‘Child Predator’ Harasses School Girls

A civil engineer from North Carolina faces accusation for intruding into the Web site of Brevard County Girls High School and using the girls' web pages to threaten them to supply their nude pictures. On April 16, 2007 a federal judge refused him bail.

The Maitland-based FBI agents arrested 32-year old Ivory Dickerson on December 1, 2006. The agents were investigating a wave of hackings into the profiles of Rockledge High School students in the social networking site MySpace.com.

Dickerson is under a number of federal charges. According to records, Dickerson first viewed the girls' picture on MySpace then broke into their account and sent them a message saying he knew their residence by providing them an address and then threatened them to give their nude photos.

U.S. Magistrate Judge James Glazebrook described the event as terrorism against the schoolgirls. He said this after hearing detention for Dickerson, reported Orlando Senitel on April 17, 2007.

According to the testimony of criminal investigator Steven McElyea, Dickerson had numerous pictures of youngsters in obscene poses on his computer. He also had his own video diary that showed a cruise where there were two girls in his cabin.

As per an FBI criminal complaint, Dickerson used computer viruses to target his victims. The viruses allowed him to remotely access the hard drives of his victims. The charges on Dickerson are that of intentional and unauthorized access of computers, called 'hacking' - a serious crime. In the second week of April 2007, Dickerson pleaded not guilty but if charges on him proved true, he could face prison for up to 10 years.

FBI investigators used special software and records from software firms and ISPs to trace the online communication at Dickerson's residence in November 2005. First they thought someone else was trying to access his computer to harass the teenage girls. But after they interviewed Dickerson, the threats came to a halt.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg said Dickerson attacked the young girls sexually as visible in his video and deserves punishment. He described Dickerson as a child predator. Orlando Senitel published Handberg's statement on April 17, 2007.

Related article: “Loopholes did not cause online banking thefts”: ICBC

» SPAMfighter News - 4/24/2007