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Very Sad, but Appears True
The following items come from The San Jose newspaper.
SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
Copyright 1994, San Jose Mercury News
DATE: Friday, April 8, 1994
PAGE: 2B EDITION: Alameda County/Am
SECTION: Local LENGTH: 12 in. Short
SOURCE: SANDRA GONZALES, Mercury News Staff Writer
MAN PLEADS NO CONTEST TO CHARGES OF MOLESTING BOY
HE MET ON-LINE
A Cupertino computer engineer who went by the tag of ''Headshaver'' pleaded
no contest Wednesday to charges stemming from a sadomasochistic encounter he
had with a 14-year-old boy he met through an on-line service.
Donald Matthew*Deatherage's*plea to two counts of lewd and lascivious acts
with a child and one count of sodomy could get him a maximum four years and
four months in state prison when he is sentenced next month.
During a hearing in Sunnyvale Municipal Court, the judge denied requests by
*Deatherage's*lawyer to reduce his $500,000 bail.
Court records show that the 27-year-old*Deatherage*handcuffed the boy,
sexually assaulted him, spanked him with a belt and forced him to submit to an
enema.*Deatherage,*who also goes by the name Matt, shaved the boy's legs and
pubic hair, records show.
When deputies at the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department searched
*Deatherage's*home, they found whips, chains, stacks of pornographic magazines
and tapes, leather restraints and leg shackles.
Authorities learned of the relationship when the boy's father searched his
son's computer files at their Monterey County home and found sexually explicit
e-mail conversations between his son and*Deatherage.*
A computer expert from the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office is
reviewing*Deatherage's*seized home-computer files and his America Online
bulletin board account to determine if any other young boys may have been
molested.
END OF DOCUMENT.
SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
Copyright 1994, San Jose Mercury News
DATE: Thursday, April 7, 1994
PAGE: 1B EDITION: Morning Final
SECTION: Local LENGTH: 12 in. Medium
SOURCE: SANDRA GONZALES, Mercury News Staff Writer
MAN PLEADS NO CONTEST TO CHARGES OF MOLESTING TEEN
HE MET ON-LINE
A Cupertino computer engineer who went by the tag of ''Headshaver'' pleaded
no contest Wednesday to charges stemming from a sadomasochistic encounter he
had with a 14-year-old boy he met through an on-line service.
Donald Matthew*Deatherage's*plea to two counts of lewd and lascivious acts
with a child and one count of sodomy could get him a maximum four years and
four months in state prison when he is sentenced next month.
During a hearing in Sunnyvale Municipal Court, the judge denied requests by
*Deatherage's*lawyer to reduce his $500,000 bail.
Court records show that the 27-year-old*Deatherage*handcuffed the boy,
sexually assaulted him, spanked him with a belt and forced him to submit to an
enema.*Deatherage,*who also goes by the name Matt, shaved the boy's legs and
pubic hair, records show.
When deputies at the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department searched
*Deatherage's*home, they found whips, chains, stacks of pornographic magazines
and tapes, leather restraints and leg shackles.
Authorities learned of the relationship when the boy's father searched his
son's computer files at their Monterey County home and found sexually explicit
e-mail conversations between his son and*Deatherage.*
A computer expert from the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office is
reviewing*Deatherage's*seized home-computer files and his America Online
bulletin board account to determine if any other young boys may have been
molested. At a news conference about the case this week, sheriff's detectives
warned parents to beware of those with whom their children communicate on
computer bulletin boards.
Law enforcement agencies say they have noticed a small but increasing
number of cases in which pedophiles make contact with children through
computer services. Over the past two years, for example, SEARCH, a Sacramento-
based consortium that teaches police how to use technology in
investigations, has helped various agencies investigate five such cases and
about 30 involving transmission of child pornography through electronic mail.
*Deatherage,*who worked at Apple Computer Inc., apparently arranged to pick
up the boy at his Marina home on New Year's Eve after the boy told his parents
he was going to a fictitious friend's home in Santa Cruz for an all-night
party.
Once the boy got in the truck, records say,*Deatherage*shackled the boy's
legs, put a mask and pillowcase over the boy's eyes, then made him lie down in
his truck. The boy was returned to his parents the next day.
KEYWORDS: CUPERTINO COMPUTER ASSAULT MAN
END OF DOCUMENT.
SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
Copyright 1994, San Jose Mercury News
DATE: Tuesday, April 5, 1994
PAGE: 1A EDITION: Morning Final
SECTION: Front LENGTH: 24 in. Medium
SOURCE: By BETTY BARNACLE AND RODNEY FOO, Mercury News Staff Writers
MEMO: Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact detective
Collette Swaringen at (408) 299-2211.
Additional information attached to the end of this story
MOLESTATION CASE SHOWS THREAT TO ON-LINE KIDS
AN ALLEGED SEX ASSAULT ON A BOY WAS SET UP VIA
E-MAIL.
Santa Clara County sheriff's detectives Monday warned parents to beware who
their children chat with on computer bulletin boards after the arrest of a
computer engineer who deputies say molested a 14-year-old boy he met through
an on-line service.
Investigators said they'd like to know of any other area boys who might
have exchanged messages with or met ''Headshaver,'' the computer tag of Donald
Matthew*Deatherage,*27, of Cupertino, who also calls himself Matt.
*Deatherage*is scheduled to appear in Sunnyvale Municipal Court on Wednesday
to enter a plea and ask for a reduction in his $500,000 bail.*Deatherage,*who
has been in jail since his March 23 arrest, faces two counts of oral
copulation and one count of sodomy, all felonies.
South Bay police and other agencies say they've noticed a small but
increasing number of cases in which pedophiles make contact with children
through computer services. Over the past two years, for example, SEARCH, a
Sacramento-based consortium that teaches police how to use technology in
investigations, has helped various agencies investigate five such cases and
about 30 involving transmission of child pornography through electronic mail.
Sheriff's detective Collette Swaringen said the alleged assault on the boy
took place New Year's Eve in*Deatherage's*apartment on Valley Green Drive in
Cupertino, where deputies serving a search warrant found sadomasochistic
paraphernalia such as whips, chains, leather restraints and leg shackles, plus
stacks of pornographic magazines and tapes.
Deputies also confiscated*Deatherage's*computer equipment and tapes,
according to a Superior Court search warrant obtained by deputies.
Sexual conversations
The warrant said the case began to unfold Feb. 11 when the boy's father
searched his son's computer files at their Monterey County home and read
sexually explicit e-mail conversations between his son and the suspect.
The boy told police that*Deatherage*picked him up at his Marina home after
he told his parents he was being taken to a fictitious friend's home in Santa
Cruz for a New Year Eve's party. The parents thought*Deatherage*was the older
brother of their son's friend.
Before*Deatherage*drove the youth to his apartment, he reportedly stopped
and shackled the boy's legs and put a mask and pillowcase over the boy's eyes.
*Deatherage*made the boy lie down in his pickup truck, the warrant said.
While with*Deatherage,*police allege, the boy was handcuffed, sexually
assaulted, spanked with a belt and forced to submit to an enema.*Deatherage*
also shaved the boy's legs and pubic hair, according to the warrant.
Bulletin board frozen
The boy, who said nothing before he was questioned by his father, is now
cooperating with authorities, as is America Online, which has frozen
*Deatherage's*bulletin board account so nothing can be changed, deputies said.
Swaringen said investigators are seeking warrants to search*Deatherage's*
home computer files and his bulletin board account.
*Deatherage,*a bachelor who formerly lived in Kansas City and works for
Apple Computer Inc., has been in this area since 1988 and has no known prior
arrests, Swaringen said during a news conference.
High-tech crime experts
She picked up pointers on how to handle the case, Swaringen said, from the
San Jose Police Department's high-tech crime unit. She said a computer expert
from the district attorney's office will review the suspect's computerized
files.
Experts say pedophiles strike up conversations on computer bulletin boards
with children and gain their trust before asking youngsters to join them on
private e-mail, where they can talk sexually. Sometimes suspects send
pornographic photos via computer to children, something not done in the Santa
Clara County sheriff's case.
SAFETY TIPS
Here are some computer on-line safety tips. Keep up with what your children do
on-line and familiarize yourself with areas they frequent so you'll know what
they're likely to encounter.
(box)Warn children to never send personal information when chatting,
sending e-mail, posting on a message board or doing a user profile. That
includes phone numbers, addresses, passwords or information such as when
parents get home from work.
(box)Don't allow children to go on-line unsupervised if they're not old
enough to go out to public places unsupervised.
(box)Find out whether your on-line service has features that allow parents
to block children's access to adult chat rooms and other such features.
(box)Talk to children about unpleasant situations they may encounter and
brainstorm for ways they might handle such situations. Tell them to report
inappropriate comments.
(box)Children may feel they know someone they've become friends with on-
line. Remind children that when people can create screen names and
personalities, they may not be who they say they are.
Source: On-line services and users
KEYWORDS: COMPUTER MAN SEX ASSAULT CHILDREN SAFETY LIST
END OF DOCUMENT.
SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
Copyright 1994, San Jose Mercury News
DATE: Thursday, March 24, 1994
PAGE: 5B EDITION: Morning Final
SECTION: Local LENGTH: 18 in. Short
SOURCE: Mercury News Staff and Wire Reports
MEMO: Bay Area News in Brief
COPS: COMPUTER USED TO LURE BOY INTO SEX ACT
A Cupertino man used a computer bulletin board to meet a 14-year-old boy
and lure him into a sadomasochistic sexual encounter, authorities said. Santa
Clara County sheriff's deputies arrested Donald Matthew*Deatherage,*27, a
computer engineer, at his Valley Green Drive apartment Wednesday morning,
according to a news release.*Deatherage*was taken into custody on a warrant
charging him with two counts of oral copulation and one count of sodomy. He
was held at county jail in lieu of $150,000 bail.
END OF DOCUMENT.
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