The Stalker / Cyberstalker Thread

[ChasFink]

I don't know which is creepier, Hinckley performing a concert or the audience who would think that's a great night out. Isn't he fairly rich (from his family)?

His parents were well off, but I don't know if he inherited anything. He apparently does make money off You Tube, where he has 26,500 subscribers.

 

[EnolaGaia]

This man has been a serial stalker of a ladyfriend with whom he broke up 20 years ago. As a result of his latest escapade he's drawn prison sentences for (a) assaulting and robbing the ex's housemate and (b) attempted kidnapping.

Man convicted of traveling to Michigan to kidnap ex-girlfriend from 20 years ago

A Massachusetts man was sentenced to 128 months in prison for attempting to kidnap his ex-girlfriend in the Metro Detroit area 20 years after they broke up.

Damon Burke, 49, of Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts, attacked his ex's roommate and stole his keys before he was arrested. He was sentenced to prison Monday, announced United States Attorney Dawn N. Ison.

Burke admitted in his plea agreement that on March 23, 2021, he had attempted to kidnap the victim, an ex-girlfriend from approximately 20 years ago with whom he had no recent contact.

Burke had previously stalked the victim and restrained her in a vehicle without her consent after their relationship ended. That episode led to a conviction on state charges of criminal possession of a firearm in New York in 2002.

In March 2021, Burke resumed his harassment of the victim after driving from Massachusetts to Michigan, Burke assaulted the woman’s housemate in Northville and tried to steal a key to the victim’s home in West Bloomfield. Burke then attempted to go to the victim’s home.

Police later stopped Burke near that location. ...

Once officers confirmed Burke was the person who attacked the victim, they ordered that his car be impounded and did an inventory.

According to records, authorities found a stun gun, smoke grenades, collapsible batons, black duct tape, zip-tie handcuffs, a pair of binoculars, 50 feet of paracord rope, a Bosch jigsaw that was modified to have a rubber mallet where the blade should be, a night vision WiFi camera, a GPS spy monitor detector, a Depstech Wifi Endoscope, cell phones, counterfeit money, suspected heroin, and Psilocybin mushrooms.

Burke has also pleaded guilty in the Third Judicial Circuit Court to armed robbery and was sentenced to serve 12 to 25 years in prison for his robbery and assault of the victim’s roommate. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/ma...gan-to-kidnap-ex-girlfriend-from-20-years-ago

 

[ramonmercado]

Murderous stalker jailed - a bit late.

A man in South Korea has been sentenced to 40 years in jail for killing a female colleague who had reported him for stalking and harassment.

The case sparked an outcry and calls for legal reform in South Korea, after police failed to act adequately on the victim's repeated complaints.
Jeon Joo-hwan, 31, was convicted of stabbing the woman to death in a subway restroom in central Seoul last year. A Seoul court on Tuesday said it had been a "revenge killing".

Jeon, a subway worker, had become obsessed with his 28-year-old female co-worker, stalking and threatening her over two years, the court heard. He called his colleague more than 300 times, begging her to date him and threatening to harm her if she refused.

Despite a police investigation and a request to the courts for him to be detained, he was never imprisoned or given a restraining order. Authorities viewed him as "low-risk".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64552871

 

[Yithian]

Murderous stalker jailed - a bit late.

A man in South Korea has been sentenced to 40 years in jail for killing a female colleague who had reported him for stalking and harassment.

The case sparked an outcry and calls for legal reform in South Korea, after police failed to act adequately on the victim's repeated complaints.
Jeon Joo-hwan, 31, was convicted of stabbing the woman to death in a subway restroom in central Seoul last year. A Seoul court on Tuesday said it had been a "revenge killing".

Jeon, a subway worker, had become obsessed with his 28-year-old female co-worker, stalking and threatening her over two years, the court heard. He called his colleague more than 300 times, begging her to date him and threatening to harm her if she refused.

Despite a police investigation and a request to the courts for him to be detained, he was never imprisoned or given a restraining order. Authorities viewed him as "low-risk".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64552871

That has been a huge case here, with many people saying it's indicative of not only the lack of protection offered to women who are targeted by men, but also the underlying misogyny in Korean society. It ties in with the spycam epidemic that authorities are trying to address and a more right-wing government that courted support from incel-adjacent young men, though frankly these are simply the current manifestations of a thread that has run through many East Asian societies for generations.

There's this unspoken assumption that all the unsolicited contact and following etc is just poor etiquette, and it wouldn't really be fair to ruin a man's reputation and shame his family until he gets around to the serious stuff like abducting, raping or murdering his unfortunate inamorata.

Bad business.

 

[maximus otter]

Murderous stalker jailed - a bit late.

Despite a police investigation and a request to the courts for him to be detained, he was never imprisoned or given a restraining order. Authorities viewed him as "low-risk".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64552871

We have had several recent instances here in the UK of offenders deemed “low risk” by Probation, who have gone on to commit horrific crimes:

“Chief inspector of probation Justin Russell said the Probation Service's handling of Damien Bendall was of an "unacceptable standard" at every stage. The 33-year-old is serving a whole-life order for the murders of 35-year-old Terri Harris, her 11-year-old daughter Lacey Bennett, her son John Paul Bennett, 13, and Lacey's friend Connie Gent, 11, attacking them with a claw hammer at their home in Killamarsh, Derbyshire. He also admitted raping Lacey.

Bendall was classed as a posing a medium risk of serious harm to the public and a low risk of posing serious harm to partners and children…”

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/new...ree-children-and-his-pregnant-partner-3988361

“A man with a history of violence was able to sexually assault and murder a law graduate after mistakes were made by probation staff, a report has found.

Jordan McSweeney, 29, attacked Zara Aleena in June 2022, nine days after his release on licence from prison.

He had been wrongly assessed as "medium risk" by staff who were under "mounting pressure" at the time, Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell found.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-64370211

Just wait, however, until Probation are instructed to reclassify offenders, resulting in more people being kept in prison, or freed under more stringent restrictions. The media will effortlessly flip 180⁰ and accuse them of tyrannical and arbitrary behaviour in keeping these poor, tragic individuals confined…



maximus otter

 

[catseye]

We have had several recent instances here in the UK of offenders deemed “low risk” by Probation, who have gone on to commit horrific crimes:
f
“Chief inspector of probation Justin Russell said the Probation Service's handling of Damien Bendall was of an "unacceptable standard" at every stage. The 33-year-old is serving a whole-life order for the murders of 35-year-old Terri Harris, her 11-year-old daughter Lacey Bennett, her son John Paul Bennett, 13, and Lacey's friend Connie Gent, 11, attacking them with a claw hammer at their home in Killamarsh, Derbyshire. He also admitted raping Lacey.

Bendall was classed as a posing a medium risk of serious harm to the public and a low risk of posing serious harm to partners and children…”

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/new...ree-children-and-his-pregnant-partner-3988361

“A man with a history of violence was able to sexually assault and murder a law graduate after mistakes were made by probation staff, a report has found.

Jordan McSweeney, 29, attacked Zara Aleena in June 2022, nine days after his release on licence from prison.

He had been wrongly assessed as "medium risk" by staff who were under "mounting pressure" at the time, Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell found.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-64370211

Just wait, however, until Probation are instructed to reclassify offenders, resulting in more people being kept in prison, or freed under more stringent restrictions. The media will effortlessly flip 180⁰ and accuse them of tyrannical and arbitrary behaviour in keeping these poor, tragic individuals confined…



maximus otter

I think it's difficult for Probation. Some men can present as absolutely fine, normal and law abiding, except for one problem - of becoming obsessively fixated on a woman. And if the man is seemingly living his normal life, working and otherwise keeping out of trouble, then they are only going to realise there may be a problem when the woman reports him stalking her. It's so easy for women to be brushed off when they report a man making a nuisance of himself - especially if the man explains it as her being a 'jealous ex' or 'mentally ill'.

I think what we'd need is a special anti-stalking squad, who would read any messages sent to mobile phones and emails in order to establish the truth of the case, and then apply measures to prevent said stalking. But there isn't the manpower. And women are, almost routinely, disbelieved in these cases. And so it goes on.

 

[maximus otter]

...there isn't the manpower.

And women are, almost routinely, disbelieved in these cases.

a) Correct.

b) Incorrect:

1. Believing the woman, and;

2. Being able to do something practical, immediate, measurable and effective about her allegations...


- are two separate things, unfortunately.

maximus otter

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

a) Correct.

b) Incorrect:

1. Believing the woman, and;

2. Being able to do something practical, immediate, measurable and effective about her allegations...


- are two separate things, unfortunately.

maximus otter

A few years ago, I had to get a harassment order against an ex who emailed me daily (and at great length) maybe a decade after I'd left him. Found the police up here to be bloody brilliant. Took me seriously, listened, and acted. Later, it ended up in court. But the perpetrator lived in London and we found the other police force to be appalling. The night before the case, I'd been put up in an hotel, was 180 miles from home, hours from finally being in court and the stress of being a witness the next morning - the (southern, will be nameless) police rang me to ask if I could print out all the emails for them, for the next day.

Yes, entirely possible when I'm hundreds of miles from my laptop and also - you're talking hundreds of emails, and also - asking the victim of a stalker to print out the stalker's emails therefore inevitably have to re-read some of them? This phone call took place mid afternoon. We were due in court first thing the next morning... Also, is it really the witness's job to do the police's admin for them? (Quite apart from the eyewatering cost of printing out a decade's worth of emails, some that would have been 96 pages long). Not sure why they wanted me to do this, but the local coppers here who'd done most of the work, didn't.

So I'm willing to believe that some police forces are way better at dealing with female victims (for want of a better word) than others.

Mind you, we ended up having to take this bloke to court twice and it wasn't just the different police forces that varied in different areas but also the courts.

That initial part of the process, though, I found the police here to be absolutely brilliant. I certainly felt heard and cared about. Reckon if it had happened in the Met's kingdom, it might have been a different story, all that stuff coming out now about the culture there. (Wayne Couzens, the two coppers who took selfies with the female murder victims, that latest rapist policeman, the way they treated the women at the Sarah Everard vigil.... etc).

Forgot to add, was the London coppers (apparently) who were responsible for making sure I did the victim impact statement when he was found guilty. They didn't bother. As the sentencing was also nearly 200 miles away, I had young kids etc, I couldn't get down there for the day of sentencing and it only came to light later they'd never sent me the forms or whatever they're meant to do, for the victim impact statement so upshot was, the perpetrator got a suspended sentence, despite the judge (and it was a judge not magistrates) saying when he was found guilty it was one of the worst (most persistent I guess) cases of stalking he'd ever seen.

Because it looked like I couldn't be arsed to write a victim impact statement but reality was, I didn't even know it was a thing and nobody gave me the opportunity. So it looked like the stalking was such fun for me, I didn't want to nail him.

We'd already had to endure going down to London twice to court as the perp was a litigant in person and decided to talk for the entire afternoon, (magistrates for that one) which meant we never even got in there to give evidence. Second time they got a proper judge, but essentially we'd gone through the entire ordeal twice already. Later got a nice letter from the police apologising for their balls ups re the victim impact thing. I think I stopped reading when I got to the sentence about being "a brave lady" (as I'd gone down there twice - many witnesses drop out, apparently). The word "lady" did it. Total idiots. I had nothing but a positive experience of the Yorkshire coppers, though. If the perpetrator had lived up here, I'd have had them for the whole process and am sure we'd have seen justice, as well.

This was the second case against this particular stalker, btw. The first had been heard also down south but in a different area, and again, perp was a litigant in person and on the day he ran rings round the magistrates. So he'd got a not guilty, walked free, even phoned me from the steps of court in triumph (having just walked out of a court - St Albans, they were shi)t - who said he wasn't harrassing me. We had the Hertfordshire police for that and they were good, I thought, too. Brilliant, in fact. But the magistrates were useless. Ten years down the line, back in court in London and that was the one I was referring to, here. So we experienced three different police forces over a decade. Two were excellent (from a witness's POV). One was heroically incompetent and uncaring.

 

[catseye]

A few years ago, I had to get a harassment order against an ex who emailed me daily (and at great length) maybe a decade after I'd left him. Found the police up here to be bloody brilliant. Took me seriously, listened, and acted. Later, it ended up in court. But the perpetrator lived in London and we found the other police force to be appalling. The night before the case, I'd been put up in an hotel, was 180 miles from home, hours from finally being in court and the stress of being a witness the next morning - the (southern, will be nameless) police rang me to ask if I could print out all the emails for them, for the next day.

Yes, entirely possible when I'm hundreds of miles from my laptop and also - you're talking hundreds of emails, and also - asking the victim of a stalker to print out the stalker's emails therefore inevitably have to re-read some of them? This phone call took place mid afternoon. We were due in court first thing the next morning... Also, is it really the witness's job to do the police's admin for them? (Quite apart from the eyewatering cost of printing out a decade's worth of emails, some that would have been 96 pages long). Not sure why they wanted me to do this, but the local coppers here who'd done most of the work, didn't.

So I'm willing to believe that some police forces are way better at dealing with female victims (for want of a better word) than others.

Mind you, we ended up having to take this bloke to court twice and it wasn't just the different police forces that varied in different areas but also the courts.

That initial part of the process, though, I found the police here to be absolutely brilliant. I certainly felt heard and cared about. Reckon if it had happened in the Met's kingdom, it might have been a different story, all that stuff coming out now about the culture there. (Wayne Couzens, the two coppers who took selfies with the female murder victims, that latest rapist policeman, the way they treated the women at the Sarah Everard vigil.... etc).

Yes, I also believe it varies according to area. Which it shouldn't. But then, so does finance.

Locally I have heard eyewatering tales of what has happened to a quite close friend when she reported stalking offences.

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

Yes, I also believe it varies according to area. Which it shouldn't. But then, so does finance.

Locally I have heard eyewatering tales of what has happened to a quite close friend when she reported stalking offences.

I reported it expecting to not get any action whatsoever. I'd already had that bad experience of him walking free (and then literally resuming stalking me on the court steps). I went to the coppers the second time, knowing how incompetent and thick magistrates were, even if you could get it that far, just thinking I'd report it to cover my own arse if something happened - and they sprang into action the next day, took me seriously and the officer doing my case, she was absolutely brilliant. As had been the officer who'd done most of the work on the original case, years before. I came out of it with a very positive view of the police, (apart from the met who suck) and a very negative one of the courts. Courts are appalling - magistrates thick as pigshit or asleep, or both. Had another run in with the law last year when I was witness in a different kind of case. There, I got to experience the shitness of a different set of magistrates - this time, they were actually awake but the usual ridiculously posh blokes with no connection with real life (defendent got a guilty but not even a suspended sentence for a crime they did repeatedly over a period of weeks).

I often wondered if my positive experience with the local constabulary wasn't the luck of the draw - the woman who happened to be on duty and took my first statement in the harassment case, went on to deal with the whole thing. I'll be sexist here and say I was glad it was a female copper, too. It did make the process easier in that kind of case.

 

[ramonmercado]

These former (now fired) eBay employees waged a major cyberstalking and harassment campaign against a Massachusetts couple who'd been critical of their company.


FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/75aeac91a075e949dba806bcfceea4cf

Update.

Online auction house eBay was fined $3 million to settle criminal charges against it after it mailed live spiders, cockroaches, a funeral wreath, a bloody pig mask, a book about surviving the loss of a spouse, and a pig fetus to a couple that criticized the company, reports AP.

"EBay engaged in absolutely horrific, criminal conduct," acting Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Josh Levy in a statement. "The company's employees and contractors involved in this campaign put the victims through pure hell, in a petrifying campaign aimed at silencing their reporting and protecting the eBay brand."

David and Ina Steiner, the couple who published the newsletter, EcommerceBytes, sued eBay in 2021, stating that the company "engaged in a coordinated effort to intimidate, threaten to kill, torture, terrorize, stalk and silence the Steiners, in order to stifle their reporting on eBay."

On news of the ruling, the Steiners issued a statement today on their website. They said eBay's harassment campaign had "a damaging and permanent impact" on them "emotionally, psychologically, physically, reputationally, and financially.":

In 2022, we were crushed when we learned the government had not interviewed the top executives at eBay as part of its criminal investigation. As victims of despicable crimes meant to destroy our lives and our livelihood, we felt it was vital to do everything in our power to make sure such a thing never happened to anyone else. eBay's actions against us had a damaging and permanent impact on us – emotionally, psychologically, physically, reputationally, and financially – and we strongly pushed federal prosecutors for further indictments to deter corporate executives and board members from creating a culture where stalking and harassment is tolerated or encouraged.

https://boingboing.net/2024/01/11/e...nt-live-spiders-and-pig-fetus-to-critics.html

 

[Frideswide]

Update.