Issaquah girls, 11 and 12, accused of cyberstalking classmate on Facebook
Local News | Seattle Times Newspaper
Children 11 years old and up may be unaware of the likelihood of getting caught at using the Internet to harass, bully, and intimidate others, but they sure as hell are capable of behaving like yahoos and worse. What teaches them not to be yahoos and worse is getting caught at it, publicly and loudly, and suffering real-world consequences for it, as these two young jerks have just experienced.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014879379_cyberstalking27m.html
Originally published Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 12:54 PM
By Jennifer Sullivan
Seattle Times staff reporter
Two Issaquah preteen girls accused of posting sexually explicit photos and messages on a classmate's Facebook page have been charged with cyberstalking and first-degree computer trespassing.
The girls, ages 11 and 12, have been under investigation since the alleged victim's family contacted Issaquah police on March 18, according to the charges filed Tuesday in King County Juvenile Court. The Times generally does not name juveniles charged with crimes.
According to the charges, the two suspects used the alleged victim's password information to post sexually explicit content on her Facebook page. They also posted messages that indicated the alleged victim was willing to perform sex acts on people.
The suspects instant-messaged "random individuals" under the victim's name to arrange sex acts, according to the charges.
Jon Knight, the stepfather of the 12-year-old alleged victim, said his family is relieved that the case has resulted in criminal charges. Knight said that he wasn't taken seriously when he reported the incident to Issaquah police and to staff at Issaquah Middle School.
Knight said his stepdaughter, Leslie Cote, has asked the media to use her name in hopes of bringing attention to the issue of cyberstalking.
Issaquah police were called to the Cote-Knight home on March 18 after Leslie's mother, Tara Cote, called to report vulgar postings on her daughter's Facebook page, charges said. A woman who mentored Leslie told the family that she had noticed photos on the page had been changed to show Leslie with "devil's horns" and with the words "I'm a slut" scrawled across one image, prosecutors said.
The alterations and postings apparently became more vulgar as the night progressed.
Prosecutors said that Leslie had been over at the home of one of the suspects in early March when she logged into Facebook. Leslie's password information was somehow stored on the other girl's computer.
After the girls had a falling out, the suspects used Leslie's password to access her Facebook page "with the intent of embarrassing and tormenting the victim," Issaquah police Detective Ryan Raulerson wrote in the affidavit of probable cause filed to support the charges.
Sara Niegowski, spokeswoman for the Issaquah School District, said Tuesday the district was not conducting its own investigation into the incident because it did not occur on school property. She said the defendants are still enrolled at Issaquah Middle School.
"This incident happened off-campus, off school time and not related to our school environments. There is no disciplinary action at all. It's not a school district incident," said Niegowski.
Niegowski said that the incident has not been a disruption at the school.
"You know what's a disruption is the media coverage," she said. "We always look out for the welfare of our students."
Knight said that his stepdaughter has been granted a restraining order forbidding the suspects from contacting her and barring them from riding her school bus. The three girls are in some of the same classes, Knight said.
On Tuesday, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said, "This case reveals the dark side of social media sites used by young people."
"Many kids think that on a social media site that their actions will be anonymous and that they are free to use it as weapon to bully, harass, and intimidate another person," Satterberg wrote in a news release. "This case demonstrates that assuming the identity of another person on the Internet with the intent to torment them and expose them to the harassment of others is a crime."
Children 11 years old and up may be unaware of the likelihood of getting caught at using the Internet to harass, bully, and intimidate others, but they sure as hell are capable of behaving like yahoos and worse. What teaches them not to be yahoos and worse is getting caught at it, publicly and loudly, and suffering real-world consequences for it, as these two young jerks have just experienced.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014879379_cyberstalking27m.html
Originally published Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 12:54 PM
By Jennifer Sullivan
Seattle Times staff reporter
Two Issaquah preteen girls accused of posting sexually explicit photos and messages on a classmate's Facebook page have been charged with cyberstalking and first-degree computer trespassing.
The girls, ages 11 and 12, have been under investigation since the alleged victim's family contacted Issaquah police on March 18, according to the charges filed Tuesday in King County Juvenile Court. The Times generally does not name juveniles charged with crimes.
According to the charges, the two suspects used the alleged victim's password information to post sexually explicit content on her Facebook page. They also posted messages that indicated the alleged victim was willing to perform sex acts on people.
The suspects instant-messaged "random individuals" under the victim's name to arrange sex acts, according to the charges.
Jon Knight, the stepfather of the 12-year-old alleged victim, said his family is relieved that the case has resulted in criminal charges. Knight said that he wasn't taken seriously when he reported the incident to Issaquah police and to staff at Issaquah Middle School.
Knight said his stepdaughter, Leslie Cote, has asked the media to use her name in hopes of bringing attention to the issue of cyberstalking.
Issaquah police were called to the Cote-Knight home on March 18 after Leslie's mother, Tara Cote, called to report vulgar postings on her daughter's Facebook page, charges said. A woman who mentored Leslie told the family that she had noticed photos on the page had been changed to show Leslie with "devil's horns" and with the words "I'm a slut" scrawled across one image, prosecutors said.
The alterations and postings apparently became more vulgar as the night progressed.
Prosecutors said that Leslie had been over at the home of one of the suspects in early March when she logged into Facebook. Leslie's password information was somehow stored on the other girl's computer.
After the girls had a falling out, the suspects used Leslie's password to access her Facebook page "with the intent of embarrassing and tormenting the victim," Issaquah police Detective Ryan Raulerson wrote in the affidavit of probable cause filed to support the charges.
Sara Niegowski, spokeswoman for the Issaquah School District, said Tuesday the district was not conducting its own investigation into the incident because it did not occur on school property. She said the defendants are still enrolled at Issaquah Middle School.
"This incident happened off-campus, off school time and not related to our school environments. There is no disciplinary action at all. It's not a school district incident," said Niegowski.
Niegowski said that the incident has not been a disruption at the school.
"You know what's a disruption is the media coverage," she said. "We always look out for the welfare of our students."
Knight said that his stepdaughter has been granted a restraining order forbidding the suspects from contacting her and barring them from riding her school bus. The three girls are in some of the same classes, Knight said.
On Tuesday, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said, "This case reveals the dark side of social media sites used by young people."
"Many kids think that on a social media site that their actions will be anonymous and that they are free to use it as weapon to bully, harass, and intimidate another person," Satterberg wrote in a news release. "This case demonstrates that assuming the identity of another person on the Internet with the intent to torment them and expose them to the harassment of others is a crime."