Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Girl Seeks Help On Facebook During Assault

Posted by samzenpus on from the emergency-status-update dept.

A 12-year-old girl who was being assaulted by her mother's ex-boyfriend used some quick thinking by sending a message on her iPod to a friend's Facebook account for help. The friend was able to contact the girl's mother who then contacted the police. 42-year-old Raymond Ernest Cesmat was arrested and charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree. He is being held at the Dakota County Jail on $175,000 bail.

35 of 417 comments (clear)

  1. Why's this on Slashdot? by Evro · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The girl was raped and the guy left the room. It's not like Facebook saved the girl from being raped. She contacted her friend and requested she contact her mother, then she escaped and called her mother herself from a payphone, then the guy was arrested. There's not much of a Facebook tie-in.

    --
    rooooar
    1. Re:Why's this on Slashdot? by Shakrai · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The girl was raped and the guy left the room. It's not like Facebook saved the girl from being raped

      .38 special > Facebook as a rape prevention device......

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    2. Re:Why's this on Slashdot? by Martin+Blank · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Children are not allowed to possess a firearm unless in the presence of an adult, and 12-year-old kids in general do not have the judgment necessary to carry one on their own.

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
    3. Re:Why's this on Slashdot? by MightyMartian · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think a 12 year old who was about to be raped would probably find a reasonably good use for a firearm.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    4. Re:Why's this on Slashdot? by thijsh · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Because with an ordinary case the vulture-like journalists can't easily find out the address, pictures and favorite color of the little girl in question, not to do anything to remotely help or support but to get as much views as possible... The facebook part is just used to enlist crowds of geeks to track every little bit of information down... I guess they didn't know they could just scour facebook to find her profile by searching for a comment like: PLZ water my farm 4me, being raped IRL!!! BRB? :'-(

    5. Re:Why's this on Slashdot? by obarthelemy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      and how many extra gun deaths do you think letting 12 yo have guns would cause ?

      hint: http://www.gun-control-network.org/International.gif

      (and that chart is only for INTENTIONAL deaths, you can add accidents to that, not that there are ver any accidents with guns...)

      --
      The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
    6. Re:Why's this on Slashdot? by gwayne · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Nonsense! I learned firearm safety around age 6 and have been using/carrying firearms on my own for over 30 years. Children who learn to hunt know very well the consequences using a firearm. I am not advocating that 12-year olds should carry weapons, but had she known how to use one, she certainly would have been justified in defending herself.

    7. Re:Why's this on Slashdot? by nbauman · · Score: 2, Insightful

      There are quite a few "Armed American" stories that involve children picking up legally owned firearms to defend themselves and/or their families against violent assaults.

      And there are quite a few more stories that involve family members picking up legally owned firearms in a moment of anger to kill another family member, or in a moment of distress to commit suicide.

    8. Re:Why's this on Slashdot? by Shakrai · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I am not advocating that 12-year olds should carry weapons, but had she known how to use one, she certainly would have been justified in defending herself.

      This.

      I knew a kid growing up that picked up a target rifle when someone broke into his house and attempted to rape his mother. Thankfully he didn't have to shoot the scumbag (guess he lost his nerve when he was looking at the business end of a firearm) but there's no way that you can say his actions weren't justified.

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    9. Re:Why's this on Slashdot? by mcvos · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Children are not allowed to possess a firearm unless in the presence of an adult,

      Haven't you read the story? There was an adult right there!

    10. Re:Why's this on Slashdot? by Beyond_GoodandEvil · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The girl was raped and the guy left the room.
      A shame the guy isn't an award winning director living in France, the he could have Whoopi Goldberg explain why this wasn't, "Rape, rape."

      --
      I laughed at the weak who considered themselves good because they lacked claws.
    11. Re:Why's this on Slashdot? by Runaway1956 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yes, the stories are out there. But, like yourself, most liberals, and even some moderates, discount all the accounts of self defense. "Oh, big deal, granny killed a rapist. Some moron killed his son last month!" Like - you're keeping score, and one accidental death negates 100 successful self defenses.

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    12. Re:Why's this on Slashdot? by Lumpy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If they did not have a gun, then it would have been a knife. Dont even dare to try and make it sound like that the gun perpetuated the violence.. It was the unstable person that did it.

      Unstable wackjobs will do what ever it takes... Ohh look, a wine bottle, that will kill someone nicely.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    13. Re:Why's this on Slashdot? by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And yet liberals plug their ears and scream "I CANT HEAR YOU" when you present the solid and provenfact that gun laws DO NOT STOP gun violence as criminals, suprisingly, do not care what gun laws say... Criminals have no problems getting guns even in places like the UK.

      Gun laws simply disarm honest people. That is it. there is no other use.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    14. Re:Why's this on Slashdot? by MBGMorden · · Score: 5, Insightful

      (the stereotypical 'hey look, it's dad's gun' scenario)

      If that can be reduced to a near zero factor through education. When you get the gun, don't hide it in a drawer. The kids WILL find it. Kids love to plunder and find stuff. Instead, let the kids know when you get the gun (if it's an "event" like that - in many gun-friendly households the kids are just born into it). Afterwards, take them out to the range shooting. Show them how to use it effectively, and safely. Tell them WHERE it's at in case they need it. Then, they're not going to run across it on accident, and they're not going to find the "magical" gun lying around there. They're going to know the location of a tool that's as interesting to them as a socket wrench or a drill.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
    15. Re:Why's this on Slashdot? by AshtangiMan · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The problem with your analysis seems to be a misuse of logic. You state your assumption (reducing the number of guns in circulation will lead to fewer crimes with guns) as if it is some kind of given truth. It's just like saying that criminalizing marijuana (for instance) will lead to reduced usage of marijuana. You will really need to do some work to back that claim up, beyond just looking it up in your gut.

      I am not a gun owner, nor do I plan to be one, and feel that if I end up needing a gun for self defense, probably I have done something wrong. But, I will never vote against gun rights because: the dude who is intent on committing a crime (nice example, granny getting raped by assailant with a gun) will do so with or without the gun. Furthermore, if a criminal needs a gun, there will always be a way to get one regardless of the legality.

      This of course is my opinion, but a casual survey of prohibitive laws in the modern world can provide a pretty quick sanity check on that opinion. There are a number of illegal things (most really) that I can acquire without much effort at all. Most of those things should probably not be illegal on the grounds that it costs more to have them illegal than it does to simply ignore them.

    16. Re:Why's this on Slashdot? by BrokenHalo · · Score: 1, Insightful

      The great bulk of underage gun deaths are either suicide or gangbangers.

      The trouble with having guns is that (1) sooner or later you're going to be tempted to use it on someone, which will result in you ending up in jail, or (2) someone else will use it on you, which will result in you being dead.

    17. Re:Why's this on Slashdot? by sarhjinian · · Score: 2, Insightful

      As opposed to the total freedom you enjoy in the US, provided you stick to free speech zones, don't mind having your phone lines wiretapped and/or be subject to laws written for the benefit of corporations, rather than people.

      Many of those "socialistic governments" actually manage to be more "free" than the US. Fascinating, isn't it, how the world doesn't fit into neat little ideological boxes.

      As for health care, you forgot the proviso "if you have money". As in, the American system is the best in the world if you have money. Rich Canadians can go to the US to get an MRI in a day; where to poor and middle-class Americans go? Canada?

      --
      --srj/mmv
    18. Re:Why's this on Slashdot? by clone53421 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Your argument is a slippery slope. Owning a gun does not inevitably mean that you’ll be tempted to use it to murder someone (much less actually use it to murder someone), nor does it inevitably mean that it’ll be used on you eventually.

      You could replace “guns” with butcher knives, baseball bats, crowbars, or just about any other weapon and your statement would be just as fallacious.

      --
      Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
    19. Re:Why's this on Slashdot? by MightyMartian · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Then, they're not going to run across it on accident, and they're not going to find the "magical" gun lying around there.

      That to me is the most important thing, to demystify guns. They are tools, highly dangerous tools to be sure, but tools nonetheless. The first step is to demythologize them, or more to the point to de-Hollywoodize them.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  2. Mother... by Dan+East · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Cesmat, who has a sizable criminal history,"

    The girl's mother is an idiot.

    --
    Better known as 318230.
    1. Re:Mother... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You said,

      No shit..not to mention the guy totally looks like a pedophile/rapist. Way to ignore all red flags...

      And then you said,

      It's called intuition. Some people have it more than others apparently...

      Nope. You're just too stupid to realize how stupid you are. You are the type of person who votes in bad politicians because of the suits they wear and the confidence in their voice, and who convicts innocent people of murder (if on a jury) because you see "evil in their eyes". People like you also let guilty people go free because they don't look evil.

      You also remind me of some people who said that Heinrich Himmler (the Nazi in charge of the Final Solution) has a pleasant, school teachers face. And of the victims who don't put up their guard when dealing with handsome and polite serial killers and wife beaters.

      You can judge people with your intuition, but I prefer to judge people based on my intelligence and logic skills. I don't need to know what you look like in order to judge you, I can tell merely by the type of arguments and reasoning you use.

      Martin Luther King once said,

      I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

      It's too bad that based on your "intuition" (what the rest of us call prejudice), so many people will be continue to be demonized, bullied, ostracized, under-employed, glass-ceiling-ed at work, and generally marginalized.

      In reality, it should be how people are on the inside that counts, not on the outside.

      Mr. Rogers said that looks don't matter:,

      It's not the things you wear,
      It's not the way you do your hair--
      But it's you I like.
      The way you are right now,
      The way down deep inside you--
      Not the things that hide you,
      Not your toys--
      They're just beside you.

      So you can live inside of your fantasy world where pedophiles and rapists are ugly, white, unemployed men who generally have goatees; and good people are handsome, suit wearing businessmen who are successful at sales. I'd rather live in reality.

  3. Good for something by maclizard · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This easily the best application that Facebook has ever been used for.

  4. Re:How? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I'm 42 and probably more hip than you. Sent from my iPad sitting in Starbucks listening to Passion Pit.

    I think the word you were searching for is "tool". iPads in Starbucks come under the heading "tool" rather than "hip". Although calling one's self "hip" is a qualification for "tool" designation as well.

  5. Re:wait, this is slashdot by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Rape by force is real.

    --
    Support my political activism on Patreon.
  6. Re:How? by drc003 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm not even trying to get the point. I just want to make it clear that ketchup on eggs is for losers no matter your age or perceived amount of "hipness". These are the same people who would put Heinz 57 on a Filet or Porterhouse.

  7. Why is this on Idle? by djKing · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A 12-year-old girl, victim of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree. Hilarious.

    --
    Free as in "the Truth shall set you..."
  8. Something that everyone seems to be ignoring: by Azuaron · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The girl grabbed her iPod. Not her iPhone. Not her cellphone, the home phone, the anything-phone, her iPod. Her cellphone was taken away. So everyone who's going, "Why didn't she call 911?" or "This could have easily been a text message," it couldn't. iPod. Had that been me, I'd probably have searched frantically for a phone, even venturing outside my room, and ultimately running to the payphone. It shows incredible presence of mind for her to realize she could get a message out from her iPod (via Facebook, but it could easily have been email or pretty much any other internet communication).

    I think that puts it firmly in the realm of Slashdot, and the debate should be something more along the lines of, "Should police departments have Facebook/other social networking accounts for the purpose of getting crime reports similar to 911." Probably not (too much spam), but it's something to consider. Sometimes it's easier to get on the internet than to a phone.

    --
    I'm a psychologist (amongst other things).
  9. Re:Not very smart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    rtfa, fuckwad

  10. "Assault"? by Tetsujin · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's called "Rape"...

    --
    Bow-ties are cool.
  11. Suicide numbers are irrelevant and dishonest by Quila · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, but almost no guns. The US has less than half their suicide rate, with guns freely available.

    People who want to commit suicide will use whatever means handy. The availability of one method, guns, has no impact on that.

    1. Re:Suicide numbers are irrelevant and dishonest by Idarubicin · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, but almost no guns. The US has less than half their suicide rate, with guns freely available.

      And, clearly, the availability of firearms is certainly the only social, political, cultural, or economic difference between those two countries.

      People who want to commit suicide will use whatever means handy. The availability of one method, guns, has no impact on that.

      Not having a gun handy very likely doesn't affect the number of suicide attempts, but it may reduce the number of successes. Not all methods of suicide are equally effective.

      --
      ~Idarubicin
  12. Re:Dumb mom by otopico · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I hate to feed AC trolls, but please prove proof of your "Every crime ever committed against children comes from the current or ex boyfriend of some mother." claim.

    I know you can't but I'm sick of the crap some people are willing to spit out. I would encourage you to also "use your freakin' brain" you moron.

  13. Re:Confusing convention with brilliance by kalirion · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Next time I'm assaulted and don't know how to get help, I'll try forcing lots of air through my tightened vocal chords. Who would think of that?

    Yes, keep doing that, and maybe some good samaritan will help you in the middle of the night. Hey, worked for Kitty Genovese, right?

    And for the record, the girl in TFA did scream.

  14. Re:wait, this is slashdot by poptones · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yes, it's very easy to conduct such studies - because in an era when pedophile means "witch to be burned forever in hell or at the stake whichever we can get to first" people are completely willing to admit to being a pedophile...

    It's impossible to take such a measure, because our society has made it virtually impossible to discuss the issue in a rational manner. Imagine if someone WAS able to make such an assessment - "in an anonymous survey of one million self professed pedophiles such and such a percentage had actually been accused or convicted of crimes against children" and that percentage was anything less than 99% - imagine the reaction it would meet with in public forums. The author would probably be burned at the stake, at least professionally.