Dr. Frank Kardasz (Ed.D)

Kardasz: The following two-part story from The Detroit News is interesting because it demonstrates the dangers that children can find using social networking sites.

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MySpace teen put on tether
 
Harrison Twp. girl who lied about age faces pretrial hearing May 25; 25-year-old is released.

George Hunter and Steve Pardo / The Detroit News, May 12, 2006

MOUNT CLEMENS -- The mother of the 13-year-old Harrison Township girl who ran off with a man she met on the Internet was "relieved that her daughter was safe -- and furious about the decision she made," said the girl's attorney, Richard Halprin. 

"Her mother had the kind of reaction you often see parents have when their kids come home late: 'I'm glad you're safe; now I want to kill you,' " Halprin said. The girl was "dumbfounded" by the attention the case garnered, he said.

Halprin called his client "a typical 13-year-old. They don't usually think too many steps ahead, or consider the consequences of their actions. She didn't realize what she did would cause this kind of reaction."

A 25-year-old Indiana man was freed Thursday morning from the Macomb County Jail after officials decided he did not commit a crime by driving the girl across Michigan.

But the girl, who told the man she was 18 after they met through the popular Web site MySpace.com, has been placed on a tether, officials said. She was charged Wednesday in Macomb County Juvenile Court with "home truancy," which prosecutors say is akin to running away from home.

Home truancy is considered a "status offense," or an offense where a crime is not committed, but where behavior of a minor warrants court action. After the girl's appearance in juvenile court Wednesday, she was released to the custody of her mother. She will remain on a tether until her pretrial hearing, which is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. May 25.

Juvenile court officials set other conditions on the girl, including a ban on using the Internet, said John Ange, chief of the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office juvenile division. "They were the standard conditions that are usually put on a juvenile: to attend school, and abide by the rules of the home," Ange said. "Basically, they want to ensure we don't have a repeat of what just happened."

Status offenses "are really meant to assist a family so that kids can get their act together before they go out and commit a crime," Ange said. The Hammond, Ind., man was released from custody pending investigation of his computer, said Therese Tobin, chief trial attorney for the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office.

"As far as we can determine, no crime actually took place," Tobin said. If the man had sex with the girl, he would have been charged with statutory rape, regardless if he thought she was 18 years old. But that wasn't the case, Tobin said.

"During the interview, they both said they didn't have sex," Tobin said. "The man indicated that he thought she was 18, and the girl said that's what she told him." An Amber Alert was issued at 11:24 p.m. Tuesday, about two hours after the girl was reported missing by her mother. About two hours later, Kalamazoo County Sheriff's deputies stopped the car. The man's 14-year-old stepbrother was in the car, police said.

Police say the man drove from Hammond and picked up the girl at a shopping center near 16 Mile and Crocker around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. The girl was with a girlfriend and a former boyfriend when the man picked her up, police said.

The girl gave the man's cell phone number to her girlfriend, in case she wanted to get in touch with her, police said. The girlfriend became suspicious and called the 13-year-old's mother. The mother called police, who called the cell phone company.

The man's movements were tracked through his cell phone's GPS locator, and police stopped the man's car on Interstate 94.

The girl identifies herself as being 18 years old on her MySpace site. There are pictures on the site of her lounging on a couch in torn jeans and a low-cut shirt. The site contained Playboy bunny logos and vulgar language.

Officials for the L'Anse Creuse Public Schools wouldn't confirm or deny whether the girl attends school in the district. However, Michelle Irwin, a spokeswoman for the district, said it was sending a letter to parents today.

"It basically just reiterates the importance of Internet safety and gives parents some resources to use to help them with that," Irwin said. "It also says that parents need to monitor their children's use of the Internet."

You can reach George Hunter at (586) 468-7396 or ghunter@detnews.com.

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13 or 18? Girl's age at issue in Web date

25-year-old met teen on MySpace, believed from her profile that she was an adult

Steve Pardo and George Hunter / The Detroit News, May 11, 2006

A rendezvous that began on the Internet between an Indiana man and a 13-year-old Macomb County girl who lied about her age has raised murky legal questions about what he could have done to verify her age and avoid being jailed.

The episode also has law enforcement officials wondering if a crime has been committed, and if so what it might be. They're trying to determine whether there was sexual contact between the two. In the meantime, the 25-year-old man is being held in Macomb County Jail.

"Under the statutory rape laws, if an adult has sex with someone under the age of 16 in Michigan, they're legally responsible," said Jeffery Cojocar, a Shelby Township attorney who deals with men's rights issues.

"I don't care if the minor showed a birth certificate that said they were older. It doesn't matter. Statutory rape is what is called a strict liability law, which means it doesn't matter whether the accused knew a crime was being committed or not."

In the Macomb case, authorities questioned the Hammond, Ind., man and the Harrison Township girl Wednesday. The man met the teen on the popular Internet site MySpace.com. The girl told him and had on her MySpace Web site that she was 18.

"We're working with both the federal agencies and the prosecutor's office to see what charges will be brought against him," said Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel, who said the man had a disorderly conduct and a drug charge in his past. It's unclear whether the man will face charges.

Authorities are particularly concerned about the four hours from the time the man picked up the girl Tuesday night until the time he was stopped by authorities in Jackson County. If there was sexual contact during that time, it's clear the man broke the law regardless of what the girl told him, according to authorities and attorneys.

An Amber Alert was issued in the case about 11:24 p.m. Tuesday, about two hours after the girl got into the car with the man. Two hours later, Kalamazoo County sheriff's deputies stopped the car. The man's 14-year-old stepbrother also was in the vehicle, Hackel said.

The man apparently drove from Hammond and picked up the girl from a shopping center in the 16 Mile and Crocker area around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. The girl was with two friends -- a girlfriend and a former boyfriend -- at the time she was picked up by the man. She gave the man's cell phone number to her girlfriend, saying, "If you need to get a hold of me, call this number," Hackel said.

The girlfriend got suspicious and called the 13-year-old's mother. The mother called deputies, who got in touch with the cell phone company and tracked the man's movements through his cell phone's GPS locator. They learned he was driving in the Jackson area and a Kalamazoo County sheriff's deputy stopped the car on Interstate 94.

Hackel called the girl's Web site "provocative" and "somewhat questionable." A check of the girl's site Wednesday shows she identifies herself as 18. Pictures show her lounging on a couch in torn jeans and a low-cut shirt. The site contained Playboy bunny logos and a vulgar expression.

But that's irrelevant, Hackel and legal experts pointed out; from their perspective, deputies were trying to find a 13-year-old girl traveling with an adult man she met on the Internet.

"Our goal was to find that car," Hackel said. "The primary issue is one of her safety. Did something sexual occur? We have to investigate that -- even if the girl said nothing happened." Macomb County authorities are also questioning the 14-year-old boy in the case.

"We still have 48 hours to decide what we're going to do, so we'll continue to interview him," Hackel said. "We'll probably determine (Thursday) morning what we're going to do. There may be federal charges, although I don't want to go into more detail than that."

The girl was transferred to the Juvenile Justice Center, but is at home with her family now, he said. Exactly what happened from the time the man picked her up and the time police stopped his vehicle remains under investigation. And that's where a gray area begins, Cojocar said.

"If there was no sex involved, and the girl just got in the car with him to go to Indiana, it would be more difficult to convict the man," he said. "Prosecutors would have to show criminal intent -- that he took her against her will. If she lied to him, and he didn't know she was a minor, then in this case, I don't think there would be criminal liability."

"It would be premature to say anything because the case is still under investigation," Therese Tobin, chief trial attorney for the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office, said. Mel Feit, director of the National Center for Men, an Old Bethpage, N.Y.-based men's advocacy group, said laws don't always reflect the reality of a potentially sexual situation between a man and an underage girl.

"The reality is, some teenagers look and act mature -- and some teenagers deceive men, and pretend they're older than what they are," Feit said. "The law needs to reflect the reality of the situation: that sometimes a man can honestly be deceived. It doesn't make sense to hold him to the same standards as a man who knows he's having sex with a minor.

"It's not about the truth -- it's about being deliberately punitive without regard to the truth. The system is not set up to look at who lied to whom. It's a very inhuman approach to solving these problems, which is to say, 'let's look at her age, and nothing else.' It's not justice. A just system would look at all the circumstances. Knowledge and intent should be important."

The girl's family had stopped the girl's Internet access at home and investigators are looking into how she continued online chats with the Indiana man.

You can reach Steve Pardo at (586) 468-3614 or spardo@ detnews.com.

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