With new technology the entertainment which used to take the average single person to events at the local bar is a thing of the past. Today, single people are turning to the Internet for relationships.
These new relationship which are formed from the Internet’s many dating websites are created when individuals register their profile on these websites looking for a partner. The profile may then lead that person to become interested in one another. The dates and times of the contacts are at the h
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| A Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation taking the one hundred millionth fingerprint, represented by... - NARA - 518186 (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
elm of each person where they can decide when they want to have contact with their Internet friend.
The majority of individuals who are on the Internet are good people and do not try to create environments where they will and can take advantage of others. However, just like meeting an individual at the bar, until you learn more about who this person really is there must be a process in place which protects you.
In a recent article in ABC News the title read, “Christian Mingle Date Rape Victims Sought by Calif. Cops” by reporter Russell Goldman should tell those seeking Internet relationships to be careful. The story is about a man who may have utilized ChristianMingle.com as he traveled across the country. He is identified as Sean Patrick Banks, 37, a former Navy sailor, used a fake name to contact a woman who he allegedly raped in November, cops in La Mesa, California said.
So who is this Sean Patrick Banks and is his method of operandi similar to other rapists who utilize the Internet and social media networks to prey and stalk upon women only to physically and sexually assault them?
The characteristics and personalities of these rapists are similar in many ways. They are:
1. Generally ranging from 18-60 years of age.
2. Average intelligence.
3. Computer savvy.
4. Are known to be aggressive in prior relationships with women.
5. Have a preference for a specific age of his victim.
6. Generally middle range income.
7. May be married or recently divorced.
8. Changes his name to keep anonymity and allows him to move to the next victim.
9. He is manipulative, deceitful, lacking in honesty and integrity and plays whatever role necessary to accomplish his sexual fantasies and mission.
10. He will dissect his victim and plan accordingly to accomplish his goal.
11. Sexual gratification is the key to his mission and will do anything to find sexual release.
12. He is a chameleon and is like a shift changer and will do anything to hide his real identity.
Former Special Agent Kenneth Lanning identified different type of rapists who prey upon children. In a journal “Child Molesters: A Behavioral Analysis” Lanning stated the following:
“There is a modern invention that is of invaluable assistance to the pedophile: the computer. It could be a larger computer system at his place of business or a small personal computer at his home. It is simply a matter of modern technology catching up with long-known traits. The computer helps fill their need for organization, validation, souvenir records, and to find victims.”
He wrote this statement in December of 1992 when he was an Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Unfortunately, he had no idea how the new era of digital and technology predators would behave. His foundation was admirable, laid a foundation for law enforcement to pursue the Sean Patrick Banks of this world.
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| FBI Badge & gun. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
However, Banks is not a pedophile he is a rapist. According to the experts who specifically treat rapists, there are at least five types of personalities that are present in this world. They are:
1. Power Assertive Rapist – presents the victim with a weapon or alleged weapon to get her cooperation so he can rape her.
2. Anger Retaliation Rapist – He hates women and brutalizes them during the rape. Roughly 30% of rapists fall into this category.
3. The Power-Reassurance Rapist or Opportunity Rapist – Is one who take advantage of an opportunity to commit a rape e.g. during a burglary, robbery, or kidnapping commits a rape.
4. The Anger Excitement Rapist or Sadistic Rapist – He wants his victim to be hurt, unfortunately sometimes killing his victims. Roughly 5% of the rapists fall into this category.
5. Date Rapist – This is the number one type of rapist.
The experts who treat rapists have yet to create a category for the Social Media Network Rapist, but whatever these experts call him; he can now be added to the above list. Therefore, law enforcement again find themselves hurrying to find methods and techniques to adequately perform rape investigations stemming from relationships developed through the Internet.
One of the keys for law enforcement is to try and adapt the investigative methods and techniques they have utilized in adult rape victims and from what they learned from online predators who molest and rape children in tracking down these Social Media Network Rapist.
Frequently the online predator establishes a relationship with his underage victim, creating strength and love with him/her. Eventually the goal of the online predator sets up a time and place to meet with the victim. There is rarely any direct force used to entice the underage victim to have sex.
The victim is so emotionally attached they make the situation worse than it already is when they fail to advise anyone of their online relationship with the predator. Everything is done in secret and the child falls into a trap.
The adult victim generally receives the same treatment luring her into a trap. Like the child victim the Social Media Network Rapists manipulates the adult victim into believing that he is a single man with the same interests as her. He is charming and willing to share his feelings and nude photographs with the victim. Most of the pictures are from a database of nude pictures which are actually not of him. Again, the relationship becomes emotionally bound between her and the rapist. The trap is set and the meeting takes place.
The meeting generally takes place in a public atmosphere where the victim feels comfortable and safe knowing that if everything he has told her is true there will be a happy ending to the meeting.
Unfortunately, the rapist cares little about the victim except to live out his sexual fantasy and to move onto his next victim. He will try in any way he can to get her to meet at her residence. His anonymity is the key to his success in not being identified to the authorities.
This new criminal behavior is something law enforcement is not educated or trained in dealing with and more importantly pursuing and investigating who this person is. Computer hardware and software and false identity is the key to his ability to hide from law enforcement. He thinks in this matter that he can’t be identified, apprehended, prosecuted, and incarcerated.
It will take a “New Era of Law Enforcement Investigators” who have the ability to deduce from the little evidence the rapist leaves behind on his trail to accomplish his goal i.e. to capture him. Law enforcement has had the reputation of always being a decade behind in investigation methods and techniques. Victims of these types of crimes can’t wait a decade to capture these men, they need law enforcement to identify and apprehend them now.
In the Sean Patrick Banks matter he was a sloppy and an unintelligent rapist who left a ‘visible’ trail of evidence leading to his arrest. However, the “Social Media Network Rapist” will refine their modus operandi and become ‘invisible’. In the meantime law enforcement must take the time to becom
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| English: Standing on Pennsylvania Avenue NW and look up F Street NW at the J. Edgar Hoover Building, the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Español: Edificio J. Edgar Hoover, la sede de FBI (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
e educated and trained in order to become sophisticated enough to educate the community about these types of predators, arrest and learn from those predators who fail to be ‘invisible’.
Further, men and women need to be aware of this new rapists. They need to use checks and balances to insure their safety. Although it may be embarrassing to them, they need to tell family, friends, coworkers, and others who this individual says he is. Failure to disclose this information may cost them their lives. It is important that the Internet dating websites post information and rules their members should follow. Sometimes people just don’t understand that there are people out there who will harm them.
Lawrence W. Daly206-650-0229
Kent, WA
