Threats via social networking sites lead to charges
Friday, February 22, 2013 by: SooToday.com Staff
OPP NEWS RELEASE
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Online incidents lead to charges
KIRKLAND LAKE - Members of the Kirkland Lake OPP along with the assistance of the Toronto Police Service have a charged a man with several criminal offences.
The charges stem from incidents that occurred on several social networking sites.
The investigation culminated with the execution of a search warrant at a residence in Toronto, Ontario and the arrest of the accused on February 20, 2013.
Seized as a result of the search were computers and storage devices.
Charged with four counts of threatening and two counts of criminal harassment is Cole Ross, age 29 of Toronto, Ontario.
He is scheduled to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice in Kirkland Lake on April 18, 2013.
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crashed13 2/22/2013 11:27:32 AM ReportIf you going to be assaulted,a person doing it from hundreds of miles away on Face Book or Twitter would be my choice.
Snowdon 2/22/2013 11:39:21 AM ReportThey weren't assaulted.
crashed13 2/22/2013 11:48:47 AM ReportThey were assaulted verbally by keyboard, get with the times.
shirles 2/22/2013 12:15:39 PM Reportwow.... he must of used the CAPS ......LMAO!!!!!!
willoweep 2/22/2013 2:00:15 PM ReportThis Man did this over several sites to more than one person.
He may have had Personal information ,such as addresses , Family names etc.
And before you say "Well People are stupid to give it out "
Stalkers can take one bit of slipped information and from there track you.
Example ,he talks to someone the victim knows ,finds out they are on that persons Facebook ,goes to that persons face book. and starts looking through their friends list .
So then he lets his victim know he has their address ,then he knows ,where she goes to school ,he's going to be watching her and grab her.
I know of one Family terrorized for Months by someone threatening to burn their house down ,go to their kids school and take her .
This guy was is Ireland ,they were in Canada ,but they had no way to know where he was .
Well you get the picture ,it's harassment,it's scary ,and it must have been serious enough for the Police to get involved.
It's not something to laugh at, you don't know if or when these creeps will go the next step .
People should be copying this story and putting it into their Face book or other social network sites to get the Word out there you CAN get caught.
ThinkAgain 2/22/2013 2:18:04 PM ReportI think its going a bit to far.
GoulaisMa*Pa 2/22/2013 2:37:20 PM ReportI know it is hard for people to understand, but teens have committed suicide over having their reputations being destroyed, being bullied and being harassed on Facebook. Similarly, adults have left their jobs and moved after being targeted on Facebook. What you don't realize is that what is posted is read by other folks and passed on. The whole family is affected because the people they face have read it, choose to believe the damaging remarks and treat the individual and family differently. Threats are not the only issue. Consider if it was anonymously posted that you were a pedophile. Consider the damage it would do. Don't think that people will ask you if it is true. Sadly unethical people will post just because they have a disagreement with you, not considering the harmful effects it will have. Very few employers hire without doing a Facebook search. Of course there is more...
tcowen 2/22/2013 3:37:47 PM ReportHow many tax dollars wasted on Facebook drama.. Canceled my account almost two years ago.
I don't miss it one bit, any CEO who'd call their users $%^&* idiots for having expectations of privacy doesn't deserve the zombie like following.
Now if my ex wants to insult me or threaten to have people beat me up they have to put the bong down and come to my door.. simple as that.
Bad Dawg 2/22/2013 11:49:11 PM ReportAfter the first threat the victim should have blocked that person...... what a waste of resources!!
willoweep 2/23/2013 5:29:17 AM ReportYou are assuming it was only one victim.
If someone called your home ,said "I know where you live , where you work and where your kid goes to School I can get to you anytime I want". would you just block them ?or want to know who this Person is and where they really are?
No matter the method of delivery it's threatening, harassment and illegal.
fronz 2/23/2013 8:42:04 AM ReportWimps .
Bad Dawg 2/23/2013 10:10:33 AM ReportSorry I don't take threats over the phone seriously. If someone knocks on my door and says to my face that they will hurt my kids or wife.... I'd call 911 for the ambulance to come clean the mess.
SM-G 2/23/2013 5:33:46 PM ReportThreats, in any form, from any distance, are NOT acceptable! I am glad to see this type of threatening and harassing behaviour was taken seriously!! People have a right to live their lives without the fear of someone coming after them.
crashed13 2/24/2013 8:53:16 AM ReportWhen you join Face Book you chose to throw your life out into to the world wide web.
People have to get real,just because Face Book says you have 800 friends it does not change the hash reality that you really have only a few.
GoulaisMa*Pa 2/24/2013 4:35:21 PM ReportWait a minute. Don't assume that the people that are being trashed are actually on Facebook. They may or may not be. That is not always the case and yet they end up being affected. They don't have to read it, others do and carry on with the poison. Social media is a whole other animal against which as an individual you have little or no defence. Whole pages are even set up by someone faking another person's identity and carrying on in their name. There is no end to the methods that can be used on Facebook to target an individual, a family, or an entity.
Note: Comments that appear on the site are not the opinion of SooToday.com. Keep discussions civil and on topic. Refrain from obscenity and don't post anything that your grandmother would be ashamed to read. Those who do not abide by these guidelines will have their membership revoked without notice. If you see an abusive post, please click the link beside the post to report it.
