

On Tuesday, Gilberto L. Soto, 38, of Weare, was arraigned on a charge of second-degree assault -- a Class B felony -- for attacking 17-year-old Damon Hadley, an attack that sent Hadley to the hospital.

Soto waived his right to court-appointed counsel and was released on $500 personal recognizance.

According to court documents, the girl's mother called police at 1 p.m. on Sept. 10 and said she wanted to file a report that her daughter had been forced to have sex with Hadley in the parking lot of John Stark Regional High School.

Less than two hours later, Soto called police and asked what was going to happen to the boy who allegedly attacked his daughter.

Ten minutes later, he was arrested by the school's resource officer, having allegedly attacked Hadley in the school's parking lot, leaving him with cuts, bruises and two stitches to his face.

The beating took place in full view of students and parents just as school was letting out around 3 p.m.

Man Falsely Branded As Sex Offender

4-22-2005 Florida:

Dispute Started When Man Reported Neighbor For Peering Into His Windows

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A local man says he's been wrongly branded a sex offender in his own neighborhood.

Someone's posting sex offender fliers outside his house, but he's not the man on the flier and he's not a sex offender, WESH 2 News reported.

“It's been difficult, believe me,” said James F. Turner.

Pat and James Turner have been through a lot. Eight years ago, they survived a near fatal car accident. Four years ago, James Turner, a former Marine, had a golf ball-sized aneurysm burst in his brain.

“And none of that is as devastating as this is,” said his wife, Pat.

A flier started circulating in their neighborhood this month. Someone wrote that a registered sex offender from Maitland might now be living at the Turners' west Orlando address. Response was immediate.

“My grandkids were outside and they come in the house crying because no one wants to play with them. The neighbors give me dirty looks,” James Turner said.

Who would do this? Neighbor Marlene Morton admits she did. It started when the Turners reported Morton to authorities for peeking in their windows. Soon after, Morton says James Turner's "strange behavior" led her to check the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's sex offender database.

Elyria ‘America’s Most Wanted’ tip a false alarm (Public whipped to a frenzy)

4-19-2007 Ohio:

ELYRIA — Well, let’s just say that host John Walsh from the show “America’s Most Wanted’’ won’t be landing in Elyria anytime soon to tout the capture of a fugitive from his most wanted list.

Elyria police and school officials said Wednesday that reports of a fugitive being spotted in Elyria this week turned out to be false.

A man who just happened to look like Daniel William Hiers Jr., a fugitive recently featured on the television show, was the victim of mistaken identity, police say.

The announcement came two days after Elyria police and U.S. Marshals started scouring the area looking for a man whom an Elyria resident swore was Hiers.

The fracas started last week when a resident saw Hiers’ mugshot on TV, and then swore that Hiers chose their yard as a place to loiter just a day earlier.

That person told a relative employed by the Elyria Schools, and the school employee just happened to see the same man in the area of Eastern Heights and Sherman Avenue, police said.

The school employee also called the police, so Elyria police — while acknowledging that Hiers had no known connection to Elyria — set up shop near Eastern Heights and searched for the alleged fugitive to no avail.

Elyria Schools also got involved, sending a letter to parents about the alleged fugitive just to be on the safe side, Elyria Schools Superintendent Paul Rigda said.
“We had to look at look at as, ‘Is it possible he’s out there?’” Rigda said. “Based on whether it was possible, we had to act on the side of safety.”

The aim of the letter was to inform parents of the potential situation, but it mistakenly said that police were “tracking” the fugitive, when in fact they were only “investigating” the incident, police and school officials said.

Either way, the letter triggered parents to inundate Elyria police with phone calls about the incident.

As it turned out, the whole incident was put to rest Wednesday when the look-alike was spotted and questioned. That came after police and the U.S. Marshals spent the past two days questioning several people whom they found that bore the remotest resemblance to Hiers.

And the look-alike? He wasn’t charged with a crime, for he did nothing wrong, Eichenlaub said. ..more.. by Shawn Foucher

Teens' attempted Web jokes serious: Fake profiles of assistant principals alleged sex abuse, used racist words

3-30-2007 North Carolina:

Two Mooresville High School students have been charged with cyberstalking after they admitted creating fake profiles of their assistant principals on MySpace, police said

The students portrayed one of the administrators as a pedophile, police said. They also used racist words.

Tyler Yannone and Lauren Strazzabosco, both 16, were arrested last week on two counts each of misdemeanor cyberstalking.

Principal Mark Rendell said the school lacked the authority to discipline the students because they did not create the profiles on campus.

Ron Yannone, Tyler Yannone's father, told the Observer he is disappointed in his son and has grounded him. But, he said, he is unhappy with how police and the school handled the situation.

"We can't outlaw insulting people," he said. "If we did, we'd have no politicians left. Just look at what is said about our president every day."

The Internet and social sites like MySpace have vaulted youthful pranks onto a worldwide stage that can carry serious consequences. Fake profiles of athletes, celebrities and school administrators are common online. Students in several states have been criminally charged after posting fake sites.

In California, a newspaper last year found fake profiles of nine principals from one county. And in Texas, a principal sued last year after students posted a fake profile incorrectly identifying her as a lesbian.

Strazzabosco's father declined comment. Yannone said his son is an honor student and a member of the band, and has never been suspended or had in-school suspension. He said Strazzabosco, his son's girlfriend, is also a good student.

The fake profiles, which have been deleted from MySpace, were clearly written in jest, he said.

"It was a joke. They went too far, as kids do," he said. "I am disappointed with what my son and his girlfriend did. But I'm disturbed and distressed that anybody involved in this would think they broke the law."

Forty-five states have laws against cyberstalking, which is defined as generally annoying or threatening behavior that takes place online, according to a Web site that tracks online abuse. North Carolina's law, passed in 2000, makes it a Class 2 misdemeanor, which generally carries the possibility of fines and community service, but no jail time.

Mooresville police Sgt. Joe Cooke said they began an investigation in February after an uninvolved student told one of the assistant principals about his fake MySpace profile. The site has a link to report fake profiles and will take them down.

Detectives used a court order to trace the Web page back to Yannone and Strazzabosco, who Cooke said later admitted creating the profiles.

The Observer was unable to reach the administrators on Thursday.

When Yannone and Strazzabosco were questioned by an officer at school, Ron Yannone said, they admitted what they'd done and apologized.

Ron Yannone thinks he should have been contacted then and allowed input before police charged his son.

"If we are going to start arresting children over this kind of stuff," he said, "we've gone terribly wrong as a country."

Boen Nutting, a spokeswoman for the Mooresville Graded School District, said she is saddened by the incident, but not because she believes anyone would believe what was printed on MySpace.

"It's so important that we teach our children to respect adults and respect authority," she said. "That's what worries me most about this."

North Carolina's Law On Cyberstalking

Creating a fake online profile may not sound like stalking, but the law includes any electronic communication making a false statement concerning death, injury, illness, disfigurement, indecent conduct or criminal conduct with the intent to abuse, annoy, threaten, terrify, harass, or embarrass. ..more.. by MELISSA MANWARE