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OT: Renton Police Seek Felony Charges Against Cartoonist

44Brent

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Olympia, WA
Police: Mock us in Cartoons, go to Prison
Jason Mick (Blog) - August 5, 2011 9:15 AM

A Renton, Washington native has been accused of felony cyberstalking for making a satirical cartoon depicting local crooked cops. (Source: KIRO 7)

The video reportedly depicts a city bureaucrat, Penny Bartley, talking about covering up wrongdoing. (Source: YouTube via KIRO 7)

The City of Renton's police department has been the subject of repeated internal affairs investigations. (Source: KIRO 7)

The city's police chief has defended the search warrant, which many say violates the First Amendment protection of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. (Source: KIRO 7)
Police department with long history of internal affairs investigations looks to charge satirist with felony

When cartoonist "Mrfuddlesticks" decided to make a series of animated videos parodying the local police department in Renton, Washington, they had ample source material from the media and the public record -- the city had suffered repeated misconduct scandals in recent history. The individual used the popular animation site www.xtranormal.com to create a series of videos making fun of the city's police department. Little did they know, those videos would have them facing criminal charges [Scribd] for "cyberstalking".

I. Satirist Accused of Felony Crime for Cartoons

In what legal experts are calling a rampant abuse of power, police have taken the first steps towards filing criminal charges against the creator, claiming their creator violated the Washington State cyberstalking statute "RCW 9.61.260." A local judge at the Superior Court for King County -- James Cayce -- has signed off on a search warrant sent to Google Inc. (GOOG).

The warrant is designed to obtain the real world identity of the cartoonist, who posted the videos to YouTube. The videos were created using the same free animation suite as the famous viral "iPhone4 vs HTC Evo" video. Two of the videos can be viewed here [1][2].

Article continued at http://www.dailytech.com/Police+Mock+us+in+Cartoons+go+to+Prison/article22362.htm
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Cartoonist Targeted With Criminal Probe For Mocking Police

The Renton City Prosecutor wants to send a cartoonist to jail for mocking the police department in a series of animated...
Chris Halsne

KIRO 7 Eyewitness News Investigative Reporter

RENTON, Wash. -- The Renton City Prosecutor wants to send a cartoonist to jail for mocking the police department in a series of animated Internet videos.

The "South-Park"-style animations parody everything from officers having sex on duty to certain personnel getting promoted without necessary qualifications. While the city wants to criminalize the cartoons, First Amendment rights advocates say the move is an "extreme abuse of power."

Only KIRO Team 7 Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne holds a key document that really lays bare the city’s intent. The document was quietly filed in King County Superior Court last week. It’s a search warrant accusing an anonymous cartoon creator, going by the name of Mr. Fiddlesticks, of cyberstalking (RCW 9.61.260). The Renton Police Department and the local prosecutor got a judge to sign off as a way to uncover the name of whoever is behind the parodies. Halsne talked with three nationally respected legal experts who believe the use of the cyberstalking statute is likely stomping on the constitution.

Article continued at http://www.kirotv.com/news/28758502/detail.html
 

44Brent

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Videos

Each of the videos are preceded by a short advertisement.

Video: http://www.kirotv.com/video/28776480/index.html (Job Tips Parody - Profanity warning)
Video: http://www.kirotv.com/video/28776990/index.html (Promotion Parody)
Video: http://www.kirotv.com/video/28776583/index.html (Reprimand Parody)
Video: http://www.kirotv.com/video/28776835/index.html (Lawyer Parody)
Video: http://www.kirotv.com/video/28756245/index.html (Locker Room Parody)
Video: http://www.kirotv.com/video/28756506/index.html (Jail Parody)
 

44Brent

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Olympia, WA
Excerpts from the affidavit of Ryan Rutledge of the Renton Police Department at http://www.kirotv.com/news/28758502/detail.html

After viewing all the videos, I observed that the main animated character of each video was what appeared to be a Police Officer. This Officer did not mention a specific City or Police Department, but several comments made in the videos were linked to past sexual relationships, internal investigations, rumors, and accusations of sexual orientation within the City of Renton.

-------

Three individuals have came forward and have identified themselves as being persons targeted by embarrassing and emotionally tormenting comments about past sexual relationships or dating relationships that were discussed within some of these videos. These individuals are all current employees of the City of Renton; Detective Tanya Gardanar, Sergeant Christy Mathew, and Cime Prevention Specialist Cyndie Parks. All three individuals have notified the Renton Police Chief, Chief Milosevich that they would like to be considered victims of Cyberstalking.
 

amlevin

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North of Seattle, Washington, USA
Apparently Renton PD shares a common trait with the common Cockroach. Neither can stand having daylight shed on their activities.

Maybe the "Task Force" that's investigating Seattle PD can stick around and do some investigating of Renton PD. Violation of one's Civil Rights IS still a violation of Federal Law, isn't it?
 

Dave_pro2a

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IMHO: their priority is to find the "traitor" among them who revealed information from internal investigations (which they swept under the rug). Find the 'rat' who crossed the thin blue line, and get revenge. That's the motive. Scare other employees into toeing the 1* attitude and think blue line code of silence.

On a long shot, they could be worried someone hacked their system Anonymous / Lulz style. Personally, I hope they got hacked, that everything in the videos is true, and that they get hacked again in the future (and again, and again).

Either way, it's about secrets and revenge and the court is a biased agent of assistance for their vendetta. The incidents in the videos are what should be published every week in the newspaper instead of some stupid 'police beat' list of arrests for shoplifting, drug possession, car prowling, etc. Some kid getting arrested for stealing a stereo is not news, and does not impact society: but police doing what is described in those videos does.

Either expose and eliminate the bad apples, of have them exposed for you. The kids today have the power, knowledge and stupidity to do it for you ;)
 

amzbrady

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Marysville, Washington, USA
what is even more disturbing to me than the fact the police are trying to tear down the 1st amendment, is that a JUDGE signed off on the warrant. Arent judges supposed to know law to be a judge? I guess we are to the point in US history where laws will just be made as we go along, and be damned with the constitution. I look at todays youth, which most could care less about what happens in politics as long as they have in style underwear to show off, and a bumpin bass. It reminds me of the movie Idiocracy.

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...AB05E95248D7D5A9445CAB&view=detail&FORM=VIRE5
 

sudden valley gunner

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Metalhead47

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sudden valley gunner

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WOw... umm... how bout the 3-paragraph Readers Digest condensed version? :D

Basically they made it illegal to try to skirt the law about reporting to IRS if you withdraw $10,000.00 in a day.

Now it was supposed to only target "racketeers" (again a loose definition, with a wide net, used to entrap many). But several business owners who operate in cash have been arrested for "not breaking" the law.
 

Citizen

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Fairfax Co., VA
Basically they made it illegal to try to skirt the law about reporting to IRS if you withdraw $10,000.00 in a day.

Now it was supposed to only target "racketeers" (again a loose definition, with a wide net, used to entrap many). But several business owners who operate in cash have been arrested for "not breaking" the law.

Structuring deposits, I believe its called.

I suppose they'll have to lower the threshold soon. After all the taxes they're going to pile on us, nobody's gonna have enough dough to meet the $10K threshold.
 

Fallschirjmäger

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Cumming, Georgia, USA
So, what would have been a nice, quiet embarrassment in a tiny town has, thanks to the work of the Renton PD and the prosecutor, become something widely known, even outside the tiny burg, or the even the state of Washington.


[slowclap]Way to keep things undercover, Renton PD. [/slowclap]
 
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