Social Web sites become crime-fighting tools
The boys didn’t know much about their attackers except the nickname of one. So they turned to MySpace.com for help.
The three teens scoured the social networking site for a “Serge” or “Sergey,” the apparent nickname of one of the young men who jumped them on Mission Avenue in Spokane Valley in mid-February. A profile popped up claiming the name, and the picture showed one of their assailants.
They called police, and the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office served a search warrant to MySpace last month asking for the account holder’s information.
It’s a tactic law enforcement is embracing more and more: using the Web to help solve crimes.
It helped Spokane police identify and arrest a man suspected of punching a security guard at a downtown hotel last month. It led Post Falls police last week to a runaway girl they feared was in danger. And it may help Spokane police solve a November drive-by shooting that killed a 30-year-old man.
“It’s getting more and more prevalent to see useful information popping up on MySpace accounts,” said Lyle Johnston, the Spokane County sheriff’s detective who served the March search warrant to MySpace.
The Spokane Valley case hit a dead end when the Web site reported it had been too long since “Serge” accessed his account to find his Internet provider identification. Officials say active users are easier to identify and often give police a plethora of information.
Spokane police major crimes Detective Terry Ferguson filed a search warrant this year asking MySpace to identify a user who’d exchanged messages with a Spokane teenager who could hold clues to a still-unsolved November drive-by shooting.
Police use online information to find runaways, too. Post Falls police did that last week to locate 15-year-old Charleen Cooper, who they said ran away April 7. The girl had been contacting friends via MySpace daily since then, and the daily log-ins led police to friends who helped find the teen in Spokane.
The Internet’s increasing usefulness in criminal investigation is merely a sign of the times, Johnston said. “(It’s) becoming more prevalent for everyone to be on the Internet, thus it’s a valuable source of information for us,” he said.
Suspects might post pictures showing a house or apartment they frequent or the car they drive. Some post pictures of identifiable stolen property or apparent drug use. Schoolyard bullies leave electronic footprints with harassing messages.
Johnston recalled a transient sex offender on the lam about a year ago. Police found him by using his MySpace page to contact his friends, Johnston said.
Spokane police Sgt. Dan Ervin said the site helped identify a man suspected of punching a security guard Feb. 2 at the Ridpath Hotel. After Cliff Benson called 911 on several people fighting in front of the hotel, one of the men punched him in the face, breaking his jaw, according to a search warrant filed April 14 in Spokane Superior Court.
Police tracked down a suspect through a license plate number Benson saw on the getaway car. A picture on Nathanial J. Dishneau’s MySpace page showing him in a coat matching the description Benson gave helped complete the search warrant for Dishneau’s Glass Avenue residence April 11. The 28-year-old was arrested that night and remains in Spokane County Jail on a second-degree assault charge.
Ervin said the site was helpful, but not pivotal. He still had to work the phones, interview witnesses and trade information with other investigators.
“It’s the electronic age,” he said. “It certainly has made things different over the years, but it’s just another tool.”