Yes, Your Parole Officer Can Use Facebook Too

from the stupid-criminal-series dept

It seems there's never a shortage of folks trying to get listed in the new feature about stupid criminals giving themselves away. We just had the bank robber who bragged about his escapades on MySpace, and now we have a story about a girl (under the legal drinking age) awaiting trial for vehicular homicide for driving drunk and killing a motorcyclist. Apparently, as a part of her bail while waiting for trial, she was not to drink alcohol or spend time with people drinking alcohol. So, now she's in a bit of trouble after authorities found photos of her drinking alcohol with college friends on Facebook. Apparently, she never thought anyone would notice. The judge, however, is now forcing her to wear a special ankle bracelet that senses alcohol in perspiration. Either way, once again, it's nice to see that for all the moral panic talk about the "harm" done by social networks, some law enforcement folks are using it to actually catch criminals.
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Filed Under: criminals, social networks


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  1. identicon
    Blameitonthealcohol, 8 Jun 2009 @ 10:00am

    Don't be naive, I can see attorney filing a motion that Facebook forced her to drink and commit those crimes.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    Ima Fish (profile), 8 Jun 2009 @ 10:19am

    She should move to my county. Here administrative bureaucracy has put blocks on various websites (not techdirt.com yet!) to keep employees from goofing off. It blocked sites such as Facebook and MySpace, which the local probation department would use to keep an eye on probationers. Not anymore. The agents complained about it, but the administration is not backing down. This is certainly a circumstance where the people making the rules do not understand what they're doing, at all.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Jeff, 8 Jun 2009 @ 11:23am

    Ankle brace...

    Got a cold?

    Take some nyquil for that...

    *beep beep beep*

    ***BUSTED FOR DRINKING ALCOHOL***

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Jun 2009 @ 11:31am

    Re: Ankle brace...

    So what? She killed a motorcyclist and you are worried she could get busted for taking cold medicine?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Jun 2009 @ 11:42am

    Re: Re: Ankle brace...

    Allegedly. She's awaiting trial.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    aguywhoneedstenbucks, 8 Jun 2009 @ 11:45am

    Re:

    I'd actually bet on the defense using the fact that the pictures in question were actually taken before she got out on bail (no idea if they were, it's just what I expect).

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Jun 2009 @ 12:01pm

    Re: Re: Ankle brace...

    innocent till proven guilty! Lets try to keep to that now! I know government agencies have been trying to kill due process and all but lets not let it infect our minds!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Jun 2009 @ 12:37pm

    Re: Re: Re: Ankle brace...

    This has nothing to do with innocent until proven guilty. She violated the bail agreement, thus the ankle monitor. So best to stay away from all sources of alcohol so there is not question that she conformed to the arrangement.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. Facebook Application Development

    This has everything to with innocent until proven guilty, if you live in the US this is the LAW! Now there are a million different possible scenarios here, in which she could be either innocent or guilty, but unless there are dates in the pictures, or perhaps some event happening that can be easily dated and proved, i.e then this "evidence" should have been found inadmissible in Court if she had a halfway decent attorney...(pictures taken at a concert at an obvious venue where there was only one show that year for example...) The fact of the matter is, that without some kind of date-linking evidence in the pictures, there is no way to tell when they were taken. The date of upload is absolutely irrelevant. I just got done uploading pictures from a vacation I took 2 summers ago to my Facebook account. I'm drinking alcohol in quite a few of these pictures... Does this mean if I was on probation NOW I should get in trouble for something I did two summers ago? Of course not. So, I do agree, more then likely this girl is a complete idiot and actually did perpetrate the crimes accused of, I just want everyone to be clear that she is entitled to the benefit of the doubt under the Law, and none of us have any idea what really happened... Visit Apps-R-Us

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Eric, 8 Jun 2009 @ 1:42pm

    It's probation not parole...

    I work for a probation department and I can tell you that we have had several instances where we've used Facebook or Myspace to catch someone breaking their conditions of probation or pre-trial (as it appears this person was on). Parole is AFTER jail, Probation is so you DON'T have to go to jail.

    Of course I'm also the Admin and have just recently blocked those sites as Ima Fish's county has. But I also unblock the sites at the officers request for individual cases that are being searched. We don't have that large of a connection and our internet speeds were being crushed by online video and social websites.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Andy, 8 Jun 2009 @ 1:55pm

    Re: Facebook Application Development

    ever heard of EXIF data? I bet the girl in question hasn't...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Jun 2009 @ 2:08pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Ankle brace...

    But that wasn't the point that AC was making there. The point was in response to the comment that she killed someone. She only allegedly killed someone at this point. Please try to keep up.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Jun 2009 @ 3:59pm

    Re: It's probation not parole...

    So get more bandwidth. It is only taxpayer money and Obama will just print more.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    Zak, 8 Jun 2009 @ 5:04pm

    So if someone drives drunk and kills someone, there is a body on the street, there is alcohol in the blood, there are witnesses, there are the cops, she's guilty, it's just semantics. What's left to prove? I have ZERO sympathy for drunk drivers they should be exempted from the law and guilty unless proven otherwise.

    Z.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    aguywhoneedstenbucks, 9 Jun 2009 @ 7:32am

    Re:

    I don't have any sympathy for them either, but that's not how justice works. If we exempt them, let's exempt all other deplorable acts. If you get accused of molesting a child, you're automatically guilty until you're proven innocent. It'd be a great way to get rid of people you don't like. Just because someone points a finger at you doens't mean you're guilty no matter what the crime is. Anything less than a fair trial is a witch hunt.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    Buster, 9 Jun 2009 @ 9:20am

    Re: Re: Ankle brace...

    That obviously was a joke...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    Gene Cavanaugh, 10 Jun 2009 @ 2:50pm

    Stu5423935pid criminals

    Good article.

    Funny, though, the "entertainment" (brain-washing?) industry seems to always portray criminals as brilliant a charismatic, and law enforcement as dull and boring.

    When I was earning my law degree, I spent a lot of time (required) with criminals in the state prison system. Result? They are "just people", but lower in intelligence and personal responsibility, generally.

    So I never watch such things on TV (I abhor being brain washed) and am never surprised by these things.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. identicon
    HAIL SATAN, 13 Mar 2010 @ 1:20pm

    SHOOT YOUR P.O. IN THE FACE!

    link to this | view in thread ]


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