title correction: myspace leads to arrest OF potential pedophile

Quote :

"FONTANA, Calif. - A group of boys who posed as a 15-year-old girl for an Internet prank ended up helping police arrest a 48-year-old man who tried to meet the fictitious teenager for sex, authorities said. ADVERTISEMENT [0] The five boys had created a fake profile of a girl on MySpace.com — a social networking Web site — to cheer up a friend who had recently broken up with his girlfriend. But soon, a man began sending messages to the "girl" and their conversations began to have sexual overtones, said Fontana police Sgt. William Megenney. The man also sent the "girl" his picture and arranged to meet her at a public park. The boys went to the park and, when the man arrived, they called police. Michael Ramos, 48, of Fontana, was booked into West Valley Detention Center on Monday for investigation of felony attempted lewd and lascivious conduct with a child and for an outstanding warrant, Megenney said. He was being held at the West Valley Detention Center on $105,000 bail, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Web site. A dispatcher who answered the telephone at the center early Tuesday said the facility does not allow phone interviews with inmates. It was not immediately known whether Ramos had a lawyer. Two men were arrested last week in what prosecutors said were the first federal sexual assault charges involving MySpace. The unrelated cases involved Connecticut girls who were 11 and 14, the FBI said."

Facebook catchin' people drinking, myspace getting people arrested... these sites are wrecking peoples lives. Except that guy who arranged a meeting with that fake 15 year old. He can go to hell. and rot.

[Edited on March 7, 2006 at 11:06 AM. Reason : title.]

3/7/2006 11:05:54 AM

myspace is the downfall of the internet.

3/7/2006 11:08:48 AM

http://www.shortandhappy.com/amber/amberchatlog038.htm

3/7/2006 11:15:26 AM

Holy shit. You don't even have to do anything to arrested on statutory rape charges?

I'm sorry, but a 15-year-old girl isn't a child, and there wasn't even an actual "victim" here.

Wtf?

3/9/2006 1:37:49 PM

^ dude this guy thought about killing me.

lock him up.

3/9/2006 1:39:56 PM

Yer chains can't hold me.

3/9/2006 1:43:45 PM

Quote :

"Holy shit. You don't even have to do anything to arrested on statutory rape charges? I'm sorry, but a 15-year-old girl isn't a child, and there wasn't even an actual "victim" here. Wtf?"

Let's say that instead of the boys, it was a 15-year-old girl, and she did show up at the park, and she did call the cops on him. What would your reaction be then?

(I think it's so sweet that these guys invented a girl to help a friend get out of a funk. I suspect that is not what they were doing. I imagine they were gonna use the communications between the girl and their friend to humiliate him. But if they really were tryna help a friend feel better, that is sooooooooooo cute.)

[Edited on March 9, 2006 at 1:50 PM. Reason : sss]

3/9/2006 1:49:34 PM

Can you attempt lewd and livicious conduct with a child when the child doesn't actually exist?

3/9/2006 1:52:10 PM

About the same. 15 is old enough for a person to bear a fair bit of responsibility for his or her actions.

3/9/2006 1:54:10 PM

NEW LAW

ALL CHILDREN CAUGHT PLAYING WITH PIÑATAS WILL BE HELD FOR ANIMAL CRUELTY

3/9/2006 1:54:11 PM

this is some crazt Minority Report shit.

do we have those crazy bald people now?

3/9/2006 1:54:14 PM

^^^^I'm sure there is already law written about that. Cops have been posing as children online for years now.

^^^Ah, okay, we disagree then. Do you have a particular age where you would draw the line? I don't. That's why I err on the side of caution and stick with 18, the age when your parents can kick you out the house.

[Edited on March 9, 2006 at 1:57 PM. Reason : sss]

3/9/2006 1:55:19 PM

Quote :

"Can you attempt lewd and livicious conduct with a child when the child doesn't actually exist?"

Maybe, but you sure as hell ain't going to succeed.

3/9/2006 1:56:35 PM

Quote :

"these sites people are wrecking peoples their lives."

Fixed that for you. It's not like the sites are forcing people to do illegal activities.

[Edited on March 9, 2006 at 2:23 PM. Reason : -]

3/9/2006 2:21:06 PM

i blame Tom

3/9/2006 2:26:40 PM

anyway you can catch a pederass, is a good way to catch a pederass.

3/9/2006 2:34:02 PM

if we can try a 15 year old as an adult

how come we can't get one to, well, you know...

3/9/2006 2:36:00 PM

jbtilley, out of context.

Quote :

"these sites are wrecking peoples lives. Except that guy who arranged a meeting with that fake 15 year old. He can go to hell. and rot."

There we go, I fixed your fix.

3/9/2006 3:00:09 PM

Awww. Did the poor, poor underage drinkers get caught. Awww. It's not like they were doing anything wrong. It was that nasty website that got them into trouble.

Quote :

"these sites people are wrecking peoples their lives. Except And that guy who arranged a meeting with that fake 15 year old. He can go to hell. and rot."

There, I fixed your fix of my fix.

[Edited on March 9, 2006 at 3:06 PM. Reason : -]

3/9/2006 3:03:29 PM

^^^Ah, okay, we disagree then. Do you have a particular age where you would draw the line? I don't. That's why I err on the side of caution and stick with 18, the age when your parents can kick you out the house.

3/9/2006 3:04:32 PM

the issue for me is the fact that you can't draw a line based on such, and stick with me here, and undefined variable such as age

i know that sounds wierd

but the years between 13-18 are so different for everyone that you can't say "well that X year old is ready for XYZ"

we do it everyday, but that doesn't mean its right

3/9/2006 3:07:52 PM

^that's probably why they say 18, they figure by then all the differences have evened out such that everyone is on an even playing field.

3/9/2006 3:09:56 PM

^^And I totally agree. So as an adult, why not just avoid sex with people under the age of 18? Why try to make the judgement about another person's maturity?

[Edited on March 9, 2006 at 3:12 PM. Reason : sss]

3/9/2006 3:11:33 PM

LOVE KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES

or something like that





how the fuck do i know



and really
how the fuck do i always wind up in the sex discussions

3/9/2006 3:12:27 PM

The underaged sex discussions.

3/9/2006 3:19:29 PM

Quote :

"There, I fixed your fix of my fix."

Fair enough, I'll take it.

3/9/2006 3:25:04 PM

Quote :

"if we can try a 15 year old as an adult how come we can't get one to, well, you know..."

This is an interesting statement. We obviously have a double standard going here. BOYS who commit horrific crimes as young as 15 can and likely will be tried as adults. GIRLS typically do not commit these crimes so we rarely have to think about a "sweet, innocent" girl getting twenty to life. GIRLS as young as 15 can be molested, and some are outraged and disgusted when this happens. BOYS as young as 15 can be molested (by a woman) all damn day, and that's more acceptable. Even a man molesting a teenage boy is more acceptable than a man molesting a teenage girl.

I also think it's interesting that the "prank" involved a 15 year-old girl, off one year from the typical "legal" age of 16.

(And I've always maintained that, unless you're genuinely retarded, you know when you're engaging in inappropriate sexual relations.)

[Edited on March 9, 2006 at 8:43 PM. Reason : sss]

3/9/2006 8:41:53 PM

"8 year olds, dude"

3/9/2006 8:45:55 PM

I don't see the problem at all.

The man came to the park with the stated intent of committing a crime. If nothing else, there should be some sort of conspiracy charge to cover that.

3/9/2006 9:11:01 PM

^So they were meeting for sex or sexual relations for sure? You know that?

[Edited on March 9, 2006 at 9:21 PM. Reason : sss]

3/9/2006 9:20:54 PM

Well, from the information available to me, it appears likely that his stated intent was some sort of sexual encounter.

That, of course, notwithstanding the fact that he had a fucking outstanding warrant on his pervert ass anyway.

3/10/2006 1:31:37 AM

Quote :

"So as an adult, why not just avoid sex with people under the age of 18? Why try to make the judgement about another person's maturity?"

Of course it's generally a bad idea for a older folks to have sex with fifteen-year-olds, but does that mean there should a law against it? Certainly calling "sexual assault" makes a mockery of the words.

Btw, why can't the guy claim he was a double agent also, and just planning to lecture the girl about how it's bad to mess around with older men?

3/10/2006 1:59:14 PM

i think you'd think differently if it was your 15 year old daughter we were talkin about

3/10/2006 3:04:50 PM

Which is why fathers of fifteen year olds don't have the legal ability to seek vengeance for people fucking their daughters.

You realize some people would kill boys the same age for far less, right?

3/10/2006 3:17:37 PM

3/10/2006 4:39:02 PM

this is the only positive to have ever come out of myspace

3/10/2006 6:59:11 PM

Quote :

"i think you'd think differently if it was your 15 year old daughter we were talkin about"

a) I doubt that'll ever come up.
b) Probably not.
c) Even if I would "think differently," so what? There are plenty of things I'd enjoy being able to arrest people for. That doesn't make it right.

3/11/2006 6:19:27 PM

Are you fucking kidding me? You people are upset at the arrest of a guy who arranged a meeting to fuck a 15 year old girl online?

Its illegal, that fact that she's 15 and some of them get it hard is irrelevent. This isn't a 19 year old guy, its a 40+ year old pervert.

So now you have to actually rape someone first?

3/11/2006 7:56:27 PM

It isn't rape if the 15-year-old individual is consenting.

3/11/2006 8:04:19 PM

^? Is it statuatory rape? Sexual assault? Molestation? Lewd and lascivious?

3/11/2006 8:07:03 PM

It probably shouldn't be.

Call it whatever you want, but it's nothing like actual rape.

3/11/2006 8:08:13 PM

he got the age all wrong

we all know the perfect age is 12

3/11/2006 9:10:18 PM

if the guy didn't put his penis in a REAL 15 year old girl's vagina, it is NOT statutory rape. he could have been meeting her to cousel her or buy her ice cream, neither of which is a crime.

3/12/2006 4:09:55 AM

^Smath, when I mentioned statuatory rape, I was adressing GoldenViper's scenario about sex with a consenting 15-year-old, not this myspace case. I think it's pretty obvious that intending to do something is not the same thing as actually doing it. Thanks for clearing things up though.

I don't know what to think about this event. I mean, there was no real victim. Even if there was a real victim, we don't know that he was truly planning to have sex. And even if he did intend to have sex, we can't totally be sure that he actually would have. With evidence, we likely could answer the questions about his intentions, and then we have folks like GoldenViper and Woodfoot who are suggesting that he coulda shagged a young girl all night long in the name of love, and who are we to judge?

For consideration: I think it's easy to imagine this guy set up at his computer in hardcore predator mode. No feelings, just a mass of perv. But sometimes these guys are lonely, vulnerable, pathetic individuals who lack the confidence or intelligence or whatever to communicate with people of their own age.

Quote :

"Certainly calling "sexual assault" makes a mockery of the words."

GoldenViper, you're gonna have to get over that complaint. Trumped up charges are routine. They trump it up so they can plead it out. This Ramos cat got busted for lewd and lascivious, not sexual assault. I couldn't tell if you knew this or not.

Anyway, about the dude from the article, I obviously don't know where this guy's head is at. Is this act a symptom of sexual deviance or is it something seemingly unrelated to sex? Is he whacked out from too much school girl porn and the internet in general? Does he have an obsession with younger girls? Did that obsession predate his use of the internet? What did he hope to accomplish by meeting this fabricated girl--was he purely driven by a "need" to get laid? Did he truly believe the girl was a possible romantic candidate, and could there be cultural explanations for that belief?

Anyway, I imagine one glance at his computer would answer some of these questions, but I'm not sure how much the answers matter. Furthermore, like GOP said, there's gotta be a conspiracy charge or something that fits this situation.

My suspicions about this guy: He's a total loser. He's not a pedophile, and he's not a predator. He's just a pathetic dude with a shitty life and likely an untreated mental/emotional disorder.

[Edited on March 12, 2006 at 5:27 AM. Reason : sss]

3/12/2006 5:07:57 AM

Quote :

"and could there be cultural explanations for that belief?"

Maybe he watches a lot of anime. According to my trusty Anime Companion, "Such age differences are apparently not considered to be that great in Japan, whereas in many countries they would be great barriers, since one of the persons involved is a minor."

3/12/2006 9:43:37 AM

It is a crime if he crosses state lines to buy her icecream

3/12/2006 1:24:25 PM

I think we've come up with the best euphemism ever.


Hey baby, how's about we go back to my place and have some ice cream?

3/12/2006 1:26:08 PM

I'm gonna give some 15-year-old girl a tdub handle and then call the cops when y'all ask her if she bwns.

3/12/2006 7:06:58 PM

^Just stop. You're being a prick for no reason. What's been reported about this guy: he's 40+ years old, had an outstanding warrant against him, sent sexual messages to a fabricated 15-year-old girl, and arranged to meet that fabricated girl.

Does that automatically make him a perverted predator? No, of course not.

But, given what little we know (the four facts above), why are you so compelled to defend him?

You're being ridiculously obnoxious.

I mean, you said your piece and shared your point of view, but you still felt the need to come in here with an absurd TWW comparison that also doesn't support your original points at all. What is wrong with you?

[Edited on March 12, 2006 at 7:40 PM. Reason : sss]

3/12/2006 7:36:17 PM

set 'em up...

3/12/2006 7:44:24 PM