Tampa Bay Criminal Defense Lawyer - Juveniles put crime on facebook

By Nick Dorsten, Esq.

Originally written about on the tcpalm news site, this tells of an interesting trend of younger people putting evidence of their crimes on facebook and other social media sites...

In an example of the increasingly voyeuristic behavior people are exhibiting on social media web sites, a pair of 15-year-old boys were arrested because of a video one of them allegedly posted on Facebook showing his friend beating another teenager unconscious.

The 15-year old victim of the beating did not tell his parents or go to the hospital, police say. Rather, police were alerted to the battery and ultimately made the arrests acting off a tip from a witness who saw the video on Facebook.

Police arrested the two juvenile defendants, both 15. They appeared before a juvenile court judge Thursday at the Justice Center and were ordered held at the Juvenile Detention Center for 21 days.

The first juvenile defendant was charged with aggravated battery, resisting without violence and solicitation of gang activity.

The second juvenile suspect was charged with accessory after the fact and resisting arrest without violence.

“They were defiant; no remorse,” said a Palm Bay police Officer of the teens’ demeanor hours after their arrest.

“We believe that they posted the video to promote their gang activities. The victim just made a comment about them belonging to a gang, but it was nothing that deserved this type of retaliation. We’re also looking into whether there may be other videos.”

The second juvenile defendant videotaped the battery and it was later posted on the other teen's personal Facebook profile page, police said. The incident happened Tuesday, but only surfaced Wednesday after a concerned resident alerted Palm Bay police.

The video shows the first juvenile suspect delivering several successive kicks to the victim’s head in front of onlookers, at one point stomping on the boy’s head as he lay on the ground. A girl’s voice captured on the video is heard saying, “Oh my God,” repeatedly while the attack continues.

“(The victim) didn’t go to the hospital. In fact, he didn’t even tell his family,” the Officer said.

From the video, officers with the department’s Youth Services were able to identify several witnesses to the attack, all who attend a nearby high school. The fight reportedly happened on Grandeur Road. The teen's family members later removed the video from his Facebook page, police said.

Law enforcement officials and other experts say the video is the latest example of boldly posted videos, texts or photographs that depict illegal or illicit activity. In 2007, a video of a 12-year-old Brevard County girl being beaten by peers was posted online. Across the nation, fights between teens are being captured on cell phones or other mobile devices and posted on social media sites within minutes.

A Melbourne psychologist and parenting expert said similar episodes are part of a wider, “voyeuristic” trend in which teens use social media to share information about their lives.

“They feel it’s something really cool and they want to share it with their friends,” “They’re so desensitized about posting rather than someone saying that this is something wrong.”

The victim, whose injuries were described as not serious by police, did not want to come forward, primarily out of fear. Police said the incident began when the victim questioned one of the teens about involvement in a gang called “3-2-1,” a named borrowed from Brevard County’s area code.

The first juvenile later told police that he had formed the “3-2-1 Boyz or 3-2-1 Crew ” gang and wanted to “beat his .¤.¤.” because of derogatory remarks about the group. Police said they tracked the teen to his home on Grandeur Road. The teen ran inside and refused to answer the door for at least 20 minutes before his uncle arrived and ordered him to leave the home, according to police reports.

In recent years, Palm Bay police have tackled other gang-related groups, including the homegrown, Melbourne-based Coldside Posse, but said 3-2-1 is a small, loose-knit group of friends. The Officer said the 3-2-1 group was recently formed and was made up of about five or six people.

The teens were scheduled for a June 16 trial in juvenile court and face one to six years in juvenile detention. The state attorney’s office will review the case to determine whether to charge one or both teens as adults. A conviction as an adult on aggravated battery charges carries a penalty of up to 15 years in state prison.

Have you or someone you loved been arrested for a battery or a juvenile offense? Then contact the law offices of Blake & Dorsten, P.A. to speak with an experienced Pinellas criminal defense lawyer now!

Our office is located at 4707 140th ave. N, Suite 107, Clearwater, FL 33762, across from the criminal courthouse and minutes from Tampa and St. Petersburg. You can contact your St. Petersburg criminal defense attorney by phone at 727.286.6141 or online at info@BlakeDorstenLaw.com.