Another satisfied Patriot Act customer

[FellowTraveler]

Ahhh...due process, we hardly knew ye.

Mom says Patriot Act stripped son of due process
Posted: Apr. 29, 2009

Sixteen-year-old Ashton Lundeby's bedroom in his mother's Granville County home is nothing, if not patriotic. Images of American flags are everywhere – on the bed, on the floor, on the wall.

But according to the United States government, the tenth-grade home-schooler is being held on a criminal complaint that he made a bomb threat from his home on the night of Feb. 15.

The family was at a church function that night, his mother, Annette Lundeby, said.

"Undoubtedly, they were given false information, or they would not have had 12 agents in my house with a widow and two children and three cats," Lundeby said.

Around 10 p.m. on March 5, Lundeby said, armed FBI agents along with three local law enforcement officers stormed her home looking for her son. They handcuffed him and presented her with a search warrant.

"I was terrified," Lundeby's mother said. "There were guns, and I don't allow guns around my children. I don't believe in guns."

Lundeby told the officers that someone had hacked into her son's IP address and was using it to make crank calls connected through the Internet, making it look like the calls had originated from her home when they did not.

Her argument was ignored, she said. Agents seized a computer, a cell phone, gaming console, routers, bank statements and school records, according to federal search warrants.

"There were no bomb-making materials, not even a blasting cap, not even a wire," Lundeby said.

Ashton now sits in a juvenile facility in South Bend, Ind. His mother has had little access to him since his arrest. She has gone to her state representatives as well as attorneys, seeking assistance, but, she said, there is nothing she can do.

Lundeby said the USA Patriot Act stripped her son of his due process rights.

"We have no rights under the Patriot Act to even defend them, because the Patriot Act basically supersedes the Constitution," she said. "It wasn't intended to drag your barely 16-year-old, 120-pound son out in the middle of the night on a charge that we can't even defend."

Passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S., the Patriot Act allows federal agents to investigate suspected cases of terrorism swiftly to better protect the country. In part, it gives the federal government more latitude to search telephone records, e-mails and other records.

"They're saying that 'We feel this individual is a terrorist or an enemy combatant against the United States, and we're going to suspend all of those due process rights because this person is an enemy of the United States," said Dan Boyce, a defense attorney and former U.S. attorney not connected to the Lundeby case.

Critics of the statute say it threatens the most basic of liberties.

"There's nothing a matter of public record," Boyce said "All those normal rights are just suspended in the air."

In a bi-partisan effort, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., last month introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives a bill that would narrow subpoena power in a provision of the Patriot Act, called the National Security Letters, to curb what some consider to be abuse of power by federal law enforcement officers.

Boyce said the Patriot Act was written with good intentions, but he said he believes it has gone too far in some cases. Lundeby's might be one of them, he said.

"It very well could be a case of overreaction, where an agent leaped to certain conclusions or has made certain assumptions about this individual and about how serious the threat really is," Boyce said.

Because a federal judge issued a gag order in the case, the U.S. attorney in Indiana cannot comment on the case, nor can the FBI. The North Carolina Highway Patrol did confirm that officers assisted with the FBI operation at the Lundeby home on March 5.

"Never in my worst nightmare did I ever think that it would be my own government that I would have to protect my children from," Lundeby said. "This is the United States, and I feel like I live in a third world country now."

Lundeby said she does not think this type of case is what the Patriot Act was intended for. Boyce agrees.

"It was to protect the public, but what we need to do is to make sure there are checks and balances to make sure those new laws are not abused," he said.

Reporter: Amanda Lamb
Photographer: Chad Flowers
Web Editor: Kelly Gardner

Copyright 2009 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/5049867

[TheDrip]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there's a lot more to this story. Especially when the mother immediately jumps to the "hacking" defense, upon the agents showing up with a search warrant.

[MayrMeninoCrash]

That's fucked up. If they don't have any evidence other than computer logs (via an easily spoofed IP address), they need to let him go.

I wonder if they've waterboarded this likely terrorist yet? Surely he knows Al-Qaeda's next target :icon_mrgr

[MrBogey]

I hate it when someone hacks my IP address to make cell phone calls off my routers firewall. Usually i try and modem into a secure website to stop that kind of stuff.

[Death Metal Moe]

We HAVE to do things like this because they hate our freedom.

Score one for Uncle Sam, you made a kid shit his pants.

[Hoagie]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there's a lot more to this story. Especially when the mother immediately jumps to the "hacking" defense, upon the agents showing up with a search warrant.
There's definitely more to this story then being reported. The mother statement leads me to believe there was more then just one call. I need more info on this before I'll condemn it. They had a warrant and I'm not sure what due processes this kid is being denied. But the mother sounds like a completely reasonable woman who believes her son shouldn't be arrested because he only weighs 120 pounds and that police and federal agents shouldn't be carrying guns around her kid because she doesn't allow it. I don't buy her story of total victimization.

[Norm Stansfield]

Unless the part about the kid being held, by the FBI, under the Patriot Act is a lie, it doesn't matter how much more there is to this story.

The Patriot Act was passed under false pretenses: the government claimed that it was necessary to fight Islamic Fundamentalists, to prevent attacks such as 9/11. Any use of for other reasons should be strictly prohibited, or if that's impossible to do, the whole thing repelled.

[MayrMeninoCrash]

I hate it when someone hacks my IP address to make cell phone calls off my routers firewall. Usually i try and modem into a secure website to stop that kind of stuff.

You wouldn't believe how ignorant the average person is to how their computer setup works. Just scan your wireless for open routers, I bet you'll find a handful. Even WEP is not all that secure, WPA is better.

[JonBenetRamsey]

this shouldn't be going on OBAMA PRESIDENT NAAAOOOOWWWW!!!!

[gleet]

"I don't believe in guns."

And yet, they exist.

[DonTheTrucker]

I have a feeling none of this has anything to do with the Patriot Act and the mother is trying to get sympathy for her kid.

[MrBogey]

I have a feeling none of this has anything to do with the Patriot Act and the mother is trying to get sympathy for her kid.

Don, they are church-going folks. Clearly it's hackers. Possibly Jewish hackers.

[WoodenPlank]

I have a feeling none of this has anything to do with the Patriot Act and the mother is trying to get sympathy for her kid.

This.

[kidconnor]

Once the mother told them what happened they should have taken her word for it. I mean she goes to church and everything.

The only thing we know about this home-schooled teen is just that. He is home schooled, 16, oh and goes to church. A bomb threat was made from his home. If the feds had this information and DIDN'T act on it and this kid turned out to be legit, then what? Just a couple of dead people. No biggie. I'm sure the public would understand not wanting to be rude by grabbing this kid. Age and gender don't mean squat.


Not everything printed in papers is true + one side of the story = we don't know SHIT!

[sniper2323]

"I was terrified," Lundeby's mother said. "There were guns, and I don't allow guns around my children. I don't believe in guns."

How could guns be there if you don't believe in guns? I think I know how she voted.

Like others said, Wow, she jumped to the account was hacked. It was a setup MAAANNNNN!!!!!

[BullsLawDan]

Large portions of the Patriot Act are blatantly unconstitutional; that being said I don't see where it applies here. The police had a duly-executed search warrant and made an arrest based on their findings.

And yes, dumb lady, people are difficult to contact when they're being held in juvie. That's kind of the point. If you could go there and bring him juicey boxes and orange slices and give him unlimited hugs and his blankie it would be called "camp".

[Chino Kapone]

And yet, they exist.

Lulzicles :hahaha:

[Vyce]

"Never in my worst nightmare did I ever think that it would be my own government that I would have to protect my children from," Lundeby said.

How about those of us who want the government to protect us from your fucking bomb-threat-making kid.

[Motor Head]

And this is how you will be removed from your home and sent to a FEMA camp. They will simply claim to have evidence that you are aiding terrorist or in fact a terrorist yourself and they will raid your home take your belongings and freedom.

Under the U.S Constitution you can't be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process. The IRS alreadys has walked all over the constitution on two of the three and now the justice system under the Patriot Act.

Mark my words. Some day we will all be scrutinized by what I fear is quickly becoming a fascist government and they will use the Patriot Act to disappear you to a place where you won't cause trouble.

I'll put my tinfoil hat back on now.

[Motor Head]

How about those of us who want the government to protect us from your fucking bomb-threat-making kid.

What part of innocent until proven guilty slid past you in civics class in junior high?

[kidconnor]

What part of innocent until proven guilty slid past you in civics class in junior high?


They had enough to get a warrant and charge the kid. Thats all we know. They could have him on tape making this threat.


If this kid is found guilty by overwhelming evidence will it change your mind?

[MrBogey]

Did anyone verify her account?

[kidconnor]

Teenage Bomb Threat Suspect Was Internet Prank-Call Star

* By Kevin Poulsen Email Author
* May 7, 2009 |
* 4:44 pm |
* Categories: The Courts

A 16-year-old North Carolina boy arrested for allegedly making a bomb threat against Purdue University had a secret identity as a superstar in an unusual online subculture — one dedicated to making prank phone calls for a live internet audience, his mother admitted Thursday.

“I heard the prank phone calls he made,” says Annette Lundeby of Oxford. “They were really funny prank phone calls…. He made phone calls to, like, Walmart.”

Annette Lundeby told Raleigh, North Carolina’s WRAL TV that her son was being unfairly held under the USA Patriot Act.

Lundeby confirmed that her son was known online as “Tyrone,” a celebrity in a prank-calling community that grew late last year out of the trouble-making “/b/” board on 4chan. Using the VOIP conferencing software Ventrilo, as many as 300 listeners would gather on a server run by Tyrone to listen to him and other amateur voice actors make often-crude and racist phone calls, some of which are archived on YouTube. The broadcasts were organized through websites like PartyVanPranks.com.

A former fan of Tyrone’s work helped lead the police to Lundeby’s son after the boy allegedly moved beyond pranks this year and began accepting donations from students eager to miss a day of school. In exchange for a little money, Tyrone would phone in a bomb threat that would shutter the donor’s school for a day.

“People would pay about five dollars, and they get to submit a number,” says Jason Bennett, a 19-year-old college student in Syndey, Australia. “It was getting way out of hand.”

Lundeby admits that her son received donations for his prank phone calls, but denies that he made bomb threats. She says her son was with her, coming home from church, at the time of the February 15 phone call that summoned a bomb squad and evacuated the mechanical engineering building at Purdue University in Indiana.

Bennett didn’t hear the Purdue call, but he says he heard Tyrone admit to that bomb threat later, and decided enough was enough. He contacted university police and began helping them get the goods on “Tyrone.”

The case came to a head the night of March 5, when Tyrone made a series of rapid-fire bomb threats against five different schools around the United States. Bennett recorded the calls.

“This is a warning to every staff, student and anybody else who may be in the school tomorrow afternoon at 11:00 a.m.,” the caller is heard saying in a voicemail message for Mill Valley High School in Shawnee, Kansas.

“There are twelve bombs located throughout the entire campus at the school,” the caller continues (.mp3). “They are in random lockers throughout the school — I will not tell you which lockers they are located in. There are also two in the bathroom and there is one in the gym. You have exactly one hour after 11:00 a.m. to find and disarm the bombs. That is all I have to say. All will be cleansed.”

After leaving similar threats with four other schools, Tyrone gives listeners his e-mail address and asks for PayPal donations. Then he promises more calls in the morning. “I’m going to go to bed so I can fucking wake up at 6:00 in the morning and I’m going to cancel about eight or nine schools maybe,” he says. “You guys have fun missing school tomorrow.”

When Tyrone signed off, Bennett immediately put the recording on his own web server and provided a link to a Purdue University police detective working the case, who shared it with the FBI. Police warned the schools that very night that the calls were hoaxes, and the FBI — armed with a search warrant and a criminal complaint — swooped in on Annette Lundeby’s home at 10:00 p.m., seized computers and arrested her son.

Lundeby insists the “Tyrone” on the recording must be a different prank caller using her son’s online handle and e-mail address. “I’ve asked him about this and he doesn’t know anything about it,” she says. “There are other people who sound like him.”

Bennett says Lundeby knew her son had made bomb threats. “His mother knew that he was making calls, because she’d come on the microphone when he was talking and tell him not to do any bomb threats because the house was going to get raided,” he says. “He said he wasn’t going to do any more bomb threats because his mom didn’t approve of them. But then he did them anyway.”

Lundeby denies knowing anything about her son staging bomb hoaxes. But she admits seeing a YouTube video in which “Tyrone” jokes that he’s hidden a bomb in a box of take-out chicken.

In that call — laced with profanity and racist slurs — Tyrone is heard phoning a New York cigar shop while watching on a webcam streamed though the video-feed site New York City Live. When he sees a food delivery arrive at the checkout counter, he tells the clerk, “Your chicken is here. It contains the bomb which will detonate. It’s my bomb. It’s the bomb that will detonate in five minutes. The fried chicken has a bomb in it.”

“I’m not sure if that was him or not,” says Lundeby. “If you’ll notice, the guy is also playing along with him. A lot of these calls are pre-setup. The other person on the other end knew it had been preset.”

“He did not make the bomb threat to Purdue,” she adds. “Even so, it’s about the Constitution.”

The arrest of Lundeby’s son stoked widespread outrage on the internet after Raleigh, North Carolina’s WRAL-5 reported on the case, noting that the boy is a patriotic homeschooled student with an American flag bedspread.

Much of the online fury was triggered by Lundeby’s incorrect claim — uncritically reported by the station — that the boy was being held without any legal rights on the authority of the 2001 USA Patriot Act. In truth, making telephone bomb threats has been a federal crime since 1939. The teenager is being held without bail in Indiana, but he’s been formally charged, has a court-appointed attorney, and has already made three appearances in front of a judge. The case is sealed because the suspect is a minor.

Responding to the internet outrage on Thursday, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of Indiana issued a press release (.pdf) emphasizing the the teenager is not being held on terrorism charges. The case “alleges a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 844(e), which prohibits sending false information about an attempt to kill, injure or intimidate any individual or to unlawfully to damage any building through an instrument of interstate commerce,” the prosecutors wrote.

“The government has filed a motion with the Court seeking to transfer the juvenile to adult status,” the government added. “That motion is pending before the Court and is scheduled for a hearing during the month of May.”

Image: Annette Lundeby told Raleigh, North Carolina’s WRAL TV that her son was being unfairly held under the USA Patriot Act.


Summary

The kid made prank calls all the time. His mother admits that but denies any bomb threats were made. There are supposedly youtube videos of him making threats under the name 'Tyrone'. And , according to some australian dude, he was taking money in exchange for making bomb threats to schools so kids could have a day off. His mother admits he received money to make prank calls, but denies for bomb threats. He is NOT being held under the patriot act. Has had 3 court appearances already.


I got this from Wired. But google his name and a bunch of articles/blogs(yech) following this story pop up.

[Motor Head]

They had enough to get a warrant and charge the kid. Thats all we know. They could have him on tape making this threat.


If this kid is found guilty by overwhelming evidence will it change your mind?
EDIT - Yeah, I know they got a warrant. I'm a deputy sheriff and know how the whole thing works.

The point of this is that under the Patriot Act he will not get a trial if the letter of the law is followed. There may have damning evidence of course, and I as a fellow citizen think he should be hung up by his Buster Browns (god I love a good Jaws reference) if he is found guilty in a court of law.

At the very least our own citizens deserve a certain degree of immunity from the Patriot Act. This kid deserves to have a lawyer and a court date. If he was some cave dwelling Muslim animal I could give a shit. But the kid is an American citizen.

[kidconnor]

At the very least our own citizens deserve a certain degree of immunity from the Patriot Act. This kid deserves to have a lawyer and a court date. If he was some cave dwelling Muslim animal I could give a shit. But the kid is an American citizen.

I agree. The patriot act did seem a bit extreme in this case unless they had more. And it seems they did. To the point where it wasn't used. See my earlier post and this........

Posted by William Grigg at May 7, 2009 02:08 PM

It appears that, contrary to what I reported two days ago, Ashton Lundeby is not being held under the USA PATRIOT act.

Earlier today, a memo marked "Not for distribution outside law enforcement" was circulated among officials in Indiana -- where Ashton is being held at the Thomas N. Frederick Juvenile Justice Center in South Bend. The memo complained of hostile publicity given to the case inspired by what were described as "false claims" from Ashton's mother, Annette Lundeby, about the use of the PATRIOT act in the arrest and detention of her son.

Those claims led the office of US Attorney David Capp to issue a press release today insisting that the arrest and detention of Ashton Lundeby "is unrelated to the PATRIOT act."

"The juvenile has appeared in court on three occasions, once in North Carolina for an initial hearing and a detention hearing, and twice in Indiana for a continued initial hearing and a status hearing," the press release relates. "At each hearing, the juvenile was represented by counsel.... The juvenile is presently housed in a juvenile facility in the Northern District of Indiana where he does not have contact with adult offenders. His mother has been apprised of each court appearance and has attended the hearing in North Carolina; she did not appear at either of the hearings in Indiana."

As the press release notes, Annette Lundeby was present during the initial hearing in North Carolina, and until today she was the only source available to describe the details of her son's arrest and the terms of his detention. In interviews I conducted with her both on May 5 and 6, Mrs. Lundeby insisted that the PATRIOT act was invoked by the Feds in this case.



Fu(king media loves to jump on shit and failed to check their facts. Seemed the lack of information they got from the feds led them to believe what the mother said was 100% accurate. The feds released their own information to counter this Patriot act rallying cause that non-fact checking douches created. Lets see if they are held as accountable as they would have wanted to hold the govt for treating this little turd too harsh.

[BullsLawDan]

At the very least our own citizens deserve a certain degree of immunity from the Patriot Act. This kid deserves to have a lawyer and a court date. If he was some cave dwelling Muslim animal I could give a shit. But the kid is an American citizen.

Well, according to the dumbass "journalist" that posted the original "story", he's had three court appearances and has a court-appointed lawyer since his arrest. Seems like things are being done right.

And this is how you will be removed from your home and sent to a FEMA camp. They will simply claim to have evidence that you are aiding terrorist or in fact a terrorist yourself and they will raid your home take your belongings and freedom.

LOL @ "FEMA Camp"... That has to rank in my top 3 favorite nutso conspiracy theories of all time. People who work at train repair yards and toxic waste dumps must wonder why so many losers in oversized army jackets are suddenly interested in taking pictures of their workplaces... Because any place with a fence around it and buildings is now a "FEMA camp" just waiting to be activated.
:haha7::haha7::haha7:

[Motor Head]

When they lock you up, you remember this day my friend. Now I have to go paint my walls with molten lead to keep out the space rays that are transmitting my sexual thoughts to my dead grandmother and the CIA.

As far as the camps...well Glen Beck outed them. Oh wait, that was on FOX so it doesn't count.

[BeerBelly]

stupid kid, you should do it from payphones! with no cameras around

[weakside]

Having worked in the juvenile justice system, I can tell you they are afforded a lot more rights than adults. If this kid is sitting in a detention center I can guarantee the Feds have something major on him.

[Norm Stansfield]

Unless the part about the kid being held, by the FBI, under the Patriot Act is a lie, it doesn't matter how much more there is to this story.

Disclaimers, disclaimers, disclaimers. You can never go wrong with them.

[BullsLawDan]

As far as the camps...well Glen Beck outed them. Oh wait, that was on FOX so it doesn't count.

He did? Wow.

Serious question: Do you consider Glenn Beck to be a reliable source on the issue?

[MayrMeninoCrash]

As far as the camps...well Glen Beck outed them. Oh wait, that was on FOX so it doesn't count.

If Glenn Beck questioned their existence, I'm beginning to think there's something behind that rumor.....:icon_mrgr

[droogie]

The moment someone brings up Glenn Beck a a source of news is the moment that someone loses.

[TheDrip]

So there was a search warrant, a defense lawyer for his defense, and court appearances have already been had....

Why was the mother spewing that Patriot Act nonsense, again?

Good to see that this kid build up quite a name on the interwebs for being a seasoned prank caller (with mommy's knowledge, no less). Now face the music for your 'alleged' bomb threats, shitdick.

[DonTheTrucker]

The moment someone brings up Glenn Beck a a source of news is the moment that someone loses.

This coming from a guy who gets his news from someone that was in Death to Smoochy.

[THE FEZ MAN]

if you are not guilty of crimes against the state, you have nothing to fear from the patriot act.

[Norm Stansfield]

if you are not guilty of crimes against the state, you have nothing to fear from the patriot act.
What's a crime against the State? And how does the State know for sure that someone's guilty?

[THE FEZ MAN]

What's a crime against the State? And how does the State know for sure that someone's guilty?

dont worry, the government will sort it all out later, if your not doing any thing wrong you have nothing to fear

[BullsLawDan]

dont worry, the government will sort it all out later, if your not doing any thing wrong you have nothing to fear

LOL

You are free to do as you're told... You are free to do as you're told...

[Glenn Dandy]

innocent until proven guilty... you people over complicate shit.... investigate him yes,,, arrest him NO.

theres a real problem in this country with false arrest...they just throw you in jail and say, ohh, sorry if their wrong.

Look at Kenneth Kieth....turned out that girl was a lying cunt... now hes dead. ooopsysiiies.


Jails suck and no one who is not proven guilty should ever be in one.