The word is more safe for gossip now
North Oconee High School 'Gossip' bloggers identified
Two 15-year-old girls admit to creating MySpace site
By Merritt Melancon juliana.melancon@onlineathens.com Story updated at 2:10 p.m.M on Wednesday, October 4, 2006
WATKINSVILLE — A pair of 15-year-old girls admitted to Oconee County investigators Tuesday that they are behind the MySpace site that disrupted their high school by showcasing the dirty laundry of dozens of other students.
The girls, both students at North Oconee High School, will not be identified to the public because they are juveniles and still under investigation for distributing explicit materials to minors, said Oconee County sheriff’s Lt. David Kilpatrick.
North Oconee Principal John Osborne asked Kilpatrick, a 10-year veteran of computer-based crimes investigations, to help find the bloggers whose "NOHS Gossip" site on MySpace incited student arguments and generally disrupted an entire school day on Sept. 11.
The site, which was posted on MySpace between Sept. 1 and 9, was a 21st century version of a bathroom wall. The girls posted a long list of the relationships and supposed sexual encounters of dozens of students.
Dozens of students were named on the site, and dozens of students accepted "friend request" messages enabling them to read the gossip on the site. The girls even listed gossip about themselves on the site to dampen suspicions that they were involved with the site.
The girls started the site using an anonymous e-mail account set up through Yahoo.com, MySpace.com officials told Kilpatrick. Yahoo officials could tell the investigator that the e-mail was sent from a computer using BellSouth Internet access.
Kilpatrick subpoenaed BellSouth and found that the posts made to the MySpace "NOHS Gossip" site were sent from a computer at an Athens-Clarke County home belonging to a 52-year-old Athens man, Kilpatrick said.
That man dates the mother of one of the girls, he said.
Kilpatrick said he was compiling a case to be presented in the Oconee County Juvenile Court against the two girls, but he’s not sure if they will face charges.
"I'm sure whatever they faced in school yesterday is much more serious than any thing they'd face in juvenile court," he said.
Two 15-year-old girls admit to creating MySpace site
By Merritt Melancon juliana.melancon@onlineathens.com Story updated at 2:10 p.m.M on Wednesday, October 4, 2006
WATKINSVILLE — A pair of 15-year-old girls admitted to Oconee County investigators Tuesday that they are behind the MySpace site that disrupted their high school by showcasing the dirty laundry of dozens of other students.
The girls, both students at North Oconee High School, will not be identified to the public because they are juveniles and still under investigation for distributing explicit materials to minors, said Oconee County sheriff’s Lt. David Kilpatrick.
North Oconee Principal John Osborne asked Kilpatrick, a 10-year veteran of computer-based crimes investigations, to help find the bloggers whose "NOHS Gossip" site on MySpace incited student arguments and generally disrupted an entire school day on Sept. 11.
The site, which was posted on MySpace between Sept. 1 and 9, was a 21st century version of a bathroom wall. The girls posted a long list of the relationships and supposed sexual encounters of dozens of students.
Dozens of students were named on the site, and dozens of students accepted "friend request" messages enabling them to read the gossip on the site. The girls even listed gossip about themselves on the site to dampen suspicions that they were involved with the site.
The girls started the site using an anonymous e-mail account set up through Yahoo.com, MySpace.com officials told Kilpatrick. Yahoo officials could tell the investigator that the e-mail was sent from a computer using BellSouth Internet access.
Kilpatrick subpoenaed BellSouth and found that the posts made to the MySpace "NOHS Gossip" site were sent from a computer at an Athens-Clarke County home belonging to a 52-year-old Athens man, Kilpatrick said.
That man dates the mother of one of the girls, he said.
Kilpatrick said he was compiling a case to be presented in the Oconee County Juvenile Court against the two girls, but he’s not sure if they will face charges.
"I'm sure whatever they faced in school yesterday is much more serious than any thing they'd face in juvenile court," he said.
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