MySpace making headlines… again
I ran across this article after I saw this on the evening news
She is an honor student from a small town in Michigan. He calls himself Abdullah Psycho.
They found love on the Internet and it became an international incident — a spectacular example of what experts say is fast becoming a modern twist to an age-old problem of young girls, older men and bad decisions. Nationwide, Web enticement cases have quadrupled in recent months, according to a national group that tracks such incidents.
Katherine Lester, 16, is in hiding today after creating a global stir by leaving her mother’s home last week in the farming town of Gilford, population 833, and boarding a series of planes en route to Israel’s West Bank.
She wanted to meet a man with the ominous nickname, believed to be 25, whom she met on the popular Web site MySpace.com. Instead, FBI agents tracked her down Thursday during a layover in Amman, Jordan, and persuaded her to return to her bewildered family.
"Evidently, she’s in love with this man. That’s what she said," said family attorney Renee Wood, during a press conference Monday on the steps of the Tuscola County Courthouse in Michigan’s Thumb.
"She’s never been away before. She’s a straight-A student, National Honor Society member. She gets along with Mom. She gets along with Dad. There are a lot of questions," Wood said.
FBI agents have plenty, but the anonymous man who calls himself Abdullah Psycho isn’t providing them. The self-proclaimed "industrial/trip-hop/electronica" musician’s MySpace page features a cartoon with the caption "I Give You My Heart, Kath."
Authorities believe he paid for the plane ticket for the girl who turns 17 next week.
"I’m not what they think," he wrote in an e-mail to The Detroit News before declining further comment.
The incident is the third in a month involving Michigan teenage girls leaving home to find older men they met on MySpace, a site that allows its 72 million users to post photos, swap comments and link up as friends.
In May, Macomb County deputies stopped a 25-year-old Hammond, Ind., man who drove to Harrison Township to meet a 13-year-old girl he met on the site. Earlier this month, a 17-year-old from Wyoming drove to West Branch to pick up a 12-year-old girl.
"It’s just taking off on us," said Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel, who drove to Jackson to intercept the car with the Indiana man and Macomb County teen.
"We get more complaints from parents than are ever exposed by the media. It’s an everyday occurrence, and it’s almost impossible to keep track of. Kids know the dangers. They get more intrigued by these sites because of the dangers."
Read the source article here
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