Teen girls may face charges in MySpace sex prank
EVERETT, Wash. - Police say they have solved the case of a local woman who received a torrent of sexual propositions from strangers over the phone after someone apparently pulled a malicious prank on MySpace.com.
And now two teenage girls are facing possible computer trespass charges in connection with the bizarre case, said Everett police spokesman Sgt. Robert Goetz.
Officers say the trouble began on Saturday night when the phone began ringing off the hook at the home of the victim, whom KOMO News has chosen only to identify as "Marie." The calls, Marie said, were sexual in nature, and quickly tested her patience.
"It became a nuisance," she said. "I mean, you're sitting down to have dinner and people are calling, wanting to argue whether you're going to have sex with them or not."
The calls didn't stop. And by Sunday and Monday, Marie was receiving text messages. One message asked, "Hey, did your really put that stuff on your page?" Another asked, "Is this R------?"
Soon enough, Marie was angry and upset. But mostly, she was stumped. How were these people getting her number, and what "page" were they taking about? And who the heck was "R-------?"
By Tuesday, after questioning several more callers, Marie had determined that somebody had listed her phone number on a Myspace page, soliciting sex.
"The person is saying she's 16 years old, wanting to have sex (with) doesn't matter what age," she said.
Marie said she'd never before seen the person featured on the page, and doesn't know how the person would have gotten her phone number.
She contacted MySpace, but they would not remove the page. So KOMO News Problem Solvers called MySpace on Marie's behalf. Thirty minutes later, the page was taken down.
When Everett police investigated, they found that the problem all started with two high school girls, ages 14 and 15, who were involved in a dispute with a 16-year-old girl, and by chance drew Marie into their feud.
The 14- and 15-year-olds allegedly hacked into the 16-year-old's MySpace page and posted the sex invitation there. When they did, they changed the victim's cell phone number by one digit - which happened to be Marie's number.
"It was a random choice of numbers," Goetz said. "They didn't know her (Marie), and she didn't know them."
Now the incident is being investigated as a potential crime, and the 14- and 15-year-old girls face possible charges of computer trespass and ID theft.
Meantime, Marie is just happy that the calls have stopped coming.
"I'm glad it's over," she said.
And MySpace said it will launch an investigation into the handling of Marie's complaints and why the page hadn't been taken down earlier.
And now two teenage girls are facing possible computer trespass charges in connection with the bizarre case, said Everett police spokesman Sgt. Robert Goetz.
Officers say the trouble began on Saturday night when the phone began ringing off the hook at the home of the victim, whom KOMO News has chosen only to identify as "Marie." The calls, Marie said, were sexual in nature, and quickly tested her patience.
"It became a nuisance," she said. "I mean, you're sitting down to have dinner and people are calling, wanting to argue whether you're going to have sex with them or not."
The calls didn't stop. And by Sunday and Monday, Marie was receiving text messages. One message asked, "Hey, did your really put that stuff on your page?" Another asked, "Is this R------?"
Soon enough, Marie was angry and upset. But mostly, she was stumped. How were these people getting her number, and what "page" were they taking about? And who the heck was "R-------?"
By Tuesday, after questioning several more callers, Marie had determined that somebody had listed her phone number on a Myspace page, soliciting sex.
"The person is saying she's 16 years old, wanting to have sex (with) doesn't matter what age," she said.
Marie said she'd never before seen the person featured on the page, and doesn't know how the person would have gotten her phone number.
She contacted MySpace, but they would not remove the page. So KOMO News Problem Solvers called MySpace on Marie's behalf. Thirty minutes later, the page was taken down.
When Everett police investigated, they found that the problem all started with two high school girls, ages 14 and 15, who were involved in a dispute with a 16-year-old girl, and by chance drew Marie into their feud.
The 14- and 15-year-olds allegedly hacked into the 16-year-old's MySpace page and posted the sex invitation there. When they did, they changed the victim's cell phone number by one digit - which happened to be Marie's number.
"It was a random choice of numbers," Goetz said. "They didn't know her (Marie), and she didn't know them."
Now the incident is being investigated as a potential crime, and the 14- and 15-year-old girls face possible charges of computer trespass and ID theft.
Meantime, Marie is just happy that the calls have stopped coming.
"I'm glad it's over," she said.
And MySpace said it will launch an investigation into the handling of Marie's complaints and why the page hadn't been taken down earlier.