On occasion my wife and I will discuss marketing our various sites on MySpace and while it pays dividends for many, I’ve always been creeped out by the idea of having one. I’m thirty-seven and even though this would be a “business” MySpace I can’t help feeling pervy every time I think about logging on to MySpace.
There’s something unseemly about an adult with a MySpace page, to me it feels like seeing a person my age walk into an all ages club. You think it’s possible he could have legitimate business there, but you know in your heart he’s a scumbag pervert.
Like Louis Tirone. He’s my age and he used his MySpace to hook up with a 12-year-old girl:
A Rio Rancho man is in jail and charged with raping a pre-teen girl he met online.
Police say 37-year-old Louis Tirone started communicating with the girl earlier this month.
Police also say the girl claimed she was 37-years-old on her MySpace page.
But police say Tirone questioned if that was her true age and Tirone says that is when the girl started lying to him.
“At one point he stated that she said she was 23 and I believe at another time she said she was 17,” said Lt. Robert Maxon of the Rio Rancho Police Department.
But it turns out the girl is actually 12-years-old. Tirone insists that he didn’t know the girl’s actual age.
Officers say Tirone picked up the girl from a friend’s sleep over and took her to his apartment where the two proceeded to have sex.
Police say the two had sex on one other occasion before the girl’s mother saw a message from Tirone on MySpace and called police.
Police quickly arrested Tirone at the Wal-Mart where he works.
Where was the girl’s mother when she was setting up a MySpace claiming to be decades older than she was? Where was her mother when the under age girl was meeting people on MySpace at all? It’s certainly not an appropriate activity for children.
LiLo asks that very same question about a different case. Another teen girl meeting people through her MySpace, another statutory rape. What’s going on with parents? Why aren’t they watching what their children do?
But that doesn’t excuse Tirone, because the girl definitely does not look seventeen. Or even fifteen. Hell she barely looks twelve!
Tirone knew the girl was lying and played along, because he was only on MySpace for one reason. That reason was to find easy sex from easy victims, and a 12-year-old so desperate for attention that she is lying about her age to meet men on the web is about the easiest target a sex predator can find.
Then there’s Stephanie Rogers:
An Anderson woman who worked at a Boone County children’s home faces sexual misconduct charges for allegedly having sex with a female teen runaway from the facility.
Madison County prosecutors charged 36-year-old Stephanie M. Rogers earlier this month with a single count of sexual misconduct with a minor, a Class B felony punishable by a six- to 20-year sentence if she’s convicted. The charge alleges Rogers had a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl during a span of several days in January.
According to a probable cause affidavit and police report:
Investigators allege Rogers was an employee at Indiana United Methodist Children’s Home in Lebanon when she first met the 15-year-girl. The teen was living there because she could not get along with her mother.
Indiana United Methodist Children’s Home is a residential and outpatient treatment facility for youth with emotional and behavioral problems. Rogers’ job at the home wasn’t listed in the court papers. Gary Davis, the home’s executive director, did not return a message seeking comment Wednesday. A police report listed Rogers as currently being unemployed.
Rogers allegedly gave the girl a ride to her Anderson home when she ran away on Jan. 6. The teen’s mother contacted Lebanon police and told them the girl spent a lot of time on the Internet before going to the children’s home. The investigation eventually led them to Rogers because Rogers and the teen communicated several times via MySpace postings.
Rogers initially denied helping the girl run away, but ultimately admitted to helping her and then letting her stay at her residence for several days. She denied having a sexual relationship with the teen.
Anderson police found the girl at Rogers’ home on Jan. 10. The girl told investigators she and Rogers became friends because they are lesbians. The teen said Rogers felt sorry for her because the girl felt discriminated against at the children’s home because of her sexual orientation.
She felt sorry for her or saw an easy mark? You decide but are you surprised she has a MySpace account? Are you surprised it looks like this?
There’s a disturbing immaturity to adults becoming enmeshed in social networking. Except for the people trying to sell kids something, the “adults” of MySpace seem to be people who refuse to grow up. It’s little wonder they molest children since they spend a good deal of their time acting like, pretending to be and befriending children.
Don’t get me wrong I’ve worked with kids of varying ages and liked it. I enjoyed helping teens reach their full potential and I really liked making Christmas ornaments with kindergärtners, and I remember all those children fondly.
But we aren’t “friends” who will be looking each other up. And I think that’s my problem with MySpace and all the other social networks. “Friending” teens, when you’re an adult and sending them sparkly web greetings is not something adults should be interested in doing. Not normal adults anyway.
The problem is I’m not sure you can have an account, even one for a crime/political blog, and not have teens claiming to be people your age sending you garish birthday greeting comments featuring a inappropriate cartoons and CPU taxing Flash animation.
So I don’t have a MySpace, for the same reason I don’t lurk around the local high school or offer candy to strange children in the park. I know only certain types of people enjoy that sort of thing, and I don’t want to people to think I’m one of them.
Check out this site to get a better feel for the “culture” of MySpace and of course MyCrimeSpace is the source for all things MySpace crime related.
It’s not the source of all things MySpace crime related but it’s close. 🙂
Hey, Rob … don’t get ahead of yourself. I’m pretty sure you’re only 36. 🙂
I’m 36!?! Whoo Hoo!
While I understand your reserve about the Myspace environment, I have to wonder what your background consists of to make you so paranoid about possibly being viewed as a pervert, lurking around for indiscretion with minor children. I am an adult woman, straight, with children. I allowed my child to have Myspace and created my own in order to monitor hers. Trust me when I say I DO monitor EVERYTHING and have since its inception.
Since creating my own Myspace page I have been contacted by friends from school and long-lost family members. I am not an adult who refuses to grow up, nor am I perverted in any sense of the word.
Not all adults, or people, are sexual predators. And not everyone on Myspace is, either. Many sexual predators do not own a computer. I used to have a business page on Myspace. Unfortunately, the spam became far too outrageous and overwhelmed the legitimate consumers I seeked so I shut it down.
Rob, don’t be so judgmental. Concerned is one thing. Were you a teenager with any imperfections or thoughts that were not mainstream? Did you grow out of those as you matured? I know I did. I was a rebellious teen who like to do things to spite my parents. Now, I am a professional woman with a beautiful family and a life that I could only have dreamed about. With a Myspace page…
What are you talking about? What has your teen years have to do with whether or not MySpace is safe for kids? And advertising online is great, but how does that change the victimization of children on the Internet being something that all adults should be concerned with?
The lady doth protest overmuch.