Plainsman1963

(Un)anonymous on the Internet: Social networking sites offer tool for law enforcement
07-21-2008 | Times-Standard.Com | Sean Garmire

When drug enforcement agents began investigating Ryan Robletto, they looked him up on MySpace.

The first thing they reportedly found was a photograph of Robletto standing in a room, surrounded by marijuana plants. His name -- viewable to anyone with a MySpace account -- was “1cashcrop,” and he declared his heroes are, “The Farmers from Humboldt who give to the people ...”

On Tuesday, the 29-year-old Robletto was one of 15 suspects arrested in a countywide raid conducted by Humboldt County Drug Task Force agents investigating an alleged commercial marijuana growing ring.

And, according to drug task force Commander Jack Nelsen, those photos will likely be used as evidence against him in court.

Nelsen, who led the Tuesday investigation, said although agents gathered evidence from a number of sources leading to the arrest, the online profile gave agents an extraordinary view into their suspect's personal life.

MySpace, Nelsen said, “is just a piece of the puzzle. It confirms he is involved, to some degree, in the cultivation of marijuana.”

Online social networking sites provide users a place to create a social resume -- allowing them to list their favorite music and movies, post photographs, share video clips and send messages to friends and strangers.

With the growth in popularity of sites like MySpace, Facebook and Craigslist -- which according to its own statistics receives around billion page views every month -- law enforcement has increasingly used the Internet as a tool to peer into the lives of victims and suspected criminals.

”It's a trend. We are going to be seeing this in more and more cases,” said Deputy District Attorney Allan Dollison. “If I have a case, I'm going to inquire about the existence of a MySpace page and see if there's anything there.”

Dollison said he has not used evidence gathered on a social networking Web site in any of his cases so far, but he knows local law enforcement agencies have been using the net to check up on criminal activity.

On July 2, authorities with the Eureka Police Department used Craigslist -- an online classifieds community -- to conduct a sting operation on suspected prostitutes in Humboldt County.

According to EPD Capt. Murl Harpham, officers called several phone numbers advertised on Craigslist's “erotic services” page. Advertising for sex on the Web site is legal, so long as the creator does not explicitly ask to be paid. However, officers recorded the women accepting cash offers, and arranged to meet them at a Eureka hotel.

When the women showed up, they were arrested, Harpham said.

In total, three women were taken into custody. Jasmine Spaugy, 20, Krystale Newman, 20 and Rachel Smith, 22, were all charged with misdemeanor counts of soliciting for prostitution.

Harpham said the sting grew out of reports from community members who were concerned about the number of ads that appear on the site, many of which include photographs and are updated daily.

”It's not illegal to post it,” Harpham said. “We don't have any control over Craigslist.”

Many who post ads on the site avoid mentioning their rates, and include only contact information, which according to Dollison is technically legal, so long as those posting avoid making “an explicit conveyance of sexual act for (money).”

Many social Web sites, like Facebook, are particularly popular among college students. However, in the university town of Arcata, Police Chief Randy Mendosa said authorities rarely check their suspects on the net.

”I don't believe we have time to be monitoring Internet things,” he said. “It's not something I've used, or I see staff using with any particular regularity.”

Nelsen called the use of social networking sites “underutilized” by area law enforcement, who are often too busy to troll the Web. Most online investigating is only done in connection to long-term investigations, he said.

But Nelsen said he expects police will continue increasing their presence on the sites, using them as new tool for surveillance.