In May 2014, a substitute teacher at Highland Park High School in Highland Park, IL (a suburb just north of Chicago) raised concerns that two of his students had been cheating. Following an internal investigation, the high school not only sided with the students but told Steven Habay, then 40, that he was being released…
Earlier this fall, I had the pleasure of appearing on a podcast hosted by Cheri Roberts. The show, called “Challenging the Rhetoric,” is an interesting weekly show in which Roberts leads “an engaging analysis of the week’s current news and events.” Recently, Roberts has created a spin-off program called “A Sickness of Silence,” a special…
Later tonight (Wednesday, 23 September 2015), I will be doing an interview on BlogTalkRadio with Cheri Roberts, host of the show “Challenging the Rhetoric.” I will be doing a ten-minute segment with Cheri from approximately 6:40 to 6:50pm Pacific (9:40 to 9:50pm Eastern) to discuss the growing problem of child sexual abuse and the role…
2015-09-17 To Serve & Inspect: Digital Challenges for School Resource Officers from Frederick Lane A presentation delivered to an audience of school resource officers, administrators, and counselors at the Criminal Justice Institute in Little Rock, Arkansas, on September 17, 2015. If you are interested in discussing a presentation for professional development or continuing education for…
2015-09-16 Social Media and Emerging Applications: Investigative Potential and Legal Issues from Frederick Lane The Criminal Justice Institute in Little Rock, Arkansas, invited me to design and present a one-day continuing education course for Arkansas law enforcement officers. The course was certified for 7 hours of CLE credit by the Arkansas Commission on Law Enforcement…
Back in June, I wrote about the case of Patrick Newman, a Social Studies teacher at Trinity High School, an all-boys Catholic school in Louisville, KY. Following a tip by Twitter to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, investigators determined that Newman had used Vine (a video app owned by Twitter), Kik, and…
This story does not describe a common cybertrap for young people, fortunately, but it does help illustrate a couple of relevant points: first, that if young people have a camera available to them at all times (as nearly 100% do), they will occasionally take photos of private activities, and second, even if those private activities…
In a press release issued June 2, Acting United States Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr. (W.D. Kentucky) announced that his office had arrested Patrick Newman, 35, and charged him with violating child exploitation laws. Prior to the announcement by Kuhn, Newman taught Social Studies at Trinity High School, an all-boys Catholic school located in Louisville,…
On Friday, May 27, the Greenville County School District had the unpleasant task of sending a letter to the parents of 149 students at Mauldin High School and Mauldin Middle School to inform them that a district teacher had traded photographs of their children for child pornography. Meetings were scheduled at Mauldin High School so…
A new case arising out of White Oak, TX helps to illustrate not only the slippery slope of teacher-student cell phone communications, but the enormous challenges law enforcement officials face in investigating charges of digital misconduct. At the beginning of May, the news broke that an educator in the White Oaks Independent School District had…
