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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.

6 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.

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    rooooar
    1. 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!

    2. 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
  2. Mother... by Dan+East · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Cesmat, who has a sizable criminal history,"

    The girl's mother is an idiot.

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    Better known as 318230.
  3. 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.

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    Free as in "the Truth shall set you..."
  4. 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.

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    I'm a psychologist (amongst other things).