Real Life Stories Cont'd

Let's Get Sexual: An individual who claimed to be 21 years old was contacting numerous 14- and 15-year-old girls through the chat component of an online game. In a 24-hour period, this individual was in contact with at least four different girls. He would flatter the girls using terms of endearment such as "gorgeous" and "love." He immediately began asking for personal information including their "asl" (age, sex, location). This was followed by questions regarding whether they had boyfriends and whether or not they get "hit on" a lot. He started asking for more personal information such as their height, hair and eye colour. The suspect quickly turned the conversations sexual, asking the youth their bra sizes, about any past sexual experiences, asking if they would date him and offering them money in exchange for sex.

Dangerous Attention: Cybertip.ca received a report about a posting on Craigslist, a popular classifieds website. The posting, found in the personals section of Craigslist, appeared to have been made by an 18-year-old woman who was looking for "encounters" with men. Upon further investigation, the Cybertip.ca reporting person discovered the female posting the personals advertisement was only 16 years old.

Sexting: Cybertip.ca received a report with regard to a 15-year-old girl who was involved in a sexual relationship with a 19-year-old man. The man was sending naked pictures of himself via text message to the girl and requesting that she perform sexual acts for him on webcam and send it to him.

16 Year-Old Girl “Gang Raped” at Rave, Photos Posted On Facebook
Sept 2010: MAPLE RIDGE, B.C. - A 16-year-old girl was drugged and raped repeatedly by partygoers at a weekend rave near Vancouver as onlookers snapped photos that have since found their way onto Facebook, the RCMP said Thursday.

The attack happened at a rave last Friday night on a rural property near Pitt Meadows, east of Vancouver. Police believe the girl was given a substance commonly know as the date-rape drug.

"It's essentially one male having intercourse and when he's done, another one participates — that's a gang rape," Insp. Derren Lench said in an interview.

"It's a sexual assault, it's an unwanted assault taking advantage of someone who is under the influence of this drug."

Lench said the girl was drugged and, while she was conscious at the time, she didn't remember what happened to her until several days later. She came forward to police once she discovered the photos on Facebook.

He described the assault as "violent," leaving the girl with undisclosed injuries.

Date-rape drugs can have hypnotic affects and can affect memory, according to an RCMP news release. Someone who ingests one of these drugs would appear very intoxicated, but would be unable to function normally or legally consent to sex.

There had been no arrests connected to the rape, but Lench said Thursday attackers are believed to include minors and young adults.

As for the photos, a 16-year-old boy was arrested and later released as prosecutors consider charges of producing and distributing child pornography.

The RCMP have been contacting Facebook users who have posted them and demanded they be removed and deleted. Many have complied, but some have so far refused.

Sgt. Jennifer Hyland, one of the lead investigators on the case, said the re-posting of the photos is only making the horror for the victim worse.

"What happened after this incident and continues to happen is beyond disgusting," Hyland said in a statement.

"These photos are child pornography. They have been viewed, shared, saved and re-posted numerous times. This is an offence and is so socially corrupt it is sickening. The posting and viewing of the photos is continuing to victimize this young girl and her family and needs to stop."

Lench said it was proving difficult to keep the photos from reappearing.

"Every time it's shut down on one Facebook (account), it seems to reappear and its been shared in several communities in the Lower Mainland, so the victim has to relive it on a daily basis," Lench said in an interview.

"This (the photographs) is just one portion of a larger investigation. Obviously the sex assault aspect is our primary focus."

He said police can ask Facebook to help them ensure the photos are removed, but he said anyone who doesn't heed the RCMP's warnings could face charges.

"Our power is to say, 'By the way, if we find that you have that on your computer and have distributed it, then you may be facing charges," he said.

"People are possessing it, and people are distributing it, and that's an offence."

An article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal last year said drugs are a factor in more than 20 per cent of sexual assaults, and noted such assaults appear to have increased during the past decade, although the data is limited.

The article noted victims had been consuming alcohol in 90 per cent of those cases, opening the risk they could unknowingly have consumed a date-rape drug.

Louisa Russell of the Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres said using drugs or alcohol to facilitate sexual assaults is nothing new.

"From our rape crisis lines, men have used alcohol and drugs to facilitate rape — the most common is alcohol — ever since we opened (35 years ago)," she said in an interview.

Russell said there must be stronger education to make certain teenaged boys — and all men — are aware of their legal and moral obligations when it comes to ensuring women willingly consent to sex.

"I think there is a lot of misunderstanding among young boys on consent," she said.

"I think there's a lot of room for public education around that. I think that a lot of men know that and they abuse it, but there are some genuine questions, particularly from young boys, about what is the law and how do I make sure that I actually have consent."

There have been other recent cases in Canadian schools involving teens and inappropriate and potentially illegal sexual activity.

Earlier this month, police in Calgary laid charges after a 16-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl who met on a social networking website met in a school field and performed a drunken sex act in front of friends.

Neighbours initially reported a sinister scene involving a young girl being brutally attacked by an older boy in front of a group of young people who were filming the encounter.

The reports of the attack proved incorrect, but police said they still laid charges because a 12-year-old can't legally consent to have sex with a 16-year-old.

In May of this year, the RCMP in Surrey, B.C., raised concerns about boys in Grades 11 and 12 challenging each other over Facebook to have sex with the most Grade 8 students.

The Mounties sent an officer to the school to explain the laws regarding the age of consent.

Child Porn Charges Laid In Rave Gang Rape
Sept 2010: VANCOUVER - Police believe a teenage code of silence is stopping witnesses from coming forward to explain just what happened the night a 16-year-old girl was repeatedly sexually assaulted while others watched and even took photos.

Police expressed their frustration over witnesses Wednesday as the first charges were laid in connection with a case that has been complicated by Facebook postings and rampant rumours.

A 16-year-old unnamed Maple Ridge male has been charged with possession and distribution of child pornography after he allegedly posted pictures on the Internet of what police say was a gang rape at a rave.

"It's a challenging investigation to the say the least," RCMP Sgt. Peter Thiessen said in an interview.

While police are working on charges against "several" young men believed to be involved in the assault on the drugged teen, Thiessen said only two people who witnessed the attack have talked to police.

"Of the 10 to 12 that we announced last week who were at the scene there observing what occurred, none have come forward beyond the initial first two girls who showed some leadership and didn't succumb to peer pressure."

While that group has remained silent, Thiessen said police are getting a lot of information from teens in the community. Unfortunately, much of it is second- or third-hand.

"We need first-hand information from that one group," he said.

Police said the victim had been drugged with what they believe was gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, or GHB, also known as the date-rape drug.

Though the teen girl was injured, police say she didn't remember the attack and only started putting the pieces together when pictures appeared on Facebook.

Mounties said the girl was repeatedly raped by a succession of males at the Pitt Meadows, B.C., party on Sept. 10.

A family statement last week said the spread of the pictures on the social media website Facebook repeatedly victimized the girl.

Thiessen said the rapid spread of the pictures is a lesson for those caught up in social media sites.

"Individuals take it upon themselves to utilize social media in a manner that is completely inappropriate," he said.

"They ultimately are committing a serious criminal act when they're taking photos of a young girls being sexually assaulted, which is child pornography and then distributing it, which is again distributing child pornography. So it's a serious matter."

An 18-year-old man was arrested earlier this month in the rape, but charges have not been laid.

Thiessen said they're continuing their investigation — very methodically — against several potential suspects.

The victim has returned to school and her family has said she is struggling to get her life back.

Additional Charges Laid In Gang Rape Of B.C. Teen: RCMP
Jan 2011: PITT MEADOWS, B.C. — One man has been charged with sexual assault and another with making and distributing child pornography in the rape of a teenage girl who was drugged and repeatedly sexually assaulted as others snapped photos that were later posted to Facebook.

The attack happened last September at a rave in Pitt Meadows, east of Vancouver, where the RCMP said a 16 -year-old girl was drugged and gang raped.

A 16-year-old has already been charged with production and distribution of child pornography related to the incident, and Crown spokesman Neil MacKenzie confirmed charges were sworn Wednesday against two additional men.

Colton Ashton McMorris was charged with sexual assault and Dennis John Allen Warrington was charged with making and distributing child pornography, MacKenzie said.

Both are scheduled to appear in court next Monday, and neither are in custody, he said.

A 16-year-old has already been charged with production and distribution of child pornography.

Sgt. Peter Thiessen of the RCMP said police will release more information at a news conference scheduled for Thursday.

The rape happened on a rural property in Pitt Meadows.

The girl was given the date-rape drug and was conscious during the attack, but she was in a disassociated state and couldn't consent, police have said.

The Mounties have said as many as 12 people saw the attack, but investigators complained of a code of silence among witnesses that was preventing them from coming forward.

The RCMP spent weeks after the rape pleading with Facebook users to stop sharing the photos, warning that anyone possessing or sharing the pictures could face child pornography charges.

Assemblies were also held at local schools to explain the dangers of date-rape drugs and stress the need to stop distributing the photos.

The case followed others in Canadian schools involving teens and inappropriate -- and potentially illegal -- sexual activity.

Earlier that month, police in Calgary laid charges after a 16-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl who met on a social networking website met in a school field and performed a drunken sex act in front of friends.

Neighbours initially reported that a young girl had been brutally attacked by an older boy in front of a group of young people who were filming the encounter, but those reports proved incorrect. Still, police said they still laid charges because a 12-year-old can't legally consent to have sex with a 16-year-old.

Police Warn Of Facebook Little Girl Parties
May 2010: Vancouver - Chilliwack police are warning parents about a group of high school boys who have been trying to lure pre-teen girls via Facebook to parties where they would get them drunk and sleep with them.

“They are called LG parties, which stands for Little Girl parties”, said RCMP Const. Tracy Wolbeck.

“This is something that has recently come to our attention and we are trying hard to monitor. The intent of these parties and the group mentality that goes along with them is what makes them very frightening for parents and police alike.”

It’s not the first time Facebook has been used recently by local teenage boys to try to lure younger girls. Last week, RCMP in Surrey warned parents that Grade 11 and Grade 12 boys at Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary School in Cloverdale had started a Facebook page to seduce eighth-grade girls.

They called the group the LGS Club the Little Girl Slayers Club.

“I can’t tie a definitive connection between what’s going on in the (two schools)”, Wolbeck said. “At this point we haven’t formally engaged in any investigation... We don’t have specific people or events to tie to it.”

Wolbeck said police are cautioning parents to be vigilant about where their teenagers are going and with whom. Also, keeping a watchful eye and being proactive about monitoring their internet use would be a great help as well.

“Don’t allow your kids to use the family computer in private”, she said. “Be aware of their Facebook contacts and the content of that contact.”

She suggests if kids are heading to a party that parents call ahead to make sure there will be adult supervision.

Scout Leader from St. Catharines, ON Faces Internet Luring Charges
JULY 2011

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - A 42-year-old Scouts Canada leader from St. Catharines is facing Internet luring charges involving a teen.

Niagara regional police say an investigation was launched earlier this month after reports of a sexually inappropriate online relationship between a man and a teen.

A search warrant was executed today in south-end St. Catharines.

Officers seized computer systems and peripheral devices and made an arrest.
Gerald Hammerling is charged with invitation to sexual touching, exposure, possession of child pornography, and two counts of luring a child.

Hammerling is being held in custody pending a bail hearing scheduled for Friday in St. Catharines court.

Online Sexual Predators On The Rise
Nov 2009: RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - MySpace.com has found more than 29,000 registered sex offenders with profiles on the popular social networking website - more than four times the number cited by the company.

North Carolina's Roy Cooper is one of several attorneys general who recently demanded the owned website provide data on how many registered sex offenders were using the popular social networking site, along with information about where they live.

After initially withholding the information, citing federal privacy laws, MySpace began sharing the information in May after the states filed formal legal requests.

At the time, MySpace said it had already used a database it helped create to remove about 7,000 profiles of sex offenders, out of a total of about 222 million profiles on the site. To put this into perspective, Facebook has 500 million users and 250 million mobile users opening the door to the possibility that these sexual offenders, registered or not, could run into the hundreds of thousands.

Cooper's office said Tuesday, however, that now MySpace’s figure has risen past 29,000.

"I'm absolutely astonished and appalled because the number has grown so exponentially over so short of time with no explanation," said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who also had pressed the company earlier for sex offender data.

MySpace declined to comment on the figure, focusing instead on its efforts to clean up its profile rolls.

"We're pleased that we've successfully identified and removed registered sex offenders from our site and hope that other social networking sites follow our lead," MySpace chief security officer Hemanshu Nigam said in a prepared statement.

Cooper is pushing for a state law that would require children to receive parental permission before creating social networking profiles, and require the websites to verify the parents' identity and age. For example, social networking sites would have to compare information provided by a parent with commercial databases. Sites could also force parents to submit credit cards or printed forms.

Cooper is working with law enforcement officials in other states in pressuring MySpace to use age and identity verification methods voluntarily. Based on media reports, Cooper's office found more than 100 criminal incidents this year of adults using MySpace to prey or attempt to prey on children.

Most recently, a Virginia man pleaded guilty Monday to kidnapping and soliciting a 14-year old girl he met on MySpace.

"All we're doing is giving parents the right to make a choice whether their children can go online," Cooper told a state House committee considering the bill on parental involvement and verification. He said the measure would lead to "fewer children at risk, because there will be fewer children on those websites."

Advocates for Internet companies and privacy issues testified against the proposed restrictions, saying the broad parental verification standards would be found unconstitutional because they prohibit free speech or impede interstate commerce. The experts who testified also said Cooper's idea isn't foolproof, because children could fabricate their parents' information and purported consent.

The parental verification requirement "makes promises to consumers that cannot be kept. It is dangerous language," said Emily Hackett, executive director of the Washington-based Internet Alliance, whose clients include Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, Yahoo Inc. and VeriSign Inc. "There is no way to eyeball a user."

The bill has already passed the North Carolina Senate. Now it goes to a House subcommittee for more consideration.

State Senator Walter Dalton, a Democrat who is a primary sponsor of the bill, acknowledged that it won't stop all sexual predators from getting on social networking sites. But he said it addresses a problem that shouldn't be ignored, Dalton said.

"There is obviously a compelling state interest to protect our children from sexual predators," he said.

With approximately 222 million users, MySpace user-ship is less than half of Facebook’s 500 million users which then poses the question: how many sexual offenders are using Facebook?

Ontario-based online safety expert Rob Nickel told CBC News that Canadian children likely have internet surfing habits similar to those of their U.S. counterparts.

Canadian Parents Worry About Internet Safety - Study
According to a study conducted by survey research firm Ipsos Reid, 77 per cent of Canadian parents with children aged 12 to 17 are worried that their kids could come across sexual predators online.

The study released Wednesday was conducted on behalf of Symantec at the end of May. It did an online survey of 1093 adults across Canada who had at least one child aged 12 to 17. 

About two-thirds of the parents interviewed worried about their children encountering pornographic websites. Well over half of those surveyed were also concerned about fraudulent scams, inappropriate language and cyber-bullying.

Over 60 per cent of the parents said they visit the same websites as their children. About the same number also said they use their internet browser's history function on an ongoing basis.

"In the event that their child has been a victim of any sort of negative experience while on the internet, only half (53%) of Canadian parents know who to contact should this experience occur," said Ipsos Reid in a release.

Nickel told CBC News that for both Canada and the U.S., internet sites are not reliable in filtering out potentially-dangerous content or people, and that a parent's best defence is to install specialized software that automatically filters out suspicious sites.

"Instead of worrying about legislation, it's about getting the parents involved. US Parents seem to take it (internet safety) more seriously. Canadians don't think it is as much of a problem, this has to change or else Canadian parents will be in for a rude awakening with their children and teens." Nickel added.