I'm putting this on all the forums I visit as a call a warning!
Here's my sad tale;
Last Feb. my oldest son, (14 at the time), desided to visit some porn sites on my home computer. He signed on as a guest using his mother account to get @ the blocks I have on my account for him.
During his, "lookie what I see", adventure, it seems he pulled up 6 pictures of girls under the age of 18, thus, "kiddie porn".
Flash ahead to Sept. of '04. We get a knock on the door, it's the local police. They have a search warrant and take all our computers.
A few days later we get another knock, this time they're there for my son!
They take him down and show him the pics and he say he thinks he looked at them, (now remember it's 7 month later and he's your typical teen).
He advised to get a lawyer and me also, (to the tune of $5,000 ).
A few weeks ago we get a letter from Juvinile Probation, he's being charged with 2 felonies,
1. Sexual abuse of a minor, (for looking at the pics).
2, Abuse of a communication device, (the computer).
We go to the first hearing, he pleads guilty, (I teach him not to lie).
What does our legal system do? They take my youngest son away from me and place him with his mother, (now, she's not there, they've no idea of who she is or waht kind of a woman she is), neither myself or my older boy can see him, but I can talk to him on the phone.
The older boy is relaeased into my custudy pending an, "evaulation of myself, my home and him.
As we're leaving the probation officer tells me I got away lucky, she wanted the youngest to be in foster home so we can contact him at all and the older boy, "locked up".
I'm also advised to get my youngest a lawer, (legal fees to date-$8,000 and no end in site).
My older sons lawyer thinks he'll have to do some time for this, (now remember it's a 14 year old and 6 pics).
He was like me, under the idea that the internet provider policed what was on the web and that the only way to see this kind of stuff was to have it E mailed to you.
Everyone is freaked. My youngest cries everytime I call him, hates living with his mother, hates his new school, can't figure out why he has to be away from home, and really I've no clue why.
The older boy is in the pits of depression. We tried to talk, but what can I say to him? I'm having him to a good counseler that we've used before, but it gotta to weighing heavy on his soul.
What I've found out is that Juvinile Probation does not follow any laws. They do what they feel and that's it, no appeals, no talking, nothing, they say this is it and that's it it's in stone.
Word of warning from a very scared parent. If you've got kids and computers, toss the hard drive away, crush the ram chips, put a pass word on the computer and watch over them like a hawk or the next knock could be......
joe
Here's my sad tale;
Last Feb. my oldest son, (14 at the time), desided to visit some porn sites on my home computer. He signed on as a guest using his mother account to get @ the blocks I have on my account for him.
During his, "lookie what I see", adventure, it seems he pulled up 6 pictures of girls under the age of 18, thus, "kiddie porn".
Flash ahead to Sept. of '04. We get a knock on the door, it's the local police. They have a search warrant and take all our computers.
A few days later we get another knock, this time they're there for my son!
They take him down and show him the pics and he say he thinks he looked at them, (now remember it's 7 month later and he's your typical teen).
He advised to get a lawyer and me also, (to the tune of $5,000 ).
A few weeks ago we get a letter from Juvinile Probation, he's being charged with 2 felonies,
1. Sexual abuse of a minor, (for looking at the pics).
2, Abuse of a communication device, (the computer).
We go to the first hearing, he pleads guilty, (I teach him not to lie).
What does our legal system do? They take my youngest son away from me and place him with his mother, (now, she's not there, they've no idea of who she is or waht kind of a woman she is), neither myself or my older boy can see him, but I can talk to him on the phone.
The older boy is relaeased into my custudy pending an, "evaulation of myself, my home and him.
As we're leaving the probation officer tells me I got away lucky, she wanted the youngest to be in foster home so we can contact him at all and the older boy, "locked up".
I'm also advised to get my youngest a lawer, (legal fees to date-$8,000 and no end in site).
My older sons lawyer thinks he'll have to do some time for this, (now remember it's a 14 year old and 6 pics).
He was like me, under the idea that the internet provider policed what was on the web and that the only way to see this kind of stuff was to have it E mailed to you.
Everyone is freaked. My youngest cries everytime I call him, hates living with his mother, hates his new school, can't figure out why he has to be away from home, and really I've no clue why.
The older boy is in the pits of depression. We tried to talk, but what can I say to him? I'm having him to a good counseler that we've used before, but it gotta to weighing heavy on his soul.
What I've found out is that Juvinile Probation does not follow any laws. They do what they feel and that's it, no appeals, no talking, nothing, they say this is it and that's it it's in stone.
Word of warning from a very scared parent. If you've got kids and computers, toss the hard drive away, crush the ram chips, put a pass word on the computer and watch over them like a hawk or the next knock could be......
joe