Man Gets 12-Year Jail Sentence For Planting Child Porn On Enemy's Computer 448
An anonymous reader writes with an update to a story we discussed in August about Neil Weiner, a man who sought to ruin the life of a school caretaker by planting child pornography on his computer. Weiner has now been convicted on two counts of possession of child pornography and one count of perverting the course of justice. He was sentenced to 12 years in jail.
"The judge told Weiner that his plot to have Mr. Thompson sacked and prosecuted very nearly succeeded. Police had been careful not to make public their arrest of the caretaker and only informed those at the school who needed to know, he said. 'But you gratuitously and spitefully informed the local press so that he and his wife suffered the distress of the unwelcome publicity which followed.' Mr. Thompson's health and that of his wife suffered. The judge said: 'There are still those who believe, and probably always will, that he is a pedophile. I am wholly satisfied that Mr. Thompson is innocent.' ... Weiner had discovered the caretaker's password by looking over his shoulder one day and been caught doing so. When Mr. Thompson was asked why he did not change it, he said he wished he had, adding: 'Who in their worst nightmares would could have thought that anyone could stoop to do what he did?'"
Perverting the course of justice. (Score:5, Insightful)
What an appropriate charge. Also, this guy can rot.
Lethal Weapon VII (Score:5, Insightful)
All of the above combined
Live and learn (Score:5, Insightful)
This clearly illustrates that until lay persons learn to think otherwise in terms of privacy and security on systems and networks; nothing is going to get better.
Not suprising... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Not suprising... (Score:3, Insightful)
Waaaaaah. I'm so broken up inside over people getting in trouble for possessing pictures and videos taking of people being raped. Oh how sad it is for them.
Re:Lethal Weapon VII (Score:5, Insightful)
Which was what was going to befall his victim had the person not been cleared. It's only fitting that he now gets put into that spot himself.
Correction, that's exactly what's happening to the person anyway. Just as the judge said, there will forever after be people who are likely going to believe the man is a pedo even after the judge cleared his name. I doubt the press will publish the results of the trial as front page news since it will show that they were fooled by the man. At best perhaps a small article at the bottom of page 18.
What a Happy Optimist Mr. Thompson Is... (Score:5, Insightful)
'Who in their worst nightmares would could have thought that anyone could stoop to do what he did?
When I was growing up, my dad once told me something along the lines of, "Boy, think of the worst, meanest, most downright, terrible thing you would be willing to do to someone that you truly hated. Now, you can safely make the assumption that someone else out there could come up with something worse if you give them enough reason. Remember that."
I always did.
Re:Lethal Weapon VII (Score:5, Insightful)
That's the point. The social stigma and legal punishments for what amounts to a thought-crime (mere possession of child pornography, not the creation of it) is above crimes that cause real, tangible harm to other people.
Instead of pinning child porn on the caretaker, he could have just outright shot him and suffered a more lenient fate*.
* Assuming, of course, GP is being factual in the list of crimes that have more lenient punishments.
Re:Not suprising... (Score:1, Insightful)
Actually not. Any particular series of bits is data. If it has any meaning to a sentient being it's information.
Or did I get that wrong?
Re:hypocritical ignorant victim (Score:1, Insightful)
the "would could could" aside.... REALLY? in your WORST nightmares people aren't stooping low enough to commit homicide? no physical harm at all?
Unlike you, not everybody is a twisted sociopathic asshole. Many people are "good", and can't imagine that someone could attempt to destroy someone else's life.
a tarnished reputation later exonerated by a judge is your WORST nightmare?
Sorry, but "what he did" wasn't an attempt to get the guy exhonerated - "what he did" was attempt to destroy the man's life. And he very nearly succeeded.
So pull your head out of your ass, your brain is starving for oxygen.
Re:Perverting the course of justice. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Lethal Weapon VII (Score:2, Insightful)
Yeah, and i suppose it is worse than ACTUALLY destroying someone's life, permanently? As in, you know, KILLING them?
Yes, the tool definitely deserves to be punished, but that sentencing is messed up, regardless of how much of a dick he was.
You're the kind of mob-mentality that probably stands outside "convicted" pedophiles doors throwing stuff at them.
The whole "taboo", witch-hunt of the 21st century over child porn, pedophilia and so on is pathetic.
You can have your entire life ruined for being a moderator on a forum because of retardedness like this if someone just happens to come along and post some child porn. Or worse, you just happened to come across the thumbnails, or even worse than that, the full image!
And yes, some people are so technically illiterate that people have been screwed over because of a web browsers cache. Even years after the image was cached.
A pedo is no worse than any other sexual predator. They should be treated the same.
And before people come in crying over how children are so innocent, just get out.
I can't count how many times people have been screwed over by children. I know some personally, and i could bet most people here have or do too.
Children aren't innocent in the slightest, children are pricks, you should know, you were one, they abuse their position in law all the damn time.
If anything, children should have stricter laws created for them. I'm getting a bit sick of children getting off for robbing stores with knives or some shit like that, but some poor twat who browsed 4chan for a day is getting pummelled in the ass by some dude with more metal in his mouth than the jail cells door.
And don't get me started on the "children can't make good decisions at that age" bullshit either. Children are forced in to deciding their entire futures at 8-14 years of age all across the world. They seem to be perfectly capable of that, right? Sex? "YOU MONSTER, DIE A MILLION TIMES! THEY CAN'T DO THAT! SICK FUCK!!" Mm, yes, apparently nature is a lying bastard too.
Fuck society. And fuck people who think like that. People like that have ruined society. Both the children and the ones who defend them.
Apologies for the profanity.
Re:Lethal Weapon VII (Score:3, Insightful)
Instead of pinning child porn on the caretaker, he could have just outright shot him and suffered a more lenient fate*.
* Assuming, of course, GP is being factual in the list of crimes that have more lenient punishments.
Except none of what he states is relevant to either murder (which is a mandatory life sentence in England) or attempted murder. Both of which are far more stringently punished then what happened here.
Re:Lethal Weapon VII (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah, and i suppose it is worse than ACTUALLY destroying someone's life, permanently? As in, you know, KILLING them?
No. Nice strawman, though. If he had murdered the guy he would be facing a mandatory life sentence rather than this 12 years.
BTW, I'm not a "think of the children person". The fact that he tried to destroy this person's life with child porn is irrelevant. He could have tried to frame him for any other number of things and I still wouldn't feel a lick of sympathy for him.
Re:hypocritical ignorant victim (Score:5, Insightful)
If you RTFA, you'd know both the man and his family were subjected to months of abuse while the investigation proceeded, and the abuse occurred because the guy framing him leaked the charge to the news media. Yes, he should have changed his password, but that just puts him in the same category as the overwhelming majority of people who don't keep their office computers sufficiently secure.
And yes, for many people, being accused of pedophelia IS worse than being charged with murder. I know a man who lost his job, his house and his family while his case dragged through the courts. The whole town thought he was guilty. He was beaten twice, once very severely. The kids who accused him eventually recanted their stories, but the damage was done. So you can take your self-righteousness and shove it straight up your ass.
You fail at nightmares (Score:3, Insightful)
While I can understand some naivity, it's not like computer kiddie porn is the first witch hunt.
Whether criminalizing kiddie porn is a good idea or a bad one (I can understand the viewpoint of the porn enabling the crimes / creating the demand), when you have thoughtcrimes on the books, everyone really should be expecting that sometimes innocent people will be harmed. I think that when someone says they can't believe it would happen, they probably really mean that they think it'll probably never happen to them. Probably.
Re:Not suprising... (Score:5, Insightful)
And the parent may have been flamebait, but it seems like the natural conversation for this story.
Re:Lethal Weapon VII (Score:1, Insightful)
WRONG! By possessing child porn you are supporting the scum that ARE ABUSING CHILDREN to create it in the first place.
Re:Perverting the course of justice. (Score:5, Insightful)
Fired, for kiddie porn, is something else entirely.
Simply being accused is enough to ruin your life.
Re:Lethal Weapon VII (Score:5, Insightful)
It will also get you a longer sentence than abusing hundreds of children as in the following case [bbc.co.uk]
The above case seems to be remarkably lenient, given the sheer scale of the abuse I would have thought a life sentence would have been more appropriate.
Re:Not suprising... (Score:3, Insightful)
We in the US have retarded attitudes towards sex and we are the twisted ones. If you think nude pictures of child are pornography, then that means you find them arousing and that you are the sick bastard.
All those judges who ruled that pictures of children are pornography are the perverts.
We in the US are pretty much perverts.
Re:hypocritical ignorant victim (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Lethal Weapon VII (Score:3, Insightful)
Good job! (Score:3, Insightful)
Police had been careful not to make public their arrest of the caretaker and only informed those at the school who needed to know, he said.
Good for them, exercising a bit of restraint while the suspect was not yet proven guilty!
Re:Perverting the course of justice. (Score:5, Insightful)
In before slippery slope assholes who believe that every person who looks up heroin online is destined to be a junkie.
Re:hypocritical ignorant victim (Score:5, Insightful)
"So you can take your self-righteousness and shove it straight up your ass."
I agree, I'm troubled by what more people than me are calling the 21st century equivalent of the Salem witch trials, made even more cogent by these frame charges. Every one of the supposed "witches" were simply accused of witchcraft by a group of four bored teenagers. The lives of the entire family faculty of McMartin PreSchool were destroyed because one child lied. Mere possession can land you in more hot water than murder? That's ridiculous. I'm not condoning pedophilia, but I think people & media are caught in a sensationalism that rivals yellow journalism from the 1900's.
Re:Lethal Weapon VII (Score:5, Insightful)
causing temporary emotion distress
Yeah, no one ever has lifelong emotional issues stemming from being sexually abused. No, once the person stops raping you you just magically get over it and it's like nothing ever happened at all.
Re:I could kill someone and get a shorter sentence (Score:2, Insightful)
Think of how much jail time and beatings in prison Thompson would have received if this plot hadn't been foiled. Weiner should get that + a few extra years for being a dick and going to the media about it. He tried to ruin someone's life, and deserves at least the fate of what Thompson would have gotten, plus a little extra.
Re:You fail at nightmares (Score:3, Insightful)
Nowhere in the law does it require the acquisition of said child porn to have been intentional.
Wow. Vindictive much? (Score:5, Insightful)
As others have pointed out, you were a contractor. Your choice. And this is your side of the story, I'm sure it leaves out some details. If you had an actual case, you could go to court. But you don't, do you? And so you daydream about ruining someone's entire life. Did you know the idea of "an eye for an eye" was originally not seen as harsh,because it was meant to replace "Your life for an eye." Of course nowadays, even "an eye for an eye" is seen as unjust. But you seem to think that even "an eye for an eye" is not harsh enough.
If your boss had a problem with you watching Fox News, it sounds like you were simply not a good fit. Why stay at a place you are not wanted, especially as a contractor? Do you not feel confident in your abilities to find work? If that's the case, perhaps you should not be a contractor. She did you a favor, enabling you to look for a job where your political views would not be an issue. If you were a real employee, you might have a case. If you had some sort of protections written into your contract, you might have a case. But that is not how contractors generally work, they generally work at the whims of those that employ them, and can be let go for any reason or none, at any time.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:This would have worked (Score:3, Insightful)
It's technically infeasible (maybe even impossible) to secure a computer at your workplace from coworkers, even if you're an expert. Sure, you can make it harder for them, but in the end they can always get to you - be it with the OS install disk or a simple keylogger. The primary loophole used in this attack was not the victim's stupidly negligent password policy, but a justice system that makes it so very easy to frame people like that. Since it's a crime where you're guilty for mere possession of the material, nobody really cares how it got on your hard drive. You can say "I didn't put it there" all day if you want, fact remains it's there and you have it. The same mechanism applies to drug possession, which is also routinely used to frame people. Mr Thompson was just exceedingly lucky because his attacker was so mindbogglingly clumsy in framing him, then he got lucky again because police and the judge actually cared about the fact that he was "innocent". One can only assume that many people are not that lucky, the best they can hope for is a guilty plea bargain to reduce the inevitably draconian sentence.
Re:Live and learn (Score:5, Insightful)
Who in their worst nightmares would could have thought that anyone could stoop to do what he did?
This clearly illustrates that until lay persons learn to think otherwise in terms of privacy and security on systems and networks; nothing is going to get better.
Hello??? If you people go out sometimes (you know, the big blue room with the bright light) do you always wear your bullet-proof west, keep your back against the wall at all times and look for cover points in case somebody around you is a raving psychopath looking to stab someone or lurking with a sniper rifle? No, I don't trust strangers but if you think this should be "expected" then you must have serious problems functioning in a society with other people. If I realized someone saw my password and thought "hey, maybe they'll plant child porn on my computer, report it to the police and alert the media to ruin my life and send me to prison for god-knows-how long" then I'd be an hermit living in a cave far, far away from everyone else.
Re:Perverting the course of justice. (Score:4, Insightful)
On the other hand, some assholes deserve to be framed. Like my previous boss who fired me because "you were eating too much food at lifetime"...
That's worth 12 years in prison?!
This is why vigilantism is frowned upon.
Re:Lethal Weapon VII (Score:4, Insightful)
He was done for perverting the course of justice. Which is not a thought crime in any aspect.
It causes real harm to other people, undermining the justice system itself. I'd argue it is a more serious offense than murder - not for the person being murdered or their families/friends, but for society in general.
And in the UK all those listed offences (and perverting the course of justice as well) have life in prison as their maximum. of course you don't usually get the maximum. But in a country where the general duty police don't carry guns I'm pretty sure you are getting more than 12 years in prison if you use an AK-47 to commit armed robbery...
Re:Lethal Weapon VII (Score:5, Insightful)
The ultimate weapon of the twenty first century: a catapult that fires naked children at your enemies.
If you give those children MP3 players filled with pirated music this weapon might just be capable of destroying the world.
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Lethal Weapon VII (Score:4, Insightful)
As it should, IMHO. Were you attempting to shock us into thinking this should be otherwise?
If you commit armed robbery with an AK-47 (or whichever weapon you choose to wield?), you've presumably been successful in taking some money that wasn't yours -- but this charge, alone, doesn't mean you physically harmed anyone.
If you shoot into a crowd, again, you put people at RISK of injury or death, but again, if you actually injured/killed someone, the crime wouldn't simply be "shooting into a crowd" any longer.
If you sell heroin to children? Well, you're not likely to get off too easy for that one .... but at least you were simply conducting a business transaction with an illegal substance. Without looking into each individual circumstance, we know little to nothing about the long-term effects that sale had on the kid(s) who did the buying. Maybe they were just paid something to buy it for an adult family member who knew kids wouldn't serve time for such an act?
If you plant child porn on someone's computer or other property with successful intent to frame them for collecting it? You *definitely* ruined that person's life/reputation. There's really no "potentially" about it! They're going to go to prison for a long time for that crime they didn't commit, PLUS after they get out, they're stuck "checking in" with probation officers on pretty much a weekly basis, are restricted as to where they can buy or rent a home, and will have a really tough time getting respectable jobs. Many jobs will be illegal for them to obtain, period (such as a handyman or construction worker doing any work for schools or day-care/child-care centers). Even if you were DIRECTLY responsible for getting a person hooked on illegal drugs, at least that person could go seek treatment and get back off of them. There is no "cure" for someone's sexual interest in underage kids, so nowhere the framed individual could ever go to prove he was no longer a risk.
Re:hypocritical ignorant victim (Score:4, Insightful)
i have no problem with anything until the victim attempts to exploit the media to further harm a convicted and sentenced man.
that is a hypocritical act of malice and vengeance, and can only serve to discredit the justice system.
we'll all see how the show ends in <12 years, and whether or not continued agitation of the situation was the "good" move.
So even though he's been exonerated and the true criminal was successfully convicted, the innocent has no right to publicize his innocence? He was FRAMED for crying out loud. Who, if not he, should be allowed to vilify his attacker?
You'd be just as well off asking a rape victim to be respectful and grateful to her rapist.
So, how long HAVE you and the convicted been chums??
Re:Perverting the course of justice. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Lethal Weapon VII (Score:3, Insightful)
If they really thought that being dead is better than living with lifelong emotional stress would they still be alive to beg to differ?
Re:Lethal Weapon VII (Score:3, Insightful)
In any situation in which you aren't paying for it or viewing advertising, in what way are you supporting the aforementioned scum?
For example, you download a video/image/whatever from a randomP2P system, in what way does doing so support anyone in any way? Specifically, if it supports child pornographers, why doesn't it support musicians/moviemakers?
Re:I could kill someone and get a shorter sentence (Score:1, Insightful)
The irony is that the justice system seems to ruin people's life all day long. If this issue had sent the innocent guy into jail, which surely happens a lot, then this is the fault of the flawed justice system. If one supports drastic punishment without enough evidence, then one is also guilty of ruining people's lives, who go innocent into jail. I think many people ignore that or think it's bad luck, until it hits them themeselves, but imho every time, someone is sent innocent to jail, it's a crime against humanity done by society especially those, who support a broken system and those, who are not responsible enough with their power.
Re:Wow. Vindictive much? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Perverting the course of justice. (Score:3, Insightful)
Republicans have been out-spending Democrats since long before the 1980s. Their hypocrisy goes back several generations.
Re:Lethal Weapon VII (Score:5, Insightful)
I mean he was found to be not guilty by a jury of his peers and the evidence was never particularly strong anyways.
Re:Perverting the course of justice. (Score:4, Insightful)
On the other hand I know of at least two cases where DNA proved two murderers were innocent. They lost 25 years of their lives, because the government stubbornly refused to do a simple test..... they could have been released ten years earlier.
Re:Lethal Weapon VII (Score:3, Insightful)
There's no indication MJ liked playing with children naked.
And even when brought to trial, the court declared him innocent. So why does everyone automatically label him "child molester"? It would be wiser to say, "I don't know if he molested children or not," rather than treat him like a pariah. You are really no better than those persons in the Salem Witch Trials (assuming guilt upon mere, unproven gossip).
Re:12 Years, not enough (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm thinking that if the penal code were written by random people on the Internet, we'd guillotine more people than Robespierre.
Re:Just got a call from my wife (Score:3, Insightful)
Soo, are we talking Barely Illegal, or 8 year olds dude?
Re:Perverting the course of justice. (Score:3, Insightful)
>and ignoring that order would still escalate the matter to criminal levels
There you go. Possession isn't illegal, ignoring the court order not to delete it is. Simply having a picture on your computer where the model failed to sign a release won't ever land you in prison. This is a workable system that avoids the complications of ruining innocent people's lives.
I've been falsely accused of things although never had to fight the justice system for my freedom, and I've known plenty of people whose lives have been turned upside down after they were falsely accused by overzealous child protective service workers. I've known plenty of law enforcement people who I wouldn't trust to do the right thing in any of these cases. This is scary shit.
Re:Just got a call from my wife (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:hypocritical ignorant victim (Score:3, Insightful)
Which is why, when cases like this come to the media, the media has the responsibility not only to emphasize that the charges are alleged, but to PUBLISH RETRACTIONS AND/OR PUBLISH THE RESULTS OF TRIALS THAT RESULT IN A VERDICT OF INNOCENT.
Unfortunately, too few media outlets do that - scandals sell, innocence doesn't. Perhaps the judges in such cases should make it a requirement that the local/involved media publish the results- and not buried in two lines somewhere on the back page.
I too know of a few people who have been falsely accused and exonerated - and when the subject comes up in ordinary conversations, I always make a point of stressing to the people I'm talking with not to get carried away with rumor and innuendo, because they could be next. It seems to get their attention, somewhat...
(About eight years ago I was asked to be a potential witness in exactly this same thing - because I had worked on this person's computer a few times before that. I was never called to witness, and he was completely exonerated, but the ugly commentary I heard in public around me during the trial was disgustingly reminiscent of what I've read about witch trials from the dark ages. I can certainly blame the wagging tongues of the local media outlets for THAT one. )
SB
Re:Just got a call from my wife (Score:5, Insightful)
Do you have any evidence that he's guilty, or are you just convicting him because the FBI raided him? Because you're sure acting as if he's guilty.