Although I was not a party in the case resulting in the Usenet gag order, described in "When is it a Felony to Talk about olin skis?", Seattle Police Department Detective Leanne Shirey testified that I had "threatened" her and the Department, and and had placed "demands" on her.
During the "flame wars" that led to the litigation, I, too, was threatened with physical violence to me and my family. I was subjected to a campaign of e-mail flooding that clogged my computer with over 40,000 messages and 400 megs of attachments and forced me to close my e-mail account.I received great cooperation from the abuse staff of several Internet services, one of whom recommended strongly that I contact my local police department.
On October 8th I phoned Det. Leanne Shirey and left a message that I wanted to file a complaint and have the Police Department investigate the matter. When the call was not returned, I sent the e-mail below. I did not receive any response, so I phoned to leave a message asking about the status of my complaint.
It was this e-mail, and the two messages left on her voice mail, that Det. Leanne Shirey told the court constituted threatening her and the Department and making demands of the Department.
Dear Det. Shirley,
I am disappointed that you did not return my phone call yesterday.
Please consider this a formal complaint about a six-month campaign of stalking and harassment under RCW 9A.46.020 and RCW 9A.46.110, and of willful and malicious damage to property under applicable RCWs. The persons involved in this stalking, harassing and malicious destruction have threatened physical harm to myself, my family and my property and already caused incalculable damage to my property. This includes "e-mail flooding" of over 40,000 messages, most with attachments, and 400 megs of data, not only crashing my computer but causing considerable strain on Internet service providers. I have received full cooperation from @attbi.com, mail.com, oakweb.net and onelist.com abuse departments.
There is no doubt but that this is "a knowing and willful course of conduct directed at a specific person which seriously alarms, annoys, harasses, or is detrimental to such person, and which serves no legitimate or lawful purpose. My wife is fearful and distraught, and I am upset and emotionally drained.
COMPLAINANT:
Bert H. Hoff
WebMaster, MenWeb
{address omitted on this Web page]
{phone number omitted on this Web page}
berthoff@comcast.net
PERPETRATORS
Ted Waldron (Edward Waldron?)
address and phone known to you
Montlake/Arboretum area
David Hobbs (aka David "Boots" Hobbs)
last known address:
{omitted from this Web page}
believed to have moved to Lake Sammamish area
believed to have an arrest and conviction record for DUI
Erik Leonard
address unknown
FACTS:
I am WebMaster of MenWeb, http://www.menweb.org/ , devoted to men's concerns, the "men's movement," help for male survivors of childhood sexual abuse, and the like. I am also a skier, member of the Founder's Club at Crystal Mountain. Scott Abraham, a male survivor of childhood sexual abuse, is WebMaster of this section of MenWeb.
Last April and May, posters on the Usenet group rec.skiing.alpine (RSA) began making derogatory and derisive comments about MenWeb and male survivors of childhood sexual abuse. I began posting on RSA, in part to object to this as off-topic to RSA and harmful to survivors - male and female - of childhood sexual abuse. It's a tragedy, not a joking manner.
In a short time the three individuals above engaged in a campaign of defamation, saying that I had sodomized my step-son, that I beat my wife, and that my wife is a crack whore. Ted Waldron cross-posted these defamatory remarks to Usenet groups seattle.general and alt.usenet.kooks. The other perpetrators joined in and began stalking my every post to harass me.
Ted Waldron later issued an apology to seattle.general and to alt.usenet.kooks for his defamation, but did not apologize in RSA.
At this point, I sent an e-mail to the Boeing Employees' Credit Union HR department. Hobbs was under contract to them for IT services. I pointed out Hobbs used their time and resources to make defamatory remarks that I sodomized my step-son, and to make a post comparing the size of Scott Abraham's anal orifice before and after being sodomized by a priest. They terminated his contract.
At this point, David Hobbs, Erik Leonard, Ted Waldron and others posting under anonymous pseudonyms made threats of physical violence to me, my family and my property. One reminded me to keep looking over my shoulder, because there *would* be retaliation. Another threatened to hurt me or damage my car in the Crystal Mountain parking lot. Ted Waldron publicly posted my address to the newsgroup as these threats were being made. (He took it from my e-mail SIG file, which you see below.) One post, around midnight, urged me to go outside and look at my car (describing the car accurately - information I had not shared with anyone), and said there would be more damage next time. (There was no damage to the car.)
A bit later, several "e-mail flooding" campaigns (willful and malicious damage of property). An anonymous person (believe to be Hobbs, in concert with Leonard and Waldron) would secure a vanity e-mail address from mail.com (e.g. "parrot@lawyer.com," "scottblowsa@priest.com") and then subscribe to any number of high-volume e-mail lists (with large attachments) at onelist.com. I endured this flooding, in waves, over a three-week period. The total volume was over 40,000 messages and over 400 megs of data. Scott Abraham endured similar "flooding," as did another RSA participant, Vincent Walker of Maryland. The volume forced me to cancel my XlMeister@attbi.com e-mail account. It also forced my Eudora e-mail program to crash and wiped out my inbox. In that inbox, and irretrievably lost, were a number of stories to be published on MenWeb and in my Men's Voices journal.
One or more of these people, posting anonymously, forced me to close MenWeb's interactive calendar. In this service, visitors could enter entries for upcoming men's gatherings and events. The perp flooded each day, for 1999 and 2000, with defamatory entries that I sodomize my step-son and that Scott sodomizes me. The only solution was to pull the calendar and stop offering this service through MenWeb.
The stalking and harassment continue on a daily basis. It continues whether or not I respond.
I have e-mails and posts to substantiate each point above. I thought I would spare you flooding your in-box with them. You can ask for what you need.
I am sure that if you were to seize David Boots Hobbs' hard drive you would find all the further evidence you would need.
I hope you will take swift and definitive action against Ted Waldron, David Hobbs and Erik Leonard. I will cooperate fully in any investigation and prosecution you undertake.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you.
Bert H. Hoff
WebMaster, MenWeb
