Facebook "Like" Leads to Sex Offender Bust

[Andy Chalk]

Facebook "Like" Leads to Sex Offender Bust

A "dangerous sex offender" was apprehended after his girlfriend "liked" the local sheriff department's Facebook page.

29-year-old Dyllan Otto Naecher [http://www.dpscs.state.md.us/sorSearch/search.do?searchType=detail&anchor=false&id=5722718] was wanted by authorities in the state of Maryland, who described him as a "dangerous sex offender" with possible gang ties. He was believed to be hiding out in the Tazewell County area of Virginia, and sure enough, that's where he was found, with a little bit of help from his girlfriend.

Not that her assistance was intentional. For some reason, she "liked" the Tazewell County Sheriff's Office Facebook page, which provided deputies with information including her name and address. They were presumably already aware of the connection between her and Naecher, and quickly took him into custody without incident.

Naecker, who was convicted in 2010 for a third-degree sexual offense, was wanted for leaving his home in Grasonville, Maryland, and relocating to Virginia without informing the police. He may face charges in Virginia for failing to register as a sex offender and could also face federal charges for crossing state lines under the Adam Walsh Act, which mandates that sex offenders notify the authorities of their whereabouts at regular intervals. The girlfriend, 22-year-old Samantha Dillow, has been charged with obstruction of justice.

"Our community is safer tonight with this predator off the streets," said Sheriff Brian Hiaett. "He will face the justice system as required and I would like to ask the community to join me in thanking the hard working deputies that brought this fugitive in without incident."

It's hard to be too critical of getting a wanted sex offender off the streets, but I feel compelled to point out that this really says something about the state of privacy of Facebook. If you're not careful, you have none, and even if you do take care about what you feed into the system, assuming that you have any sort of built-in protection is just asking for trouble. That's okay if you're a wanted criminal, but for the rest of us, it should be a little disconcerting.

Source: The Daily Record [https://www.facebook.com/tazewellcountysheriffsoffice]


Permalink

 

[Evil Smurf]

the stupidity of this guy is astounding. Okay, so he probably did not mean to like the page, but still.

 

[tmande2nd]

This is why I am not on facebook.

I mean its just so ....crazy right now

 

[DracoSuave]

the stupidity of this guy is astounding. Okay, so he probably did not mean to like the page, but still.

The girlfriend. Not the guy.

 

[ritchards]

"The innocent have nothing to worry about."

 

[Kopikatsu]

If you don't want people to know your personal information, then you probably shouldn't be volunteering that information on a social network. Just sayian.

 

[Lhianon]

"The innocent have nothing to worry about."

that's what the gestapo and the stasi said back then, but i guess that is your point ^^
i'm actually really frightened by the amount of information modern corporations collect, sure it helps sometimes catching criminals and you get some "sweet deals" out of it, but most people have at one time our the other done some really stupid things that can come to haunt them in such an enviroment...
"oh, you want that job? but 10 years ago you said XXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXX while you were drunk, and we have this really ZZZZZZ ZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZ pictures your friend posted, we'd rather not associate with you, even if you are the most fit apliant for the job" (just to illustrate)

 

[ascorbius]

I'm off facebook now, You cannot predict how your personal information will be used.

Knowledge is power people!

 

[robert01]

So third degree sexual offense charges; is that like being caught peeing in public or something? Either way strange how someone dating a guy that is wanted by the police would like the local polices Facebook page.

 

[Formica Archonis]

Naecker, who was convicted in 2010 for a third-degree sexual offense,

Okay. So, what did he actually do? Because in Maryland that means "Sexual contact without the consent of the victim, along with an aggravating factor, like causing or putting in fear of serious physical injury or disfigurement, suffocating, kidnapping, etc. Sexual contact is intentionally touching genitalia, the anus or other intimate area. It includes penetration by a part of the body except the penis or mouth. Also includes sexual contact with mentally disabled victim, victim under age 14 and perpetrator 4 years older, a sexual act with victim 14 or 15 and perpetrator 21, vaginal intercourse with victim 14 or 15 and perpetrator 21."

 

[newwiseman]

Without knowing what exactly someone did I don't trust that them being in the sex offender registry makes them a bad person, or a "Dangerous Predator".

I know a guy who was forced into the registry because of a public indecency charge; all because he took a piss on a tree in a park at 2AM and a cop parked nearby thought he was drunk and decided to arrest him. Because the incident occurred in a city park by law he had to be put on the registry; for pissing on a tree his life is ruined, well not ruined but made substantially more difficult. And, their have been cases where children would have to be put on the registry for receiving a "Sext-message" and telling someone about it (Daily Show did a good story on this one if I recall correctly). The registry is flawed and it needs to be limited to people who actually hurt children. I'm through ranting.

More on point, at least the police didn't trace his phone without a warrant (because they can right now).

Captcha* know the ropes
So true captcha, so true.

 

[DamienHell]

Thank you deputies, for going on facebook instead of filing paper work, you are making the world a better place.

 

[Scarim Coral]

By all means it's good that they caught him but why on earth did she "like" that page? What was running in her mind?

 

[Falterfire]

Thank you deputies, for going on facebook instead of filing paper work, you are making the world a better place.

Don't know about you, but at the place I work there's a guy in charge of everything online, including making a company facebook page and updating it semi-regularly to make it seem 'interesting'. It's incredibly likely that the police department has somebody doing a similarly pointless job. Or somebody was checking at home. They don't work 24/7 you know.

By all means it's good that they caught him but why on earth did she "like" that page? What was running in her mind?

She did it as a joke? She didn't think about it? They were running some sort of community awareness raffle and you had to 'like' the page to enter? I like the third option because it requires the most active level of stupidity.

 

[Roxas1359]

"The innocent have nothing to worry about."

that's what the gestapo and the stasi said back then, but i guess that is your point ^^
i'm actually really frightened by the amount of information modern corporations collect, sure it helps sometimes catching criminals and you get some "sweet deals" out of it, but most people have at one time our the other done some really stupid things that can come to haunt them in such an enviroment...
"oh, you want that job? but 10 years ago you said XXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXX while you were drunk, and we have this really ZZZZZZ ZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZ pictures your friend posted, we'd rather not associate with you, even if you are the most fit apliant for the job" (just to illustrate)

Behold, the reason why I have no Facebook/Twitter/Instigram/etc. While the police using these can be a good thing at times the fact that the corporations you work for collect that information and can use it against you. Then again people need to remember that once it is on the internet it isn't private anymore with how easily information can get out.

 

[Zaik]

Wow, that's pretty close by. I'm more surprised that anyone in Tazewell knows how to use a computer than I am that someone got caught for being an idiot by being an idiot there.

 

[Roxas1359]

snip

Yeah I know, but companies often time would most likely first check Facebook/Twitter. But that aside I'm not expecting any privacy on the internet at all. I know that anything can pretty much be seen on here.