Monday, February 13

Doctor Groups Flex Muscle In Capitol: $2.3 Million in Campaign Cash to Influence Health-Care Reform

News The State Capitol has been abuzz the last couple of days because of a hot list (PDF) circulating in ... More

Feb 10, 2012 06:00 pm by NIGEL JAQUISS  | Comments 4
 

Nonsense Knows No State Boundary: Washington Legislators Get Bogus Job Claims on CRC

News Up north of here, Washington legislators in Olympia are debating whether or not they should authoriz... More

Feb 10, 2012 09:09 am  | Comments 1
 

Occupy Arrestees Win Their Right to Full Trials—Even Though They May Not Need It

News The estimated 160 people arrested during Occupy Portland protests in the past five months have won t... More

Feb 9, 2012 01:24 pm by HANNAH HOFFMAN  | Comments 2
 

Almost Live: Rockets at Blazers

News So I'm having a bit of trouble with the picture, which is coming from my phone (I drew it on my way ... More

Feb 8, 2012 07:09 pm by CASEY JARMAN  | Comments 0
 
 
 
Home · Articles · News · News · F--- Dese Profiles
December 20th, 2006 Ian Demsky | News
 

F--- Dese Profiles

What did we do when we wanted to know more about teens with alleged ties to a Portland burglary ring? We checked out their MySpace pages.

7 Comments
     
Tags:
My Mug Shot: Alleged Fdp Fence Wayne Leggett.
One new rule for budding criminals in the 21st century updates a classic line from the 1995 movie Heat: If you feel the heat around the corner, shut down your MySpace page.

Put another way: In this brave, new world, your electronic footprint can come back to kick you in the ass.

Earlier this month, information emerged about a group of "stoner" Northeast Portland teenagers that calls itself FDP (for "Fuck Da Police") and which is now suspected in more than 40 burglaries. Most of the details about the ring were revealed in an affidavit police filed to get a search warrant for the home of the teens' alleged fence. The affidavit also states that David Hanning turned in two of his sons after he found a Parkrose High School class ring engraved with a name police then linked to a recent burglary.

So far, five teens have been arrested, ranging in age from 13 to 19, and they face various charges, including burglary, assault and receiving stolen property.

Just by rummaging around MySpace last week, WW found a 15-member "North east p town" MySpace group for the FDP, which lays its creed:

"rule 1. all cops are crooked (spare for a few chill ones) 2. fuck crackheads and tweekers and drug abusin bum heroin junkie fucks. 3.be down to brawl if if the homie needs troops. basically it."

One of the teens told police the "gang" controls a block at Northeast 66th Avenue and Wygant Street.

"They do—or did," says East Precinct Detective Sgt. Dave Anderson. "But I wouldn't say it's a gang like Bloods or Crips."

The teens' alleged fence tells WW that he agrees with Anderson.

"It's not a gang," says 19-year-old Wayne Leggett. "It's just a bunch of kids. They're not dangerous, just a few of the kids were dumb."

Police searched Leggett's home Dec. 5. He was arrested on Dec. 8 and charged with receiving stolen property. Police say they've linked several items from his home to recent burglaries.

"They put a bad name on my name and my house," Leggett says. "The neighborhood is full of old people who think we're all criminals. Even my dad and my mom. My dad was on the ground in handcuffs, and he was like, 'What is this for?'"

Leggett admits he bought some DVDs from the younger kids who hung around, but says he's not fencing stolen goods for them.

According to Leggett's MySpace profile, he is a "dark shadow spirit from a path taken you should have not, anyways im a rapper plus a father." He'd like to meet a girl that enjoys "sittin back at 4:20 and unloading stress to each other." (For the totally square: "Four-twenty" is slang for smoking pot.)

Much like the police descriptions, Leggett describes several of the teens' marijuana use as beyond the pale.

"They're perma-fried," he says. "You can't even really talk to them." (To read more of WW's interview with Leggett, visit wweek.com/wwire.)

Granted, in the anonymous world of cyberspace, WW can't absolutely prove that all the profiles we found are authentic. But there are good reasons to believe they are: With one exception, the profiles were tied to the teens' real names, they all predate the FDP publicity, and they have a high degree of overlap and interconnectedness.

WW isn't identifying the juveniles, but one 16-year-old who was arrested appears to have a MySpace profile under his own name (though it says he's 20) linked to the FDP MySpace group.

"I love skateing and chillin with the homies. I like to light stuff on fire and i hate the rain," his profile says.

Another arrested 16-year-old's profile says, "I like to skate and get faded and hang out with my girlfriend." His profile is accompanied by a photo of a long-haired youth blowing a smoke ring. (For the over-40 crowd, "faded" is West Coast slang for "being high/stoned/blazed," according to urbandictionary.com.)

Under "heroes" the teen lists "nobody," and about books he writes, "fuck books there for faggots."

The investigation is continuing, Anderson says, and more arrests are expected. So, was Anderson aware of the teens' MySpace pages?

"I don't do MySpace," he says with a chuckle.

 
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
 
 
 

 

 
12.20.2006 at 08:34 Reply
See, folks? This is what happens when you dumb down computer technology low enough for anyone to use it.

God, I miss the days of complex text commands and low-res ASCII graphics.

 

12.20.2006 at 11:29 Reply
Does anyone else find it utterly ridiculous to refer to someone's MySpace page as 'authentic' and to take its statements seriously in context of a criminal investigation? I mean, you folks do realize those profiles aren't fact-checked, right?

 

12.21.2006 at 07:26 Reply
technophone, we do realize the authenticity of MySpace pages is hard to verify and even pointed that out in the article along with several reasons why we believe the profiles were created by the people to whom they appeared to belong. But no, we're not saying they're the sole evidence police and prosecutors should rely on.

Also, what we drew from those profiles were not facts like "When did the War of 1812 take place?" but comments that reveal aspects of their characters, such as affiliating themselves with FDP, enjoying drugs and thinking books are for faggots.

 

12.21.2006 at 11:33 Reply
Ed
Ian, the article doesn't focus on the burglaries (truly reprehensible acts) but instead on a loose band of kids who don't like to read, don't like tweekers, don't like crack heads, like to hang out with their girlfriends, and like to smoke a lot of pot (not really that reprehensible or news worthy).

If you'd found anything damning on their supposed myspace profiles surely you would've mentioned it. You didn't. The only relevent information you referenced is the name of the group's page, "FDP". You probably could've left it at that.

 

12.21.2006 at 01:31 Reply
Unless you're a parent who probably has a kid that fits those characteristics or a student that hangs with people like that, and you might want to be aware that those associations don't necessarily lead to the path of prosperity.

The writer paints a great picture of what the MySpace world is like; how it can keep "gangs" connected and supported; and that kids out there don't know the difference between "they're," "their," or "there."

 

 
 

Web Design for magazines

Close
Close
Close