#JusticeforDaisy: Anonymous threatens to go after alleged rapists

Anger is mounting after an article in the Kansas City Star exposed how the alleged rape of two teenage girls in Missouri was brushed under the rug by local officials, but Internet vigilantes aligned with Anonymous are readying to work the case themselves.

A story published in the Star over the weekend by reporter Dugan
Arnett is captivating audiences around the globe as readers
continue to circulate the 4,000-word article about an incident
that began with the alleged sexual assault of two teen girls in
early 2012.

The Star has been working closely with the case for the last
seven months, Arnett said, and that research culminated in the
recent expose titled “Nightmare in Maryville: Teens’ sexual encounter
ignites a firestorm against family.”

It’d be a feat unto itself to reiterate Arnett’s words while
still doing his original story justice, but the gist of the Star
report is that felony charges against a 17-year-old popular
senior football player from Maryville, Missouri were dropped even
after the star athlete himself admitted to having sex with a
highly-intoxicated girl three years his junior. A 13-year-old
girl was also allegedly raped during the encounter by someone,
and another 17-year-old boy recorded the incident on his iPhone
and was eventually hit with a felony charge himself over
allegedly sexual exploiting a minor. Even with hard evidence and
immaculate testimony, however, the case fell apart, no one was
convicted and the family of one of the alleged victims was
essentially driven out of town.

Parents of the 14-year-old — Daisy Coleman — are okay with having
their daughter’s identity out in the open. And as her story is
being shared all over the Web, the Internet’s own army of
computer-chair investigators is pursuing a probe of their own.

Matthew Barnett and Jordan Zech — then both 17 — were accused of
raping and recording, respectively, the two teenage
girls in January 2012.

“Barnett, who was arrested and charged with sexual assault, a
felony, and endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor,
admitted to having sex with Daisy and to being aware that she had
been drinking. He insisted the sex was consensual,” wrote
Arnett.

But the younger girl — whose identity was withheld by the Star —
said such wasn’t the case, and recalls Coleman crying while being
carried around by a group of boys whom she drank heavily with
that evening before the older girl eventually awoke
half-conscious on her mother’s lawn in 22-degree weather. On her
part, Coleman said she remembers nothing after being handed a
second drink by a group of older high school boys that evening
who had been entertaining the two girls in the Barnett household
basement.

The whole thing seemed open-and-shut, at least at first, and
Sheriff Darren White told Arnett that his office put together a
case that would “absolutely” result in prosecutions.

“Within four hours, we had obtained a search warrant for the
house and executed that,” White told The Star. “We had all
of the suspects in custody and had audio/video confessions.”

But nearly two years after the incident, Barnett has moved on and
now studies at the University of Central Missouri, unscathed by
any conviction whatsoever with regards to a rape-case that could
have sent anyone else in his shoes to federal prison for ages.
Arnett acknowledged in his piece that it is also worth noting
that a relative of Barnett spent 32 years in local law
enforcement before serving four years in the Missouri House of
Representatives. That lawmaker, Rex Barnett, also has documented political
ties to Robert Rice, the Nodaway
County prosecutor who ultimately dropped all the charges.

Only hours after Arnett went live with report on the whole
ordeal, Internet activists aligned with the Anonymous movement
had already proposed taking over the investigation if Maryville
authorities continue to ignore the matter.

A statement began circulating early Monday attributed
to Anonymous, the international collective of activists and
hackers who have in recent years tasked themselves with exposing
egregious activity gone unhandled by authorities.

If law enforcement doesn’t open up the Coleman case, it appears
as if Anonymous may again take matters into their own hands. And
if history is any indication, authorities may want to resolve the
matter on their own before the Internet vigilantes do their work
for them.

An eerily identical incident involving the sexual assault of a
teenage girl in Steubenville, Ohio made international
headlines earlier this year after members of Anonymous waged a
massive campaign that propelled the story to mainstream news
networks and even spawned protests outside of Steubenville city buildings.
When Rehtaeh Parsons, another alleged teenage rape
victim, committed suicide, Anonymous again raised awareness of
the issue and opened up an investigation that arguably outpaced
anything authorities had assembled.

Some have suggested that Anonymous’ work with the Steubenville
case was the catalyst in having two high school athletes tried
for the assault of a teenage girl, both of whom have since been
found guilty.

Once again, Anonymous is threatening to take charge of this case
on their own if local officials continue to look the other way.

“We demand an immediate investigation into the handling by
local authorities of Daisy’s case,” the statement reads in
part. “Why was a suspect, who confessed to a crime, released
with no charges? How was video and medical evidence not enough to
put one of these football players inside a court room? What is
the connection of these prosecutors, if any, to Rep. Rex Barnett?
Most of all, We are wondering, how do the residents of Maryville
sleep at night?”

“We have heard Daisy’s story far too often. We heard it from
Steubenville, Halifax and Uttar Pradesh. In some cases, it was
too late. Both Amanda Todd and Rehtaeh Parsons, girls not much
older than Daisy, took their own lives after the adults, the
police and the school system, failed to protect them. If
Maryville won’t defend these young girls, if the police are too
cowardly or corrupt to do their jobs, if justice system has
abandoned them, then we will have to stand for them. Mayor Jim
Fall, your hands are dirty. Maryville, expect us,” it
continues.

“We Are Anonymous. We Are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not
forget. Join us.”

Internet users who associate themselves with Anonymous have since
started to raise awareness of Coleman’s case by circulating
articles about the Barnett family and adopting the hashtags
“#Justice4Daisy” and “#OpMaryville” to try and make their efforts
trend over Twitter and other social media sites.

Only hours after the first anonymously-penned statement was
published online, video created as part of the campaign were
uploaded to YouTube and some adventurous Internet users claimed
to have collected information about the alleged perpetrators,
including Matthew Barnett’s place of business. The Yelp page for that restaurant has since been
adorned with a number of not-so-flattering reviews making
reference to the rape case that one of the business’ alleged
employees has somehow managed to put behind him.

Another person posting information about the operations
identified the twitter account of Robert Rice, the prosecutors
who allowed the charges against Barnett to disappear. Nine
minutes later, that account was offline.

Anons take notice, though: a self-proclaimed member of the movement is currently awaiting
a trial related to a hacking case tied to the Steubenville
operation, and if convicted he could be sent to prison for more
time than the proven rapists.

Copyright: RT