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Crime Privacy

How The FBI Identified That Masked Arsonist Identified and Jailed Because of Her Etsy Review (arstechnica.com) 259

Posted by EditorDavid from the fast-shipping dept.
An anonymous reader quotes Ars Technica: To some extent, every Internet user leaves a digital trail. So when a masked arsonist was seen on video setting fire to a police car on the day of a recent protest in Philadelphia, the fact that her face was hidden didn't prevent a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent from tracking down the suspect. The keys ended up being a tattoo and an Etsy review the alleged arsonist had left for a T-shirt she was wearing at the scene of the crime, according to the FBI...

Even with video and photos, the FBI wasn't yet able to identify the suspect because her face wasn't visible. But the T-shirt she wore was unique and sold on Etsy, so FBI agents read the reviews on the seller's Etsy page to see if anyone from the Philadelphia area had purchased it. Blumenthal had left a 5-star review that said, "Fast shipping, thanks very much!" from her username "alleycatlore," and her Etsy profile displayed her location as Philadelphia, the affidavit said.

The FBI did not yet have her full name, so they did a search for "alleycatlore" and found a user on the online fashion marketplace Poshmark "with a display name of 'lore-elisabeth,'" the affidavit said. A search for "Lore Elisabeth" in Philadelphia turned up "a LinkedIn profile... Pictures of the alleged arsonist showed a tattoo of a peace sign on her right forearm, and that tattoo was visible in a four-year-old video of Lore Elisabeth performing a massage on her business's website. The website had a phone number for Lore Elisabeth... From Lore Blumenthal's Etsy review of a T-shirt, her profiles on Poshmark and LinkedIn, and the tattoo visible on a video posted to her massage therapy website, the FBI found the details they needed to match the arsonist seen in photos and video to government records, the affidavit said...

"If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of eighty years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $500,000," a press release from the Department of Justice and US Attorney's office said.
One local news site reported Blumenthal faces only a maximum possible sentence of ten years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

But she's currently being held in jail without bail until her trial begins.
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How The FBI Identified That Masked Arsonist Identified and Jailed Because of Her Etsy Review More

How The FBI Identified That Masked Arsonist Identified and Jailed Because of Her Etsy Review

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  • In other words (Score:5, Insightful)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Sunday June 21, 2020 @03:39PM (#60209690)

    Good, old-fashioned police investigative work. They solved a crime even without compromising the security of every American's phone.

    Good job - but I thought you guys were telling us this was impossible. You know, "Dark Web", "Terrorism", "Think of the Children" and all that.

    • Re: In other words (Score:5, Informative)

      by Cylix ( 55374 ) on Sunday June 21, 2020 @03:54PM (#60209732) Homepage Journal

      If this is the lawyer chick who threw the cocktail I also saw facial reconstruction to create a searchable image.

      Originally, I thought they simply had their plates recorded or made a YouTube video of them standing up to the man.

      A lot of rioters are going to have a rude awakening.

      • Re: In other words (Score:5, Interesting)

        by dryeo ( 100693 ) on Sunday June 21, 2020 @05:34PM (#60209996)

        Yea, when the Stanley Cup riots happened here some years back, a lot of people had an unpleasant surprise as the cops slowly traced them down and laid charges.
        It was also interesting in how a riot can break out with a bunch of "normal" people suddenly burning cop cars, breaking windows and looting etc just because their team lost a game.

    • It's because she's black... right? :-)

  • What kind of idiot? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by BitterOak ( 537666 ) on Sunday June 21, 2020 @03:39PM (#60209694)
    What kind of idiot sets fire to a police car with tattoos visible? I guess the kind of idiot that sets fire to a police car.

    • Not to mention those police cars were bought and paid for by the very tax dollars the arsonist has paid when working. Destruction can have a legitimate purpose but destruction because you're angry is just dumb.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by h33t l4x0r ( 4107715 )
        Those cars are fully insured, tax payers aren't out squat, and now this is being treated as a bigger crime than killing Floyd.

        • I'm sick of this "it's ok, they're insured" attitude, as if it justifies this behavior. Is there any country in the world where setting arson is NOT considered a crime? Is your car insured? If so, do you mind if I set it on fire? It's insured, so what's the issue?
           
          Keep ignoring
          the fact that those insured cars have to be replaced. If insurance rates go up, who pays? The citizens who foot the tax bill of course.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by h33t l4x0r ( 4107715 )
            Ok but hopefully you agree that it's a lesser crime than murder, because that guy is out on bail.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

              What happened here? Does she have a bad lawyer, or is it different law or something?

              • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

                by h33t l4x0r ( 4107715 )
                There's no math formula for deciding bail, it's completely up to the judge's discretion. For many judges, the life of a black man is worth less than a police car, and that's part of the cause of frustration we're seeing from the black community and it's allies right now.

    • Re:What kind of idiot? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Fippy Darkpaw ( 1269608 ) on Sunday June 21, 2020 @04:14PM (#60209786)
      Moral of the story: apply prominent temporary tattoos before committing arson.
      • Good ol' metadata tampering.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Don't re-use usernames online.

        If you already made this mistake you can go delete/rename accounts. If you are in a GDPR country you can use that to request your username be properly scrubbed.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      It is probably because riots in Minnesota seem pretty common, and though people are arrested, the consequences seem pretty lax. There was the famous Gopher riots of 2014, with many arrests, but I do not see any reports on convictions. There is also a video of riots in 2006 with much damage. These people just probably thought destroying police property was in good fun, as it has been in the past, and they would just get a slap on the wrist.

    • The same kind that commit crimes then break about it on Facebook or Instagram. With some people the stupid knob goes to 11.

  • Repeat! (Score:4, Informative)

    by Joce640k ( 829181 ) on Sunday June 21, 2020 @03:40PM (#60209696) Homepage

    This is a repeat of post from 2 days ago.

  • Radicalization (Score:4, Insightful)

    by sinij ( 911942 ) on Sunday June 21, 2020 @03:47PM (#60209714)
    If social sciences still functioned, this would be a good case study to see how that woman got radicalized via social media. If social media (Jack Dorsey, are you paying attention?) wasn't so politically slanted, they would look into how shut that radicalization vector down.

    • Re:Radicalization (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Kohath ( 38547 ) on Sunday June 21, 2020 @07:39PM (#60210318)

      She grew up in Philadelphia. Maybe she became radicalized by observing one of the most notorious police forces in the US commit an amazing string of offenses against the Philadelphia people.

      Google "Philadelphia police brutality" or "Philadelphia police notorious" or "Philadelphia police drop bomb" and read up.

      Worth noting: Philadelphia's last Republican mayor left office in 1952. So Philadelphia's uniquely local problems can't be blamed on that particular bogeyman.

      • I searched for "Philadelphia police brutality" and the first five pages of search were filled with lawyer websites. SEO FTW.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        A violent, brutal police force and an angry mob. No need for social media to be involved, that's all you need for the riots to start.

        The problem with our legal systems is that they are good at punishing obvious and easily proven crimes like arson, but very bad at punishing things like systemic racism where blame tends to be spread around. We don't even need punishment really, just some way of dealing with it, e.g. prosecution of the department as an organization leading to forced reforms.

  • Eighty years (Score:3)

    by t4eXanadu ( 143668 ) on Sunday June 21, 2020 @03:59PM (#60209744)

    Eighty years... followed by 3 years of supervising a corpse. Nice.

  • The police put all this effort into finding someone who burnt one of their precious police cars, yet they seem unable to find out who murdered Black people (including the several found dead in suspicious circumstances recently), or who hung out nooses in Central Park in New York or make other threats of violence against non-white people, or have a rate of prosecuting more than 1% of rape crimes in the USA.

    "To Protect and Serve" - themselves.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by znrt ( 2424692 )

      "la famiglia" always comes first.

    • Re:Yet they can't find murderers of Black people (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Solandri ( 704621 ) on Sunday June 21, 2020 @05:13PM (#60209944)
      If you can produce video of someone with visible tattoos killing those black people or hanging nooses in Central Park, I'm sure the police will spend as much if not more effort tracking them down.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by mi ( 197448 )

      The police put all this effort into finding someone who burnt one of their precious police cars

      Crimes against the law enforcement should — and do — get higher priority. Because, if the cops are shot, or have no cars, equipment, or offices to do the investigations, then all those other crimes you're complaining about cannot be investigated either.

      yet they seem unable to find out who murdered Black people

      Maybe, because those murders weren't captured on video, eh?

      who hung out nooses in Central Park

  • This is why my full arson wardrobe comes from thrift shops.
    macklemore.jpg

  • No Bail for a property crime (Score:3)

    by ardmhacha ( 192482 ) on Sunday June 21, 2020 @04:17PM (#60209798)

    Being held without bail for a crime that was not an attack on people seems unduly harsh.

    • 80 years for a property crime also seems a bit much. Why is everything always taken to such ridiculous extremes in the US?

      • Re:No Bail for a property crime (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Cylix ( 55374 ) on Sunday June 21, 2020 @05:28PM (#60209978) Homepage Journal

        Turns out that throwing an incendiary device in public against law enforcement is a rather serious crime.

        It is even worse if you are a lawyer and know the letter of the law.

        It is even worse if you do this multiple times..

        There is no revisionist history in which this act was committed without malice and without the intent to do harm unknowingly.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by Kohath ( 38547 )

          The lawyer one was the New York one. This one was a massage therapist.

      • 80 years for a property crime also seems a bit much. Why is everything always taken to such ridiculous extremes in the US?

        It's extremely unlikely she will spend anywhere near that much time in jail, other sources say a maximum of 10 years.

        They are publicizing the high number because they want to intimidate would-be rioters.

    • Re:No Bail for a property crime (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Headw1nd ( 829599 ) on Sunday June 21, 2020 @04:40PM (#60209866)
      I find it especially telling that Derek Chauvin, the officer who killed Floyd and started this whole shitstorm, has been offered bail. (We'll see if he takes it) Two of his accomplices have already been released on bail. So lighting a car on fire somehow makes you more dangerous to society than murder. I'm curious what the logic is there, perhaps the court is implying that Chauvin is too much of a coward to do anything without his uniform?

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by mi ( 197448 )

        Derek Chauvin, the officer who killed Floyd

        Floyd — a recidivist criminal — died of a heart attack, while being arrested for yet another crime. Whether Chauvin caused it — or was obligated to notice and do something about it — remains to be seen. But, quite obviously, he did not intend to kill Floyd.

        has been offered bail

        Bail is available based on a) the suspect's likelihood of fleeing; b) the suspect's likelihood of reoffending... The point b) in particular is inapplicable to Chauvin

        • Re:No Bail for a property crime (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Kohath ( 38547 ) on Sunday June 21, 2020 @11:37PM (#60210956)

          Floyd — a recidivist criminal

          That's not relevant. And the only reason to bring it up is to try to partially excuse killing him.

          We don't need police to murder people who don't meet your approval. If you want such people murdered, murder them yourself. Or hire a street gang to do a drive-by. Leave the police out of it.

          If civilization needs police at all, we need police to bring someone in safely so justice can be adjudicated. Killing the guy on the side of the road is more of a drug cartel assassin type action. It has no place in civilization.

          The point b) in particular is inapplicable to Chauvin at all — he is no longer a policeman, for better or worse.

          Better.

          Deliberate attack on law enforcement is more dangerous, than having the misfortune of an arrestee dying on you.

          Body count from the two incidents says you're incorrect.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by malkavian ( 9512 )

            It is relevant, and it doesn't excuse anything. What on earth makes you think that? Apart from it fitting an agenda? What you're doing is inserting a logical fallacy.
            To fix this for you, "We don't need people to kill people". However, people do kill people, so we need the police to bring them in.
            Of course, they all come meekly and say "Aww, if it wasn't for those kids, I'd have gotten away with it.". So you need police to go in there an pull them out of wherever they've dug themselves into, or stop the

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Kohath ( 38547 )

          Furthermore, there's a clear reason societies need to police theft and property destruction. If you don't handle it in the justice system, you get people taking private justice upon each other. That leads to cycles of violence and groups forming and making war on each other. So property crime is taken seriously to avoid follow-on violence and keep the peace

          By that measure, the killing of George Floyd sparked a great deal of violence. A large part of that violence can be traced back to the killing of Eri

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by malkavian ( 9512 )

            A lot of the problem is perception. The news carries stories of a particular type, as it can make a segment of the population jump, and consume more page impressions, resulting in more revenue. Things that don't have that 'jump' factor don't get published. If they're not evenly published, you can't blame a general public for not knowing they exist, even if they're in a majority. So what you end up with is people seeing no justice, when actually, things are pretty even handed.

            This is pretty much the rea

        • It's looking less and less as law enforcement to me. I'd say the US is plagued by heavily armed gangs of cops who terrorize neighborhoods and who are hired by the prison system to capture people for them to put away for as long as possible. By giving part of the population a pass they can keep up the image that somehow they're maintaining law and order.
          The cute part is that the worse they are at the job of maintaining law and order the more money they get.

      • Bail does not mean the crime was not serious. It means "we trust the accused to show up for trial and to not commit more crimes".

        The cop is more likely to not run away and I really doubt he is going to kill somebody else. The arsonist, on the other hand is much more likely to run away or set something else on fire.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Pretty nuts punishment (Score:4, Insightful)

    by dyslexicbunny ( 940925 ) on Sunday June 21, 2020 @06:00PM (#60210082)

    Max of 80 years + $500k? You're not getting that money back. Even 10 years and $250k isn't going anywhere. It's nuts that anyone would think that viable restitution.

    It appears she has a viable job - put her on a payment plan for the replacement vehicles and put her on parole, supervised release, or something. That actually might have society get reimbursed for her dipshittery.

  • She was jailed because she burned a vehicle, not because of Etsy.

    Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

  • A peaceful arsonist (Score:3)

    by jbssm ( 961115 ) on Monday June 22, 2020 @04:59AM (#60211634)
    "Pictures of the alleged arsonist showed a tattoo of a peace sign on her right forearm"

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