meta-dad

To Catch A Predator in L.A.

I found a note slipped under my windshield this past Sunday morning. It was a New York Times online article printed out by our neighbors across the street; the print-out was labeled, “Reading Enjoyment.” It was the recent article about a self-described pedophile, Jack McClellan. So my neighbor was kidding, of course. She has a two and a half year old daughter and her husband is a criminal lawyer.

Jack has blazed a fearful path throughout the west coast and now it seems he has landed in our area. He has basically been run out of Washington State and is already causing quite a stir in the metro-LA area even though his website has been hijacked by anti-Jack McClellan individuals.

The point of great concern with Jack’s situation – as seen by concerned parents throughout Washington State and California (my wife and I included) – is he is a self-described pedophile and not a convicted one. Simply put, according to the law he hasn’t actually committed a crime. His website was — up until recently was a sort of “How To” blog for pedophiles, complete with tips, photos and recommendations, which apparently is not against the law. Having been pushed out of Washington State after a media-frenzy started a veritable witch-hunt, he has moved to the LA area, were he was born because as he says, climate was one factor but also there are so many world-class childrens attractions here, Disneyland, festivals and whatnot.

Now it seems crystal clear that Jack is a sick individual and although I would never claim to know current law, it seems clear to me that there is direct implication of intent, but that may not be enough to convict and therein lies the real problem. A U.C.L.A. law professor has pointed out this problem, “You can’t arrest him for just advocating sex with underage children. He has a constitutional right to do that.” Although Eugene Volokh, a Law Professor at U.CL.A. and first amendment expert claims in the N.Y.Times article,

The general rule is pictures of people in public are free for people to publish. Now if it is without permission and the person is a child and he suggests the children are sexual targets, you can imagine a court saying this is a new First Amendment exception. But it would be an uphill battle.” ~ Eugene Volokh, Law Professor, U.C.L.A.

It is published that he is living out of his blue Ford Escort in the Los Angeles area and from reports in the media and parent chat groups online he is trolling the area for what he calls LG’s (“Little Girls”). According to a CBS interview with Ron Tebo (the individual who has hijacked Jack’s website), who has been in touch with Jack via email, Jack is living off his Social Security Income and uses it to support his website.

Incidentally, according to the Lamplighter blog, his newest site is being hosted by a Canadian-based company name, Epifora which is in turn hosted by Wisconsin-based Steadfast Networks. Lamplighter has taken it upon himself to pushing the issue with the hosting company and affiliated services and making it crystal clear they are enabling a pedophiles website. I wish him luck on that front. Please visit his site for details on how you can help his cause with an email to the host company’s Abuse Department.

What has fascinated me about this predicament is the mothers and fathers of metro-LA have seemed to have mobilized on this situation with an impressive show of force. It is as if Jack has set off the most primal urge in us as animals to protect our offspring from predators. I say it in those terms because there are such raw and acrid statements toward him and his type on parent chat groups throughout the web; one of the more vocal and visible chat groups is PeachTreeFamilies.Com.

Considering his potential “audience” — illustrated above is a screen-grab of the registered sex offenders in Central and West Los Angeles (each blue box represents a register offender) — I think this mobilization to suppress his online efforts and his actions is diligent but until the current laws are addressed they will prove fruitless in court. Let’s hope lawmakers take note and put legislation for this matter on the agenda soon. In the meantime, as a concerned parent, I think the best thing to do as a parent is to keep your eyes and ears open – be proactive in your community, form a community crime watch, inform your kids about inappropriate adult behavior and contact Steadfast Network’s Abuse Department to make sure Jack cannot continue running his website.

Contact information for Steadfast Networks is:
Abuse Department:
Email – abuse@steadfast.net
Fax – 312-602-2688

Sited Articles:
New York Times | Parents Ire Grows at Pedophiles Unabashed Blog
Court TV | Pedophile Jack McClellan Seeks Advice on New Web Site
ABC4.Com | Parents Outraged Over California Man’s Website Advocating Pedophilia
Lamplighter Blog | Jack McClellan The “Celibate” Pedophile Is Back

Related Articles:
Jack McClellan Admits Photographing Wiggles Fans

Related Sites:
California Megan’s Law | Registered Sex Offenders Directory & Map
National Alert Registry
Facts About Sex Offenders

Watch The Road

Top Ten Behaviors that Contribute to Crashes (According to Studies By Watch The Road)

• Driving too fast for conditions (speeding)
• Aggressive driving
• Inattentive driving (e.g., cell phone)
• Driving, cycling or running through red traffic lights
• Driving under the influence (DUI)
• Not yielding to pedestrians
• Walking without looking
• Walking outside crosswalks
• Bicycling against traffic
• Not buckling up!

(WatchTheRoad.Org is a California-based non-profit dedicated to improving traffic safety and mobility in the Los Angeles Region.)

Robbed!

Recently I had a post, High-Tech Crime Blotter – CompSTAT where I was basically bragging about how I keep track of all the crime in my neighborhood. I felt like I was doing everything I needed too. I just had my entire yard fenced in (I have more gates then the Suez Canal now) and I’ve added all sorts of landscape lighting to scare away all the Bad Guys.

Great, a lot of good that did for me last night! Now granted, my wife and I are definitely a bit sleep deprived and suffer from some serious Mommy/Daddy Brain (case-in-point, yesterday I mistakenly threw my car keys away – good stuff) and occasionally we forget to lock the car or shut a door. Before going to bed, I have a routine of making sure all doors are closed and locked including the cars.

Evidently, last night I forgot to make sure the SUV was locked and someone rifled through our stuff, they just got some kids CDs – of all things. It could have been worse, they could have broke a window to get in. It could have been even worse, they could have stolen the car. They broke into three other cars on our block. Brazen! Apparently, they have a penchant for audio equipment. Luckily they dropped our registration while rifling through our neighbor’s car – and our neighbors where nice enough to return it to us. The thing that really upsets me though is our other neighbor explained that they had the gas siphoned from both of their cars. With the current cost of gas that represents over $150 dollars worth of gas! Damn it!

Time to get a gas cap lock. And a fake security system yard sign, ‘cuz I don’t have the money for one of those bonafide Brinks or ADT systems.

High-Tech Crime Blotter – CompSTAT

We’ve lived in Del Rey for just over two years now. Del Rey is just inland from Marina Del Rey in West Los Angeles. Just east of Marina Del Rey and just west of Culver City. It is also mistakenly called Mar Vista and realtors love to call it Marina Del Rey Adjacent. We like the area. I love the proximity to work (average 10 minute commute, which is uncommon here in L.A.) And the block we live on is busting with babies. Our block is about 200 yards long and we have nine kids under the age of six!

Of course being concerned with the safety of my kids and the kids of the neighborhood I have been looking online for all sorts of things; more streetlights, speed bumps and so forth. Also, I have been tracking the crime going on in my neighborhood for the last year using the COMPStat tool on the L.A.P.D.’s website. The CompSTAT is an interactive crime tracking system that, from what I can gather, is available through larger city police websites (New York City, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Detroit and others). Although I can say with all certainty that this still doesn’t beat the cackle of Italian women who lived around me in Brooklyn, who spent most of their time leaning out their windows calling over to each other or sitting on their stoops (they are all in their eighties, at least) keeping tabs on everybodys comings and goings, very well. Needless to say, they were the old-school equivalent of CompSTAT or the aged-ole’ crime blotter from yester’-year.

Anyway, CompSTAT allows me to type in my address and bring up a map populated by color coded dots representing the eight major types of crimes reported by a given precinct (i.e. burglary, grand theft auto, theft from vehicle, personal/other theft, robbery, aggravated assault, rape, and homicide). Below is a link to the L.A.P.D. version. In true geek form I spammed my neighbors recently after compiling my findings and calculating the neighborhood crime statistics (assuming the reporting is not skewed) over the course of the last year. The system only tracks back six months at a time and only allows queries of seven days, so I periodically took snapshots and sandwiched them at the end. I am still not sure what they have made of my mailing, but it has helped me a bit.

It turns out that most of the crime that happens in our area happens at night. This does not surprise me since we don’t have much many street lights (L.A. did not make it mandatory for residential developers until the mid-fifties and our neighborhood was built around 1950). The crime that happens is the expected- breaking into cars, stealing cars and burglaries. And the local police department explained to me that barring the big expense of getting our neighborhood retro-fitted with street lights (out of pocket expense = $3,400 per surrounding property and $100 annual upkeep), they suggest to get high wattage bulbs on my exterior lighting and suck up the extra cost per month them because it will still be much cheaper than the retro-fitted street lights. Makes sense to me.

Sited Links;
Los Angeles Police Department | CompSTAT Site

The Beautiful Dangers of High Voltage Lines

I was just joking in a post a few days ago about the elusive dangers of playgrounds that are located near/under high voltage power lines, and I just stumbled across this link. This art installation is beautiful, stunning and totally frightening all at the same time.

Richard Box, artist-in-residence at Bristol University’s physics department, got the idea for Field (2004) 1,301 fluorescent tubes powered only by the electric fields generated by low overhead powerlines after a conversation with a friend. He was telling me he used to play with a fluorescent tube under the pylons by his house, says the artist. He said it lit up like a light saber. Box decided to see if he could fill a field with tubes lit by the waste energy emanating from power lines. Box denies that he aimed to draw attention to the potential dangers of power lines, For me, it was just the amazement of taking something that’s invisible and making it visible, he says. ~ StopGeek.com

Phil & Ted E3 Double Stroller Recall

Hazard: Children can touch the rear tires when in the stroller’s add-on seat. This can pose an abrasion hazard to children.

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the additional rear seat in the lower position on top of the rear axle and contact Regal Lager for free additional rear wheel guards.

GO HERE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION>>