Info on a local (dirty?) cop

[ArcRiley]

Does anyone in the Keene area have any experience or know anything direct about an officer James McGlaughlin?

[dalebert]

I bet Russell could tell you what each officer's favorite food and color is.

[ArcRiley]

He's apparently been targeting gay men, entrapping them by soliciting pornography, obtaining search warrants based on their possession of pornography, then picking through their hard drives looking for pictures which could be minors and trumping the men before a jury to make the determination if the photos on their hard drives are of adults.

I think it's time to expose this homophobic jackass using his badge to conduct a witchhunt.

[J’raxis 270145]

"Soliciting pornography" is illegal in New Hampshire, or is this just a local Keene ordinance? You have an RSA citation? I and a few others are building lists of idiotic laws in need of repeal.

As for the cop, he definitely needs to go down. Privacy concerning people's data, the whole "kiddie porn" hysteria, and pretty much any legally enforced prudery with respect to sex, are things I especially want to help out with.

[J’raxis 270145]

This guy looks like quite the crusading nutjob:—

• Internet crimes against children page at the Keene PD.
• Fearmongering about MySpace.
• Some paper he wrote on "cyber child sex offenders."
• An article (with photo) on his exploits in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

And the winner is:—

• He apparently believes cybersex is a paraphilia.
  

[ArcRiley]

The cop was the one who solicited the pornography, and yea I've been finding similar shit.  He needs to be taken down.

Officer McGlaughlin has been going onto gay.com chat posing as a 21 year old looking for sex, getting guys to go on webcam with him, getting them to send him pornography, then going to a judge with this "evidence" to do a search and seizure of their property.  He then goes through their personal files looking for photos which could be children and plans to present the whole of his pornography to a jury trying to get them to call him a sex offender.

In the case I'm aware of, the target was a school teacher, and the Sentinel published inaccurate facts about the case (ie, wrote that Officer McGlaughlin was posing as a 14 year old) in a bias article after he had already been fired from his job before the case even went before a judge.  The article was syndicated via the AP and reprinted all over the state, even in Boston, see Former teacher challenges child porn charges.

More than a year later the case still hasn't been tried but he has had to move to Manchester since everyone in Keene thinks he's a pervert trading kiddie porn movies online, he couldn't find work, he's basically broke.  The accusation alone was enough to ruin his life.

[J’raxis 270145]

The cop was the one who solicited the pornography, and yea I've been finding similar shit.  He needs to be taken down.

Officer McGlaughlin has been going onto gay.com chat posing as a 21 year old looking for sex, getting guys to go on webcam with him, getting them to send him pornography, then going to a judge with this "evidence" to do a search and seizure of their property.  He then goes through their personal files looking for photos which could be children and plans to present the whole of his pornography to a jury trying to get them to call him a sex offender.

The Telegram link has his picture, although I'm confused how he could pass for a 21 year-old on a webcam. Post it far and wide, including on gay.com, letting people know who he is. Maybe he deserves an entry here, too. Maybe a whole site dedicated to outing cops (since he's technically not a "rat," being an actual cop) who entrap people like this is needed.

In the case I'm aware of, the target was a school teacher, and the Sentinel published inaccurate facts about the case (ie, wrote that Officer McGlaughlin was posing as a 14 year old) in a bias article after he had already been fired from his job before the case even went before a judge.  The article was syndicated via the AP and reprinted all over the state, even in Boston, see Former teacher challenges child porn charges.

Ah, I saw that article in my searches.

More than a year later the case still hasn't been tried but he has had to move to Manchester since everyone in Keene thinks he's a pervert trading kiddie porn movies online, he couldn't find work, he's basically broke.  The accusation alone was enough to ruin his life.

Yeah, that's usually how it works. I and a few other people are working against the whole sex-and-children hysteria over here and know quite a bit about the whole "pedophile" accusations.

[KBCraig]

As for the cop, he definitely needs to go down.

Double entendre noted.  

[ArcRiley]

The Telegram link has his picture, although I'm confused how he could pass for a 21 year-old on a webcam.

He didn't, it was a one-way webcam.  The cop was asking to see him naked prior to coming over to have sex.

According to him the photo the cop posted of himself on gay.com was of "a hot college-aged guy".  As that 21 year old Officer McGlaughlin played "hard to get" and asked specifically for photos of younger guys to turn him on after numerous disturbing questions about wether he had ever seen a male student in class with an erection, wether he ever had sexual thoughts about his students, etc.

He was of course completely honest about his name, his job as a teacher and the grade levels he taught, etc online.  This is obviously why Officer McGlaughlin targeted him.  His co-workers knew he was gay, as much of the community was.  It wasn't an issue until the child pornography charges were made.

If Officer McGlaughlin had been posing as a minor he would have been charged with soliciting sex from a minor.  That charge wasn't made.

[KBCraig]

An independent investigation by a local citizen's group may be in order.

I don't know why your karma is so mediocre as a long-time, always un-offensive, poster, but +1 from me!

[ArcRiley]

How would such a group be established?

[dalebert]

More than a year later the case still hasn't been tried but he has had to move to Manchester since everyone in Keene thinks he's a pervert trading kiddie porn movies online, he couldn't find work, he's basically broke.  The accusation alone was enough to ruin his life.

I wonder if there's anything we can do.

[mvpel]

McLaughlin is the cop on the Keene force that works specifically with porno freaks on the Internet.  I am not sure of the legallity of his job title, but I think that he oversteps the boundaries of his job description and illegally gets people to admit to sex crimes that aren't prosecutable.  I am sure he gets his share of true perverts, but how he gets them is questionable at best.  An independent investigation by a local citizen's group may be in order.

Why would it be illegal to get someone to admit to an un-prosecutable sex act?  (Is it a crime if it's not prosecutable?)

[mvpel]

I don't know why your karma is so mediocre as a long-time, always un-offensive, poster, but +1 from me!

Maybe for straying from the orthodoxy on certain points, like me.  I've never been particularly foul-mouthed, personally affrontive, or rude in my posts, but my points of view themselves are enough to cause some people to smite me.

[ArcRiley]

Why would it be illegal to get someone to admit to an un-prosecutable sex act?  (Is it a crime if it's not prosecutable?)

What?

Let's use a metaphore here.

You're talking to people online about an upcoming Samhain celebration.  An undercover cop starts asking you questions such as if children are involved in the ritual, wether you bring your own children, if you use sheeps blood etc and you very patiently and maturely answer his questions directly as a sort of education process and share your own beliefs with him.

Despite telling him repeatedly that nothing illegal was going to be done he uses the fact that you're wiccan to get a search warrant for your house.  They confiscate your pagan alter, books off your shelf about wicca, your photo albums, and drag you into the cop shop to answer questions about your religious beliefs and practices.  The prepare to parade all these things as evidence in front of a jury who they know at least a few will be morally offended and thus bias against you.

The only thing they can hit you with is a charge for indecency since in one of the photos in your album you're practicing in the nude.  The charge itself is legally debatable since the courts haven't decided yet if nudity in a private setting is illegal and they cannot prove that it was a public setting, instead leaving it to a jury to decide wether they believe it was a public setting with experts, hired by public funds, testifying various "facts" about the background of the photograph.

They embellish the facts to get the newspapers to write about it, who focus on the fact that you're nude doing a religious ritual rather than the actual controversy in the case or the fact that you're being targeted because of your religion, your private life suddenly very public as rumors fly about animal sacrifices and vigin blood magic until you loose your job and are forced to move.

What legal right do the police have to violate your privacy in this manner and spin lies about you?  Much less, paid by public funds to do so?

Is there a legal mechanism which protects the police from slander/defamation?