Comments on: Teens arrested in alleged MySpace extortion scam

Two N.Y. teens are charged with threatening the popular Web site with malicious code and attempting to extort $150,000.

[Seaspray0]

Not guilty?

They're caught in the act and still plead not guilty?

[JerzeyRich]

Not Guilty Plea.......

INAL but your plea has little to do with whether you actually committed a crime. It has more to do with legal strategy than anything else. In a case like this I see these guys using the not guilty plea to buy time so they can negotiate a plea bargain.

[CNerd2025]

Other Circumstances as Well

Besides the fact that they were caught in the act and we all know that they are guilty, they can claim with some justification this is entrapment. It depends on the details of the case. It sounds to me like the cops were very careful, especially since some of them were from the DA's office. Sting operations are difficult business because of the thin and wavy lines of legality. For example, if a cop came up to you and said he'd pay you $10,000 for x lbs of cocaine, that would be entrapment. However, if the cop was undercover, he was thought to be a potential transporter, and you attempted to sell him some, entrapment would vanish. Of course, most cases are going to be more difficult than this, because cops will have to make certain demands and so on. With lawyers and Feds apprehending these two lovely citizens, we can be pretty sure that they followed the rules.

[EricDaEvilGenius]

Huh?

What were we talking about again?

[gggg sssss]

Job

They can claim that they thought they were going for a job interview with a salary of $150,000

[waterdrop]

Bring Down MySpace!

Ya, finally someone tries to bringdown the evilness that is MySpace. No but seriously, how stupid could these kids be? $150,000? Did they really think they were gonna get that money, and how? Did they think they were gonna get a check in the mail from Myspace?

I do not like MySpace and i almost find it a tad funny that people would do stuff like this.