From the Office of Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch
1 Parents’ Internet Monitoring Study, Cox Communication and The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and NetSmartz by the Ketchum Global Resource Network, February 2005.
2 Unless otherwise noted, statistics are courtesy of an October 2005 Polly Klaas Foundation survey of nearly 1,500 children aged 8-18.
Minnesota Attorney General’s Office ?????1400 Bremer Tower ?????445 Minnesota Street ?????St. Paul, MN 55101 (651) 296-3353 ?????1-800-657-3787 ?????TTY (651) 297-7206 ?????TTY 1-800-366-4812 ?????www.ag.state.mn.us Minnesota Attorney General’s Office ???? 1400 Bremer Tower ???? 445 Minnesota Street ???? St. Paul, MN 55101 (651) 296-3353 ???? 1-800-657-3787 ???? TTY (651) 297-7206 ???? TTY 1-800-366-4812 ???? www.ag.state.mn.us
Social Networking Sites Have Been Linked to Crimes Around the Nation
Some of the more serious crimes include:
• A St. Paul mother called police after she found a birthday card her 15-year-old intended to give to a 29-year old man she met at MySpace. Ronald Abshire, a convicted sex offender admitted to police that he and the girl had had sex 15 times. Both the offender and the girl had pages on the website. (Star Tribune, Feb. 16, 2006).
• In November 2005, David Ludwig, 18, of Lititz, Pa., was arrested and charged with shooting to death the parents of his 14-year-old girlfriend, whom he had met on MySpace. The parents were killed after they tried to break up the relationship
• In January 2006, Benjamin Fawley, 38, was indicted on a first-degree murder charge in the death of college freshman Taylor Behl, who had disappeared in September. She had allegedly communicated with him through MySpace.
• Joshua Perry, 27, was convicted in December 2005 of sexual misconduct in Maine for having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl after he read her profile on MySpace.
• Richard Alan Butenhof, 35, was charged in June 2005 with molesting a 12-year-old girl from Folsom, Calif., after sending sexually explicit messages to her on MySpace.
• In September 2005, a 16-year-old girl in Port Washington, N.Y., was abducted and molested after trading messages on MySpace with a 37-year-old man. She included where she worked on her MySpace profile.
Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN: January 29, 2006, compiled by Bob Von Sternberg