Sheriff Determined To Find Some Reason To Arrest Parents Of Girls Who Are Accused Of Bullying Girl Into Suicide

from the that's-not-the-way-'justice'-works dept

Thu, Oct 17th 2013 2:57pm — Tim Cushing

We recently covered the arrest of two students for their connection to a bullied girl's suicide. I noted at the time that, while certainly not perfect, at least the two were charged with violating laws already on the books, rather than a newly-crafted (and, most likely, badly written) cyberbullying law.

Whatever sense of relief I may have had then has been completely wiped away by Sheriff Grady Judd's continuing comments. If there's going to be a rational resolution to this, Grady can't be involved. He's swiftly turning this into a crusade, which is exactly the wrong thing to do.

The Florida sheriff investigating a girl's suicide allegedly prompted by online bullying said he's considering charging the parents of one of the two girls arrested in the case because they're in "total denial."

Polk Country Sheriff Grady Judd told Fox News Thursday that if evidence indicates the parents of one of the two girls knowingly allowed the girl to post the bullying comments online, they could be charged with contributing to the dependency or delinquency of a child.

It's not enough for Judd to have arrested two students. Now, he's seeking to extract some sort of vengeance for a perceived "lack of remorse" on the part of Guadalupe Shaw, the 14-year-old arrestee, even if it means stretching the law so he can go after her parents. In Judd's mind, they're "in denial."

Shaw's parents have maintained their daughter's account was hacked and that she never made the posts that got her arrested. They also claim to check in on Shaw's account "daily." Whether or not any of those claims are true (or at least should be subject to an investigation before making very public claims) apparently doesn't matter to Judd, who has his own opinion on how Shaw's parents should have handled things after being informed of their daughter's posts.

"You tell me that there's not parents, who instead of taking that device and smashing it into a 1,000 pieces in front of her child, says, 'Oh, her account was hacked?' We see where the problem is."

Judd says "we," but he's likely on his own. This is no longer a case he should be in charge of. He's made it personal and is drifting dangerously close to turning this into a vendetta. And, again, he's doing this solely because in his opinion, Guadalupe Shaw isn't showing enough remorse for her actions.

"We knew that there was total disregard for life, and if she would say those things after she bullied Rebecca and after the parents knew that, we had to act more quickly," Sheriff Grady Judd, from Polk County, Fla., told "Fox and Friends" Wednesday morning.

Judd is pursuing vigilante justice under the color of law. Further comments made elsewhere show he's grasping at straws to make someone pay.

"They don't think there is a problem here, and that is the problem," he said. Judd added that the girl's parents gave her back her Facebook access even after learning about her alleged bullying of Rebecca. "That's terrible," he said. "That's why we moved fast to lock their daughter up."

"I'm aggravated that the parents aren't doing what parents should do," Judd told reporters. "Responsible parents take disciplinary action."

The investigators working for him can't be happy with Judd's crusade. They haven't found anything they can charge the parents with, but it's pretty clear Judd won't be taking no for an answer.

Judd told NBC's Today on Wednesday that investigators so far have found no criminal charges that could be filed against the parents, "but if we can find contributing to the delinquency of a child, we would certainly bring that charge."

Bringing charges against someone for "contributing" to another person's suicide is problematic and it's an area someone like Judd shouldn't be so willing to wander into using only his perceptions of other's attitudes and thoughts to guide him. Grasping about for charges to file against Shaw's parents, who are even further removed from Sedwick's suicide than their daughter, is a dangerously desperate act.

If he manages to follow through and successfully have both Shaw and her parents prosecuted, he won't set any legal precedents, but he will set a low bar for future arrests. With Judd around, no one in his county will need a new cyberbullying law to abuse because the sheriff is perfectly capable of abusing the laws he already has.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: blame, cyberbullying, grady judd, guadalupe shaw, suicide, vendetta

47 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 3:01pm

Crime of the Century
�Total denial� in violation of sheriff's regulation.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 3:13pm

"Sheriff Judd from Florida".

I don't even have to say anything more.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Uriel-238 (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 5:42pm
  
  Judd as a given name is a variant on Jordan
  And plenty of people who are not total jackasses are named Judd.
  
  Can't say how many of them are from Florida.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - John Fenderson (profile), 18 Oct 2013 @ 9:07am
    
    Re: Judd as a given name is a variant on Jordan
    Judd is a variant of Jordan? I learn something new every day! Thanks.
    
    My Judd experience is limited. This guy is the only person I've heard of named Judd outside of The Judds.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 3:13pm

Notice to Florida State Attorney General
You need to get to Polk County RIGHT NOW, and put a muzzle on this clown. There's NO room for this kind of vigilantism in public law enforcement. That's the same problem we're running into in New York, Philadelphia, and many other places. Just further signs of an evolving Police State Mentality.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 3:36pm
  
  Re: Notice to Florida State Attorney General
  Yes there is. He could be going after the people who bullied Swartz
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 8:31pm
    
    Govt Bullies vs Bullies
    Why do We the People, you know, the group the Constitution is meant to protect FROM the BIG GOVT PUKES get bullied more when we stand up for the Constitution?
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 3:24pm

Question, if in his desire to pursue this vendetta, he happens to cause the accused child to commit suicide (Perhaps from trumping up some charges to teach her a lesson), what are the chances that he would be willing to take responsibility himself for "contributing" to another person's suicide?

For some reason I can't help but think the answer is "Absolutely no chance"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 3:26pm

Reasonable, rational behavior, setting a good example for one's children
You suspect your daughter has been bullying someone online?
GRAB HER COMPUTER AND SMASH IT TO BITS ON THE FLOOR.
It's the sane, responsible thing to do.
Any cuts she gets on her legs from flying components are entirely her own fault.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
MondoGordo (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 3:50pm

have both Shaw and her parents prosecuted,
I think the word you wanted was "persecuted"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Manabi (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 3:50pm

He's already punished the parents
The sheriff's a total idiot. He's already punished the parents, simply by arresting their daughter, causing them national shame. If that's not enough he needs to simply focus on making sure the daughter is convicted, by building the case against her till it's rock-solid. Something he should be doing anyway.

The parents may be vile human beings (likely are, the girl had to learn it somewhere), but do this correctly. If you don't, you risk the case falling apart entirely and no one being punished. Punish the girl and parent's punishment follows. They obviously believe she's a perfect angel, so seeing her convicted of a crime like this is going to hurt them BAD.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Jay, 17 Oct 2013 @ 4:30pm

Not exactly surprising
Judd should've been off the case when he held the press conference announcing the arrests and held up their photos announcing "our two newest felons." Judd's clearly already convicted the girls and I'm sure any defense attorney is hoping he just keeps speaking.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 4:41pm

Can't he prove without a doubt that the account wasn't hacked?

Sure the provider have logs of what IP's accessed that account.

You know do some digging and find out, there is a chance and so you must exclude all possibilities first is that not what police work entails?

Do people know how easy it is to compromise a Facebook account?

http://www.acunetix.com/websitesecurity/xss-facebook/

XSS are difficult to plug, they are not easy, every major website probably has one right now somewhere.

So until the hacking is ruled out by an competent investigation, I don't think it should be out of the question, after that we can talk about how the girls morals are all twisted how their parents are probably just as bad, but first and foremost make it sure you have the right person.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 4:42pm

I have been bullied for my entire life. I'm still alive point made.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 4:54pm

https://www.facebook.com/whitehat/thanks/?_fb_noscript=1

Facebook the paragon of security.

I think law enforcement believe websites are secure, they are not.

If you poke long enough, you will always find something in it.
Each webpage today have hundreds of components if not more, any of which could turn out to be a vector for exploitation malicious or otherwise. The sheer number of security disclosures just proves that point, that doesn't account for the other half that don't disclose things at all.

Youtube: BackTrack Hack Facebook Exploits 2013

So please before jumping to any conclusions about the morals of the girl there, first lets make sure it was her and not her pissed friend who got her cookies and used that account.

Had Mr. Judd there at the very least contacted Facebook to see who had access to that account?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
lucidrenegade (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 5:21pm

First the two pigs in Philly and now this. I am thoroughly disgusted with the police.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 6:07pm

In Florida this in nothing.

There were the two dumb cops in Tampa who arrested a fellon on a parole violation.
Seems he had a handcuff key head out.
He escaped and killed the two cops dumb copps on the way to jail..
So the cops killed him and put his girlfriend in jail for life because she failed to tell the two dumb cops he had a handcuff key.
The never did put in the paper if she knew or not.
The also never explained how making her talk or not talk did not violate the 5th amendment.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
bigpicture, 17 Oct 2013 @ 6:54pm

Nobody's Ever Responsible the American Way
Well that is unless you downloaded some songs, then that is probably worth a million bucks, but somebody's life there is no money involved so that is worth nothing. Isn't that the American way?

What kind of logic is the author using here "a personal vendetta?" well what exactly is cyber bullying does it not fit in that category? So then would that not be "what goes around comes around"?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- John Fenderson (profile), 18 Oct 2013 @ 9:09am
  
  Re: Nobody's Ever Responsible the American Way
  Vengeance is not justice.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
anonymouse (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 8:25pm

Polk County Advisory: All persecutors will be violated...charges pending.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
arkiel (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 9:09pm

I like this guy, if only because he's echoing what everyone thought when the parents played the "hacked" card. I don't have much problem holding them vicariously liable either... but only because they've gone to such lengths to establish that they were monitoring the account on a regular basis. Hell, maybe someone, somewhere will read about this and actually start paying attention to what their own kid is doing as a result.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 18 Oct 2013 @ 11:54am
  
  Re:
  And if the account was actually hacked? My facebook account was. Should I be legally liable for that?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Manabi (profile), 19 Oct 2013 @ 1:24am
    
    Re: Re:
    If the account really was hacked, then... maybe. They've stated in public now that they closely monitored the account activity. So if it was hacked and these messages were being sent over a long period of time, why didn't they notice them?
    
    Either they lied about monitoring it (which would probably mean it's more likely they know their daughter really sent them) or they monitored it and failed to stop it. Saying that in public was insanely stupid.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Drew, 17 Oct 2013 @ 9:34pm

Ten years ago there would be mass outrage if he tried to pull this.

Twenty years ago he would have been fired.

Thirty years ago he would have been fired and charges brought against him for police corruption. He might have escaped prison time.

Forty years ago he would have been fired, charged, and sitting in prison.

For me to be sitting here today thinking this is nothing new is honestly sickening.

As for the parents and the hacked excuse I call bullshit, but hey any parent would do the same for their children. The bullies might have been a factor, but obviously there was far more going on for that kid to kill herself. I won't say what because I don't know, but I do know that there was. Also why doesn't he charge the teachers with it since they go above and beyond their teaching duties to monitor students social networks and punish them? I mean they act like they see all and know best so this should have never been an issue if that were true.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 18 Oct 2013 @ 9:01am
  
  Re:
  Ten years ago there was no Facebook. Twenty years ago there was only a "baby" internet. Thirty years ago computers weren't in very many homes (Commodore 64 anyone?). Forty years ago.. well, you get the point.
  
  Cyberbullying is different than the "old school" bullying. At least when it was limited to real life you could go somewhere to get away. Thanks to our leaps in communications technology, it is nearly impossible to get away.
  
  Now that we have such things not only would the people involved and in the immediate vicinity know of the pain inflicted upon the person being bullied (the "old school" bullying), but all of a bullied person's friends and friends of friends (and so on) are witnesses also. This amplifies the shame inflicted. The only option open to a victim of cyberbullying is to unplug, which effectively means disconnecting entirely from their peers and the rest of the modern world.
  
  I don't believe this type of speech, which is effectively hate speech, is protected by the First Amendment.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - John Fenderson (profile), 18 Oct 2013 @ 9:13am
    
    Re: Re:
    Cyberbullying is different than the "old school" bullying.
    
    The differences are slight, but to the extent that they exist, bullying on line is less harmful than bullying in real life. In real life, people get physically injured, sometimes killed, and become understandably terrified of setting foot outside their house.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - ChrisB (profile), 18 Oct 2013 @ 9:35am
    
    Re: Re:
    The right to ridicule should never be illegal. We should focus on helping kids deal with this, not make protected speech illegal.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 18 Oct 2013 @ 11:02am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Ridicule and parody are not the same thing.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
arkiel (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 9:44pm

So is it that our sense of outrage over police corruption has faded, or that after 50 years of pretending parents aren't responsible for the murderous freaks their action and inaction has spawned, we've decided that at least threatening them with liability for the actions of their, frankly, evil children is acceptable?

People like these need to be shamed and remembered for the evil their child did, because they're the reason the kid is like that. They are the proximate cause of the bile that kid was spewing.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- nasch, 18 Oct 2013 @ 8:24am
  
  Re:
  So is it that our sense of outrage over police corruption has faded, or that after 50 years of pretending parents aren't responsible for the murderous freaks their action and inaction has spawned, we've decided that at least threatening them with liability for the actions of their, frankly, evil children is acceptable?
  
  The point is that the police are not supposed to be looking for a crime to charge someone with when that person does something they don't like. They're supposed to find the culprit when it appears a crime has been committed.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
charliebrown (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 11:36pm

Bullying And Denial? So what?
I was bullied heaps as a kid. I met the mother of my main bully in the third grade. I told her what he did. She said he didn't do it and that she didn't want to talk about it. I thought she was stupid. I was eight years old at the time.

Now when I think back on it, I think she was being a normal mother who, like most normal parents, think their kids are darling little angels who could never do anything wrong. I know she was wrong, but so what? She was being a normal mother!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lee (profile), 18 Oct 2013 @ 3:01am

Clearly I'm in the minority
I can't believe I'm the only person here who thinks the parents deserve everything they're getting. If my son or daughter bully someone to the point of suicide on an electronic device you can be damn sure they'll lose the privilege of using it and suffer the legal consequences of their actions. Their poor parenting is the reason their kids are such assholes and they deserve to share in the responsibility and guilt.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- John Fenderson (profile), 18 Oct 2013 @ 9:15am
  
  Re: Clearly I'm in the minority
  Nobody is saying that they are good parents who acted appropriately. But that they're negligent doesn't mean it's OK for the sheriff to act as he is.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hellano, 18 Oct 2013 @ 3:04am

Sheriff Judd
The Polk County Sheriff's notoriety hardly begins with this matter. It's been a "got porn? go to jail" (and of course "dry")county for decades. If you are driving on I-4 between Orlando and Tampa, you are well-advised to stay within the posted speed limit and to be very, very polite if you are pulled over for a traffic stop.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- John Fenderson (profile), 18 Oct 2013 @ 9:16am
  
  Re: Sheriff Judd
  Or, even better, stay the hell out of Polk county. That's my plan.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ed (profile), 18 Oct 2013 @ 4:58am

misplaced outrage
Sorry, I have no sympathy for the parents. Facebook hacked? Yeah, right. Even they don't believe it, they are purposely lying and trying to mitigate their own culpability with a ludicrous fabrication. The Sheriff is over-reaching for sure, but faced with such brazenly arrogant parents, I don't think it is so unwarranted.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 18 Oct 2013 @ 8:26am
  
  Re: misplaced outrage
  The Sheriff is over-reaching for sure, but faced with such brazenly arrogant parents, I don't think it is so unwarranted.
  
  Which is it, overreaching or warranted?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- RadialSkid (profile), 18 Oct 2013 @ 2:41pm
  
  Re: misplaced outrage
  It's none of the Sheriff's business if the parents are "arrogant." "Arrogance" is not a crime. They can be however they want to be within the confines of the law, and the Sheriff needs a tough reminder: Law enforcement officers DO NOT PUNISH. Not anyone for any reason.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 18 Oct 2013 @ 5:42am

Something bad happened. Someone must pay. This is someone. Therefor they must pay.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 18 Oct 2013 @ 6:36am

Nation of Laws
We are a nation of laws, not of men.....and their emotions.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 18 Oct 2013 @ 6:54am

Maybe we should promote him and put him in charge of finding a reason to arrest people over at the NSA.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 18 Oct 2013 @ 9:09am

"You tell me that there's not parents, who instead of taking that device and smashing it into a 1,000 pieces in front of her child, says, 'Oh, her account was hacked?' We see where the problem is."
Yes this thinking is an epidemic it's the same thinking they use when they look at or rights as citizens... Constitution "smash it"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 18 Oct 2013 @ 10:40am

He should be pursuing this to the full extent possible. Shaw's parents have failed her. She needs to be dealt the consequences for her actions, period. Her parents are in part to blame. They sound stupid with their "hacking" claim. Clearly, the lights are not fully on for the parents or the Guadalupe. And not to worry, I doubt Shaw would ever commit suicide it's been made clear she loves herself far too much.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- John Fenderson (profile), 18 Oct 2013 @ 10:47am
  
  Re:
  I don't think you understand what the proper role of a law enforcement officer is.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 18 Oct 2013 @ 11:57am

Why not ask the NSA if the account was hacked?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Frankz (profile), 19 Oct 2013 @ 4:14am

Of course the first thing they'll say is their precious little snowflake didn't do it, and the Facebook account was hacked.
A subpeona for Facebook logs will show if the account was hacked or not. It will show the IP address the account was logged in and posting from. Then a subpeona to that ISP will show the home address. Doesn't matter who's account it really is, simply where it was logged in and posting from. If it really was hacked, it will show it logged in from the hacker's home address, not the bully's. If it shows the bully's address, then we'll know it wasn't really hacked at all and they're just lying.

The mother of one of the 2 girls charged, has been arrested for child abuse on unrelated charges:
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/18/21027965-mom-of-girl-charged-in-florida-bullying- suicide-arrested-on-child-abuse-charges?lite
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
mike, 21 Oct 2013 @ 4:28am

The cop doesn't like free speech. What next?
Clearly his subjects have to confirm to his vision of society. Next all will wear their hair oiled and slicked back like his. Any dissenters?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]