Male student 'used Facebook to blackmail boys for sex'

Font size:February 05, 2009 01:45pmArticle from: Reuters

A STUDENT posed as a girl on Facebook to trick male classmates into sending naked photos of themselves before blackmailing some for sex acts.

Anthony Stancl even filmed some of the revolting encounters on his mobile phone, prosecutors say. 

The "really sinister" case has emerged as Facebook celebrates its fifth birthday - and as rival networking site MySpace reveals it has kicked off thousands of sex offenders. 

"The kind of manipulation that occurred here is really sinister in my estimation," Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel said in the United States. 

The students go to New Berlin Eisenhower High School in New Berlin, which is in Waukesha County about 15 miles west of Milwaukee. 

Stancl, of New Berlin, was charged yesterday with five counts of child enticement, two counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child, two counts of third-degree sexual assault, possession of child pornography, repeated sexual assault of the same child, and making a bomb threat. 

The incidents happened from spring 2007 through to November, when officers questioned Stancl about a bomb threat he allegedly sent to teachers and wrote about on a school's bathroom wall. It resulted in the closing of New Berlin Eisenhower Middle and High School. 

According to the criminal complaint, Stancl first contacted the students through the social networking site Facebook, pretending to be a girl named Kayla or Emily. 

The boys reported they were tricked into sending nude photos or videos of themselves, the complaint said. 

Thirty-one victims were identified and interviewed and more than half said the girl with whom they were communicating tried to get them to meet with a male friend to let him perform sex acts on them. 

They were told that if they didn't, she would send the nude photos or movies to their friends and post them on the Internet, according to the complaint. Stancl used the excuse to get the victims to perform repeated acts, the complaint said. 

Seven boys were identified in the complaint by their initials as either having to allegedly perform sex acts on Stancl or Stancl on them in the high school bathroom, parking lots, neighborhoods under construction, the public library restroom, parks and at some of the victims' homes. 

The complaint said Stancl took photos with his cell phone of the encounters. 

Officers found about 300 nude images of juvenile males on his computer, according to the complaint. The victims ranged in age from 15 to 17 or 18 years of age at the time of the assaults, the complaint said. 

"We know from experience how damaging sexual abuse on children can be," Schimel said. 

"We are particularly concerned in this case because of the sheer number of kids that are all in one school." 

Schimel said one victim came forward before the bomb threat, but authorities would have likely found Stancl anyway due to the threat. 

Stancl's attorney, Craig Kuhary, said Stancl plans to initially plead not guilty to the charges. 

"It's too early in the case for me to make a statement, other than the fact at some point we are going to go into events that had taken place earlier that might have had some impact on what he did here," he said. He wouldn't go into specifics. 

Kuhary said he hoped that at some point they could reach a plea agreement with the district attorney. Schimel said he was open to talking to Kuhary. 

Kuhary said Stancl has been expelled from school. 

A preliminary hearing for Stancl has been scheduled February 26. 

The maximum penalty if convicted on all charges is nearly 300 years in prison. 

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Three women abduct, rape man in Karachi

3 Feb 2009, 0130 hrs IST, AGENCIES
KARACHI: Karachi police have registered a case against three unidentified women who allegedly abducted a man and raped him over four consecutive
days, and later throwing him near Qayyumabad River in an unconscious state.

The victim identified as Khalil, 23, works as a waiter at a restaurant. Khalil revealed that, on the night of January 27, an identified man ordered him to deliver food to the women sitting in a car outside the restaurant.

“After giving me the order, the man went towards the car. I took the order to the car where the women told me that they had recently shifted to the area,” the Daily Times quoted him as saying. The women then asked him to deliver food to their house every day. “They asked me to go along with them in the car to see me where their house was,” he added. Once they got to the house, “they gave me milk that had some drug in it ... I fell unconscious after drinking it”.

As he regained consciousness, Khalil found that the women “were forcing themselves onto me”. According to assistant superintendent of police Asad Raza, the women sexually assaulted Khalil for four days, and then threw him near Qayyumabad river. “His condition is really bad ... his genitals are bleeding and he cannot walk properly,” said Raza.

Raza said the women belonged to rich families of Karachi’s Clifton area. “It’s a complicated case ... but we are hoping that we will solve it soon,” he added.

Meanwhile, in another bizarre case in Karachi, the Crime Investigation Department (CID) police on Monday arrested four robbers, including a police constable, on charges of looting passengers and seized weapons, motorcycle and car from their possession.

SSP CID Police Chaudhry Aslam said incidents of robbing passengers returning home from foreign countries were on the rise. The CID, after receiving a tip-off, asked a car and two bikes’ riders to stop. However, they opened fire at the cops, who retaliated.

All four people riding the car, were arrested. One of the four accused, Khalid Amir, is a police constable, serving at Shara-e-Faisal Police Station.




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When Males kiss...

 

        Jim Carrey               Ewan McGregor

JIM CARREY battled doubts before taking on a role as a homosexual convict in I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS in case he discovered he enjoyed kissing men.
In the film, inspired by true events, Carrey stars as jailed con artist Steven Jay Russell who falls in love with his cellmate, Phillip Morris, played by Ewan MCGregor.
The two actors locked lips for the comedy drama, prompting the funnyman to wonder what effect it would have on him and his relationship with Jenny MCCarthy if he found himself enjoying it.
Carrey jokes, "I did find myself wondering what will people think? And what if I like it? And how will that affect me? And Jenny?"
But his co-star MCGregor didn't hesitate to go all the way, adding: "It wasn't awkward. You're not playing a gay or a straight character. You're playing someone who's in love... As an actor you're always looking for interesting stories. I've played gay characters so I've kissed men before.
"It's about getting on with it. And it all felt strangely usual." 

Gay-straight divide 'an absurdity,' Queer as Folk star says

Scott McKeen, Freelance

HAL SPARKS

Where: Comic Strip in West Edmonton Mall

When: Today, Thursday and Sunday at 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 and 10:30 p.m.

Tickets: $34.95. Call 483-5999 or go to www.thecomicstrip.ca

- - -

EDMONTON - Hal Sparks is not queer. Nor is he just folk.

For a comic, his observations about life can be downright serious. Until, that is, he pulls some wicked line out of thin air, just to let you know why he packs comedy clubs.

Sparks, who played the first gay married man on series television, Michael on the hit Queer as Folk, started as a stand-up comic at age 15 in Chicago. From there, he went on to the Second City troupe and eventually graduated to acting, like many of his contemporaries in stand-up comedy.

"I think they are two totally different art forms with overlapping skill sets," says Sparks. "That being said, a lot of us screw it up and are terrible actors."

He's done spots on a range of TV shows, from CSI to Celebrity Paranormal Project. He was Zoltan in the movie Dude Where's My Car? and does regular voice work on the cartoon Tak and the Power of Juju.

One of his first acting gigs was in the, uh, overlooked movie Chopper Chix in Zombietown. Not that he's embarrassed by his feature film debut. After all, the movie also starred a young Billy Bob Thornton.

"We shot that movie on the edge of Death Valley," he says. "If that doesn't speak to your career path at that point, I don't know what does."

Still, he survived to be eventually cast in the trailblazing Queer as Folk. Did he worry about playing a gay man?

"I'm really not one of those guys who makes gay jokes," says Sparks. "Because I don't think those jokes are about homosexuality.

"I think they're about the feminine. Men have difficulty dealing with the feminine. Dealing with anything that is receptive or passive scares them. And the idea that a dude would be receptive or passive scares the crap out of them."

Sparks says playing the part gave him new insight into the ridiculous segregation between straight and gay men.

"It left me feeling like I was standing on a bridge looking at two warring parties and going: 'You know you're both insane, right?'

"Gay people are born the way they are. They no more make that choice than you and I make a choice to be straight. It's no big deal. It's not even important enough to argue over. It's an absurdity."

One popular theory about homophobia is that it's rooted in male insecurity caused by our culture's absence of a ritual rite of passage into manhood. Sparks doesn't buy it.

"I think those rites of passage often create a cartoon-like view of manhood," he says. "They usually involve drinking alcohol and killing a rabbit or a boar. Genuine manhood, I think, is a process you arrive at over the course of your life."

At this point in his life, he's on the road and making a stop this week at Edmonton's Comic Strip. What can we expect?

"Ultimately I feel as a comic it's my responsibility to have a good set," he says. "To some comics, it's a bad crowd, therefore its a bad show, end of story.

"To me, that's like a plumber who comes in to fix your leaky pipes and says: 'These are too leaky for me.'

"I'm a plumber, I should shut up and fix the pipes. Comedy is the same thing. I don't care how tough the audience is, it's my responsibility to make them laugh."

After all, he's had tougher audiences. Like on set, when he was shooting nude sex scenes on Queer as Folk in front of directors, producers and the crew.

"Those are like simulating sex with a cousin on the Thanksgiving dinner table in front of your whole family," said Sparks. "You're not going to be comfortable. Well, unless you're from Arkansas and that's your thing."

© The Edmonton Journal 2008

Published: Wednesday, August 06 2008