GOTHIC: Keeping Kids Safe

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By: Chris Stead

We have all heard the stories about children being preyed upon while on the Internet. Internet predation is becoming a larger problem each day and the police don’t have enough manpower to combat this issue on their own. Now there is a group called GOTHIC, which stands for Goths Out To Help Internet Children. This organization specializes in tracking Internet predators and reporting the information that is gathered to the police. Shannon Hunter runs this organization, which has been running for about 2 weeks now.

Not only does Shannon want to help the children on-line but she wants people to know that the Gothic community is just as interested in the safety and care of children as is any other group. Unfortunately the Gothic community has been under fire lately for the actions of just a few members of society. Since the people at large understand very little about the Gothic community, then they think that Goths in general are dangerous and potentially violent people. A stereotype perpetuated by the media and such actions as those by the “Trench Coat Mafia” of Columbine or the recent shooting in Canada. Shannon wants to turn this stereotype on its ear while providing a valuable service to the people that she believes in. Shannon was willing to take time out of her schedule to give us information about GOTHIC and tell her story, leading to the creation of GOTHIC. This will be a three-part piece starting with Shannon’s story.

Shannon’s Story

In 2003, I was raped by who I thought was a very close friend. It changed my life and my world as I knew it. I was unable to accept that the police could not prosecute him and was desperate to find a path to justice myself. I created a website called Fight Back Against Rape. By creating this website, I allowed myself to vent, to advocate for others and help others understand my story. It worked for a time, but the injustice of it all was still there. I had known this person for over ten years. I knew his on-line habits, his nicknames, his penchant for girls ages 13 to 17. I had a plan.

I created an on-line persona of an underage girl, complete with a journal and several profiles on different “hook-up” websites. I joined chat rooms and instant messenger. I made myself available on-line to the 37 year old man that raped me. Within days he contacted me via a private instant message and we began to “get to know one another”. I videotaped our chat session for additional proof and kept the tapes in case they were needed down the road. Within minutes, he was full of innuendo. Within days he was wanting to meet me and was asking for pictures. He sent a half nude picture, and asked for some more pictures of me. The conversations became more and more about him wanting to meet. I called the police and told them what I had been doing, and they put in me in touch with the Vice Unit for Internet Crimes Against Children in Seattle, WA. The police took over my identity as the young girl and kept communication open with him. Whether he noticed a change in chat mannerisms or something else, nothing materialized. Unfortunately as a private citizen I will never know how the chat plan failed. They went to his house and examined his computers. Also, nothing but legal pornography there. They closed the case.

I felt defeated once again. I’d had high hopes they would bust him for his on-line activity at work and home, but there was seemingly nothing left to do. I was disheartened. I focused on the fact that he had an eleven year-old warrant out for his arrest in another state for rape of a 14 year old girl. I had already written the San Diego District Attorney’s office and called several times. I was told the warrant was not extraditable. This means that the two times the Seattle Police Department had him in custody, they couldn’t keep him for extradition to California. He was held for 9 days in one case for rape of a minor in Seattle but they couldn’t gather enough evidence in that case either! They let him go twice. Justice was failing, this was unacceptable!

I called the San Diego District Attorney’s office one more time. I got in touch with a sympathetic detective who looked into the case. He was shocked that the case had been handled so poorly since the beginning. He plead my cause to the Department Chief. Miraculously, they overturned the warrant and changed it to extraditable. The US Marshals and I tracked his movements on-line and in real life. Once his location was discovered, the Marshals went and picked him up. As of June 23, 2006 he is in jail awaiting extradition to California.

I had logged over 80 hours trying to catch him. He wasn’t busted for Internet crimes against children, but he will be prosecuted for rape of a minor. That is good enough for me. This whole process taught me many things: Patience, diligence, faith in myself, and a renewed hatred for predators of all kinds. Because he is a goth, well, however goth you can be in an orange jumpsuit I felt the pain of these events acutely. He used his “old school” knowledge and attitude to manipulate people. He was charming, enthusiastic and dressed impeccably. I couldn’t let a smarmy jerk and others like him in the scene continue to hurt others.