Man Uses Facebook to Steal From and Blackmail Women

Now, we all do stupid things on Facebook, if you have one. We've all made a dumb post or posted a compromising picture or two. But see, most people have the good sense to at least friend-lock their page so that those stupid things can only be seen by certain friends.

So how about when some asshat hacks your Facebook, steals it, posts your compromising pictures everywhere, or blackmails you with them so that you send him more photos?

Meet the asshat, George Bronk. Isn't he just precious?

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A California man has admitted using personal information he gleaned from Facebook to hack into women's e-mail accounts, download nude and seminude photos and videos sent from those accounts, and then forward the photos to all of the woman's contacts.

So what he did was scan her public-available info to get an idea of their passwords or security questions, then he would use the info gleaned to get into their accounts. He would then change the passwords so that the account was under his control, and send the women e-mails blackmailing them with their photos. If they didn't send him nude photos, he would post the ones he had all over Facebook. And you all know as well as I do that if an employer saw those photos, her job would be in danger, not to mention that public humiliation and the feelings of violation.

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Bronk coerced one woman into sending him more explicit photographs by threatening to distribute the pictures he already had. One victim told authorities the intrusion felt like "virtual rape."

Yeah, I bet it did. This jackass used coercion/blackmail to get sexually explicit photos.

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Bronk, who lives in Citrus Heights, Calif., pleaded guilty Thursday to seven felonies in state Superior Court, including computer intrusion, false impersonation and possession of child pornography. Prosecutors are seeking a six-year prison term when he returns for a sentencing evaluation March 10.

The bolded makes me think he not only did this to women, but teenagers.

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Prosecutors are seeking a six-year prison term.

He violated the personal rights of at least seventeen women, including minors, and he's only getting six years? People have gone to prison longer for possession of personal marijuana! Are you fucking kidding me?!

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Bronk's attorney, Monica Lynch, called her client a "23-year-old boy going on 15."

"He's accepted full responsibility. It's a tragic situation," she said.

Oh, well, he accepted responsibility, that makes it all better. And he shouldn't be held accountable for his actions, he's immature! And hey, after all, those women posted those slutty photos in the first place, they should have known someone would violate their privacy and do this.

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Investigators caught on after a victim called Connecticut State Police, which referred the complaint to the California Highway Patrol. When authorities searched Bronk's computer in September, they found 172 e-mail files containing explicit photographs of women, according to a court affidavit. They were able to track his victims to 17 states, including Virginia, and the District.

And there were apparently victims overseas in England too.

Lapin wrote:

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Prosecutors are seeking a six-year prison term.

He violated the personal rights of at least seventeen women, including minors, and he's only getting six years? People have gone to prison longer for possession of personal marijuana! Are you fucking kidding me?!

The law hasn't caught up with the technology yet. Not to mention that it's politically valuable to be "tough on drugs", hence the mandatory minimums and make-weight statutes.

Plus he copped a plea, so I imagine that the terms of the deal include a sentence at the low range of the spectrum. The judge is, of course, free to disregard the plea deal and essentially force the case to trial.

Judges can disregard plea deals?

Ooh, please let the judge disregard this one.

I just noticed that his attorney called him a "boy". No. He's 23. He is a fully grown adult who is responsible for his actions, and he needs to be held responsible for them, not given some hand-waving and "boys will be boys" lectures.

Lapin wrote:

Judges can disregard plea deals?

If they feel the terms of the deal are too lenient, or that the defendant does not show sufficient remorse for their acts, the deal can be ignored. It's a recommendation, not a binding agreement.

However, judges very rarely disregard plea deals because without them the judicial system would grind to a standstill.

Yeah, I guess so. (Grumbles)

Lapin wrote:

I just noticed that his attorney called him a "boy". No. He's 23. He is a fully grown adult who is responsible for his actions, and he needs to be held responsible for them, not given some hand-waving and "boys will be boys" lectures.

Oh, silly, silly Lapin! He's just a loveable scamp whose quest for n00ds and female contact went too far, that's all! GOD WHY ARE YOU SUCH A MANHATER