More sad than newsworthy
By Mike Kroll
It
became a local news story when an Abingdon man escalated his threats toward
Knox County State's Attorney Paul Mangieri and the story attracted national
media attention when it was later learned that the same man had been cyber
stalking celebrity Cheryl Tiegs. But, as Galesburg Police Chief John Schlaf
said Tuesday afternoon, ÒI'm just not sure that this whole story isn't much
more sad than newsworthy.Ó
Steven
Kilpatrick, who was arrested and charged with threatening to kill Mangieri last
Tuesday, stood before Circuit Court Judge Stephen Mathers at a hearing to
determine his fitness to stand trial. Mathers ruled that the 40 year-old be
examined by a local psychologist before scheduling a trial date. It will most
likely be mid to late September before the report comes back and most familiar
with the case would only be shocked if Kilpatrick were found fit to stand trial. Threatening a public
official is a felony in Illinois and if he were convicted Kilpatrick could be
imprisoned for as much as five years. Alternatively, if the court rules him
unfit for trial he will almost certainly be ordered to undergo evaluation and
treatment by the Illinois Department of Mental Health where he could be held
involuntarily until he is deemed to pose no threat to either himself or anyone
else, a period likely to exceed any criminal sentence.
Kilpatrick
was arrested after he sent e-mail messages to the Illinois governor's office
accusing Mangieri of interfering with his relationship with Tiegs. Allegedly he
threated to shoot Mangieri with a shotgun at the Knox County Courthouse unless
the prosecutor ceased efforts to destroy his imagined relationship with Tiegs.
According to representatives of the former model Kilpatrick has been sending
e-mails to her for years but very recently they became much darker in tone and
that led them to contact local police officials the day before Kilpatrick sent
the precipitating e-mail message to the governor's office. Tiegs personally
assured local police that she has never been in Knox County nor met Kilpatrick.
While
this entire story is an apparently unique event justifying local coverage it
has gained national wire service attention due to the celebrity connection.
Kilpatrick has allegedly been cyberstalking Tiegs for years but due to the distance
between Galesburg and Los Angles he was seen as more of a nuisance than real
threat. Generally stalking, cyber or otherwise, only becomes a news story when
a celebrity is involved even though Los Angles police say that less than one in
four stalking complaints investigated involve Òprominent targets.Ó California was an early adopter of a
cyberstalking law back in 1999 but Illinois' ÒHarassing and Obscene
Communications ActÓ went into effect June 1st of the preceding year. Today 45
states have laws outlawing cyberstalking and a bill is pending in New Mexico
with good prospects of passage.
Normally
when we hear of cyberstalking in news reports it concerns pedophiles contacting
children via the Internet but this is as misleading as the media induced exaggerated
fear of child abduction by strangers. Just as the vast majority of missing
children are either runaways or pawns in a custody dispute among relatives
nearly all reported incidents of cyberstalking involve non-celebrity adults who
are at least acquainted with one another. A recent article in the Orlando
Sentinal quoted detective Jeff Dunn, supervisor of the LAPD Threat Management
unit. ÒThe stalking problem is pretty much what it has always been. But with
computers becoming more affordable and Internet use on the rise, cyberstalking
is an increasing problem. Even conventional stalking cases often involve some
computer-based element, Dunn said, such as a threatening e-mail sent to the
victim. But little attention is paid to stalking - cyber or otherwise - until
the victim is a celebrity.Ó
More
than 15 years ago Wired Magazine ran an article entitled ÒThe Epidemic of
CyberstalkingÓ in which they reported on a Justice Department report claiming
hundreds of thousands of cases of adults being harassed via the still novel
Internet. Today this has become a huge largely unreported problem that is every
bit as terrifying as being physically watched or followed. Cyberstalkers have
gone well beyond merely sending threatening e-mail messages. False or
embarrassing private information has been posted on websites or blogs. In some
cases people have ÒassumedÓ someone else's cyber ÒidentityÓ so as to post both
public and private messages that damage the victims reputation and on-line
personal and business relationships. Like physical stalking this is a crime
that is hard to document and prove yet can cause great pain or harm to those so
victimized.
A
U.S. Department of Justice report on cyberstalking observed: ÒThe fact that
cyberstalking does not involve physical contact may create the misperception
that it is more benign than physical stalking. This is not necessarily true. As
the Internet becomes an ever more integral part of our personal and
professional lives, stalkers can take advantage of the ease of communications
as well as increased access to personal information. In addition, the ease of
use and non-confrontational, impersonal, and sometimes anonymous nature of
Internet communications may remove disincentives to cyberstalking. Put another
way, whereas a potential stalker may be unwilling or unable to confront a
victim in person or on the telephone, he or she may have little hesitation
sending harassing or threatening electronic communications to a victim.
Finally, as with physical stalking, online harassment and threats may be a
prelude to more serious behavior, including physical violence.Ó
In
Illinois a person is guilty of cyberstalking if Òhe or she, knowingly and
without lawful justification, on at least 2 separate occasions, harasses
another person through the use of electronic communication and at any time
transmits a threat of immediate or future bodily harm, sexual assault,
confinement, or restraint and the threat is directed towards that person or a
family member of that person, or places that person or a family member of that
person in reasonable apprehension of immediate or future bodily harm, sexual
assault, confinement, or restraint.Ó (720 ILCS 5/12-7.5)
Douglas
Schweitzer, Internet security columnist for ComputerWorld has summarized some
common cyberstalking techniques. ÒThey may initially use the Internet to
identify and track their victims. The anonymous nature of the Internet provides
new opportunities for budding cyberstalkers. A cyberstalker's true identity can
be concealed by using different Internet service providers and/or by adopting
different screen names. More seasoned stalkers may even employ the use of
anonymous remailers, making it all but impossible to determine the true
identity or source of an e-mail message. Under the cloak of anonymity, they may
send unsolicited e-mail messages, which can include hate, obscene or
threatening content. ...The cyberstalker may even create postings about the
victim or start rumors that spread through a bulletin board system. Another
technique used by cyberstalkers is to assume the victim's persona online (such
as in chat room) for the purpose of sullying the victim's reputation, posting
details (whether factual or false) about the victim or soliciting unwanted
contacts from others. In addition, online harassment may include sending the
victim computer viruses or electronic junk mail (spamming).Ó
Aside
from abandoning the Internet there is really relatively little one can do to
prevent cyberstalking. Like so many other cyber- crimes law enforcement
officials warn us against sharing any personal or financial information about
ourselves on-line. Unfortunately this overreaction is just as shortsighted as
the all-too-common to children that they never speak with strangers. Not only
would strict adherence to such advice all but destroy the value of the
Internet, it can even be counterproductive. Rather the advocating digital
paranoia we need to remember that very few strangers we meet either in-person
or on the Internet have any intention to do us harm. We need to be sensitive to
behavioral clues that something is amiss with an on-line acquaintance and save
unaltered copies of any harassing or threatening messages we receive. This can
be valuable evidence if you must turn to law enforcement agencies for help.
We
also need to remember that media coverage frequently leads us to presume that
any crime is more prevalent than it actually is -- leading us to assume an
grossly exaggerated level of personal risk.