Wow, this is disgusting. Not just the content of the article, but also all the people saying that the guy deserves to get raped in prison for nine years. Thank goodness none of you people have any influence over the justice system.
@minneyar: You're spot on. You know sometimes I feel its a real shame that judges have become so disconnected from society. Otherwise I would eliminate the presence of a jury in high profile criminal cases. Contrary to popular opinion, I think legal professionals will be far less inclined to base their decisions on rumor, sensationalism and hyperbole, a common trait of juries in modern day legal proceedings.
Now that he has been convicted of kidnapping Kotaku can do the decent thing and take the quotation marks out of the title. That he is a kidnapper is now a matter of fact, no need to imply that it's a questionable accusation.
@uchennaokafor: At the end of the day, this 27 year old man had sex with a 14 year old girl. i find that disgusting, he got off light with 9 years if you ask me.
You know, I somehow understand that having sex with underage girls is wrong, but I'm 30, working in u pub in weekends, and let me tell ya, there plenty of underage girls that are willingly making advances at me, not the other way around.
Now I live in Belgium and people are allowed to drink from 16. So how can I know when a girl that approaches me is 16 or 18? And what's the fucking difference between someone a day under 18, and someone precisely 18? I'm not defending pedophelia, I'm just saying, the younger girls often elicit such behaviour. We're still men, under influence of hormones. If a 17 year old girl starts hitting on me while I'm horny as hell, and she knows she's younger than 18, than who's fucking fault is that? Sorry, I have instincts and a penis.
@Windowlicker: Theres a big difference between 14 and 18 mate.
Here in england the age for sex is 16 and drinking 18 (sort of doesnt make sense i know) so the 17 thing, its fine if I tap that.
but mate, your 30, if you came over to england and ended up in bed with a 16 year old, it'd be legal, but fucking creepy.
your totally right about younger girls initiating, but end of the day, its illegal.
I too have a penis, but also self control.
Wow, stuff like this is why I'm so afraid to have a daughter. I'm just afraid i won't be able to protect her or in some cases stop her from damaging herself...
Like growing up the girls in HS always had boyfriends that were like 25 or 26 and I was always thinking, if that guy is so cool, why is he messing around with a 14/15/16 year old ? But the girls seemed to enjoy it.... But I mean this story is not that different except he got caught and wore a dress.
@csanders984: People need to stop trying to protect their kids and instead start teaching them proper judgement and common sense. Stop shielding them from the world and start teaching them how to deal with it.
@Pazu: We have a winner! The goal should not in fact be to monitor and stop what you believe to be wrong, but teach the child how to properly determine the difference between safe and dangerous. If something doesn't pop out about giving a 27 year old your personal information in order for him to come to you, chances are judgment is already clouded.
@csanders984: Don't let gender get in the way of fearing for your kid though--I'd be more worried about having a son. Because you guys are so emotionally fragile, and since you're not "supposed" to be, socially speaking, you hide it, and one can't even tell you how to deal with it because you're too embarrassed about feeling that way to react to concern with anything other than anger. Sure, women get taken advantage of all the time, but talking about it is not taboo and if you're a halfway decent parent you can teach your kid awareness re: how to proceed in different situations, where to kick, what to carry in your bag, what _morons_ not to gallivant around with while drunk off your ass. Whereas guys...as soon as they hit puberty, boom, they're off-limits, and if they hit bad patches they're supposed to tough it through alone, "like real men." But not everyone can do that. And that'd break my heart.
"A manager at a Tri-City hotel also reported that Jones was seen wearing dresses during a brief stopover."
Huh... was that part really relevant to the story? Eh. I wonder if Saddie "Elaine" Julian is the girl's real name... they usually withhold the names of underage offenders, you'd think they would do the same for victims once the situation is under control.
I can't help but wonder if "Elaine" is her WoW character's name... It seems a bit unusual for a nickname.
Horrible situation however, you cannot expect to monitor a teen 100% of the time and if your lucky you can monitor them 50% of the time. The parents are not at fault in this case and are emotionally hurting as well after this whole thing.
When I was in High School I made it my job to keep secrets from my parents. Don't get me wrong I love my parents and they were/are wonderful at raising myself and my sisters but they could never expect to fully understand the human mind thus can never fully understand or monitor a teen at all times even in regards to the internet.
I'm curious what would have happened if there had been no sexual activity or drugging?
Would he still be sentenced to jail time? Tons of 14 year olds and teenagers run away from home or go to live with their significant others every year.
The only reason we're hearing about this one is because its video game related. I just question the morally on both sides of the law in this situation. What the guy did was wrong, but treating a 14 year old like they have no rights or freedom isn't exactly correct either.
@Jashin Slayer: The problem was that the guy took her across state lines. That's going to be a problem no matter what else happened. Anything else is just taking on extra time.
I saw the headline start "Alabama Man" and couldn't help think of SouthPark's Alabama man...not far off. "When I grow up, I wanna be just like Alabama man! (I told you to shut up, B****!)"
@Aekero: I don't know much about Alabama since I live in the UK and never been to the states but south park shaped my view on alabama lol. Not that I formed much of a view since I know I don't really know anything about it.
@Malfunktion v2: I would assume so, especially since he won't be able to make raid times. In fact, I don't know why he took enough time off to go abduct this girl (that is, if she wasn't willing, otherwise, it would just be picking her up), and take her camping. Shouldn't he have desperately wanted to get back to playing the game if he was a true addict?
@masterdingo: Prisons usually have pretty nice amenities, like 360s and nice TVs and the like. They usually get net access too... so I would not be so sure...
The real question is why we treat inmates so well.
@magnakaiser: K, that is extremely frustrating. I just wrote a VERY long response to you, but when I clicked on the side of the page, the comment box disappeared, and the site cleared my text. Wow. I'm having a hard time not using a whole lot of swearing right now. Holy CRAP.
Um, anyway, my basic message was that, for years, I also wondered why we treat inmates so well and I felt that they should suffer more for their crimes. More recently I've realized why our jails are they way they are: all of the people in jail are [generally] a member of a family. People care about them. An inmate may be someone's mom or dad, or someone's brother or sister. We don't want to be destroying people and making them hate the world, when they're already having problems (hence the crime they are in jail for). If you're in jail for some time and it's the worst thing ever and a horrible experience, when you get out you're not going to be a very happy person.
Put aside the reason that the person is in jail, and consider that they are (theoretically) a human, and a person with feelings and conscious advanced thought like any other. Putting them in a horrible environment for some years, and then letting them back into society, is more likely to *promote* their destructive personality traits, rather than help them heal or be "grown out of". Put a person in a healthy environment where they can learn and become better people, and you immediately make it possible for said person to have a better future and *hopefully* stay away from whatever bad stuff they were involved in (both in lifestyle and in mental state) that got them into jail.
I do realize some ppl are a "lost cause" and will never stop being destructive to the world around them, but that isn't everyone, and it's not fair to put everyone in jail into a horrible environment because SOME people are hopelessly destructive and so on.
It's disturbing to see how his mentality seemed to have snapped the moment he was separated. Maybe it was his way of thinking that he was "free," or an entirely different reason that may have manifested in his past.
Argh! Why am I trying to diagnose the problem? I need to lay off those crime shows.
(DEAD) Goldwings - Remembered for his bravery and heroism... xD was starred
(DEAD) Goldwings - Remembered for his bravery and heroism... xD was unstarred
@(Zombie) Goldwings: CSI-Kotaku. "My God, Concrete's Been Shot in the Head... In Call of Duty. But by who?" "Well, it must have been a pretty disturbed individual to have used... A Rocket Launcher!" "I think you mean, By Whom" "Grammer Nazi!!! He Did it!!" "Alright, everyone shut up, I have the kill log for the game, the one who shot Concrete (in Call of Duty) was... User with GamerTag: Lightgamet -Infected-!!!"
Ugh...why couldn't she have been a "To Catch a Predator" type person...it saddens me that children aren't protected by their parents from this type of filth. Parents, learn the damn lesson and learn it well.
@TaggarT6: I think she came on some forum and commented on it when it first happened. She said he slowly became distant like you've come to see so much from wow addicts and he refused to get a proper job after losing his job. Ect ect
Hmm, I read the article and really, why did her parents let her have sex with this guy "in game"? Why didn't they watch her? I mean really? Now what he did, the drugs and taking her was wrong, but in another place and time this was legal and young girls married out like this to have children, and still do. I am not supporting this guy as he has issues, but she is 14 and knows about sex, did all the stuff online with him and such. She is to blame as well as her parents.
It just seems a little bit wierd to me that a 14 year old girl would want to meet up with a 30 year old man.
I was once 14, at that age i was almost scared of 30 year olds.Ok you can argue that i am different to a 14 year old girl and i do have the advantage of hindsight right now being 20.
Also i dont think my parents would have let me go and see a 30 year old guy alone.
Ah but again this is all in hindsight, we all do something stupid in our life, it makes us into what we are now.
p.s.Also 9 years does not seem long enough for me.
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The Founding Fathers are here, they're saying they'd like a word with you.
07/15/09
Now that he has been convicted of kidnapping Kotaku can do the decent thing and take the quotation marks out of the title. That he is a kidnapper is now a matter of fact, no need to imply that it's a questionable accusation.
07/15/09
07/16/09
You know, I somehow understand that having sex with underage girls is wrong, but I'm 30, working in u pub in weekends, and let me tell ya, there plenty of underage girls that are willingly making advances at me, not the other way around.
Now I live in Belgium and people are allowed to drink from 16. So how can I know when a girl that approaches me is 16 or 18? And what's the fucking difference between someone a day under 18, and someone precisely 18? I'm not defending pedophelia, I'm just saying, the younger girls often elicit such behaviour. We're still men, under influence of hormones. If a 17 year old girl starts hitting on me while I'm horny as hell, and she knows she's younger than 18, than who's fucking fault is that? Sorry, I have instincts and a penis.
07/17/09
Here in england the age for sex is 16 and drinking 18 (sort of doesnt make sense i know) so the 17 thing, its fine if I tap that.
but mate, your 30, if you came over to england and ended up in bed with a 16 year old, it'd be legal, but fucking creepy.
your totally right about younger girls initiating, but end of the day, its illegal.
I too have a penis, but also self control.
07/15/09
07/15/09
07/15/09
Like growing up the girls in HS always had boyfriends that were like 25 or 26 and I was always thinking, if that guy is so cool, why is he messing around with a 14/15/16 year old ? But the girls seemed to enjoy it.... But I mean this story is not that different except he got caught and wore a dress.
07/15/09
07/15/09
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07/15/09
Huh... was that part really relevant to the story? Eh. I wonder if Saddie "Elaine" Julian is the girl's real name... they usually withhold the names of underage offenders, you'd think they would do the same for victims once the situation is under control.
I can't help but wonder if "Elaine" is her WoW character's name... It seems a bit unusual for a nickname.
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...WoW has always been a scary place.
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When I was in High School I made it my job to keep secrets from my parents. Don't get me wrong I love my parents and they were/are wonderful at raising myself and my sisters but they could never expect to fully understand the human mind thus can never fully understand or monitor a teen at all times even in regards to the internet.
07/15/09
Would he still be sentenced to jail time? Tons of 14 year olds and teenagers run away from home or go to live with their significant others every year.
The only reason we're hearing about this one is because its video game related. I just question the morally on both sides of the law in this situation. What the guy did was wrong, but treating a 14 year old like they have no rights or freedom isn't exactly correct either.
07/15/09
07/15/09
07/15/09
Alabama punch!
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07/15/09
The real question is why we treat inmates so well.
07/15/09
Um, anyway, my basic message was that, for years, I also wondered why we treat inmates so well and I felt that they should suffer more for their crimes. More recently I've realized why our jails are they way they are: all of the people in jail are [generally] a member of a family. People care about them. An inmate may be someone's mom or dad, or someone's brother or sister. We don't want to be destroying people and making them hate the world, when they're already having problems (hence the crime they are in jail for). If you're in jail for some time and it's the worst thing ever and a horrible experience, when you get out you're not going to be a very happy person.
Put aside the reason that the person is in jail, and consider that they are (theoretically) a human, and a person with feelings and conscious advanced thought like any other. Putting them in a horrible environment for some years, and then letting them back into society, is more likely to *promote* their destructive personality traits, rather than help them heal or be "grown out of". Put a person in a healthy environment where they can learn and become better people, and you immediately make it possible for said person to have a better future and *hopefully* stay away from whatever bad stuff they were involved in (both in lifestyle and in mental state) that got them into jail.
I do realize some ppl are a "lost cause" and will never stop being destructive to the world around them, but that isn't everyone, and it's not fair to put everyone in jail into a horrible environment because SOME people are hopelessly destructive and so on.
Anyway, just my $0.02 or whatever. ;)
07/15/09
Argh! Why am I trying to diagnose the problem? I need to lay off those crime shows.
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I was once 14, at that age i was almost scared of 30 year olds.Ok you can argue that i am different to a 14 year old girl and i do have the advantage of hindsight right now being 20.
Also i dont think my parents would have let me go and see a 30 year old guy alone.
Ah but again this is all in hindsight, we all do something stupid in our life, it makes us into what we are now.
p.s.Also 9 years does not seem long enough for me.