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Bullied Kid records incident. Get charged with Felony Wiretapping

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hwalker84

Member
http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2014/04/09/bullied-student-threatened-with-wiretapping-charge/

http://theinscribermag.com/south-fa...-bullies-victim-arrested-wiretapping-charges/

http://benswann.com/exclusive-speci...ened-with-charges-of-warrentless-wiretapping/

South-Fayette-administrators.jpg


The student and his mother, Shea Love, testified before the magistrate that the boy has been repeatedly shoved and tripped at school, and that a fellow student had even attempted to burn him with a cigarette lighter. The defendant is, according to school records, a well-behaved student with no history of disciplinary action. He was, however, previously diagnosed with a comprehension delay disorder, which is a slower processing speed for information than is normal, ADHD, and an anxiety disorder. He says the bullying treatment is especially harsh and academically disruptive during his special education math class, in which students with behavioral problems are also placed. Last month, after doing research on several anti-bullying websites, he used his school approved personal iPad to make a seven-minute audio recording of his classroom experience. He played the recording at home for his mother. Outraged, Love, a former Air Force Morse code operator, transcribed the audio before calling school administrators.

According to Love, as the teacher is heard attempting to help her son with a math problem, a student says, “You should pull his pants down!” Another student replies, “No, man. Imagine how bad that (c**t) smells! No one wants to smell that (t**t).” As the recording continues, the teacher instructs the classroom that they may only talk if it pertains to math. Shortly thereafter, a loud noise is heard on the recording, which her son explained was a book being slammed down next to him after a student pretended to hit him in the head with it. When the teacher yells, the student exclaims, “What? I was just trying to scare him!” A group of boys are heard laughing.

Love says that upon fielding her complaint, Principal Scott Milburn called South Fayette Township police Lieutenant Robert Kurta to the school to interrogate her son in the presence of Associate Principal Aaron Skrbin and Dean of Students Joseph Silhanek. The defendant testified before Judge McGraw-Desmet that he was forced to play the audio for the group and then delete it. Love says by the time she arrived at the school, her son was surrounded by school officials and the police officer and was visibly distraught. She says

Principal Milburn advised her that her son was “facing felony wiretapping charges” because he made a recording in a place with an expectation of privacy, and that Officer Kurta agreed. Milburn defended the teacher’s response to the classroom disturbance.

While Love’s son was never officially charged with felony wiretapping, the magistrate pronounced him guilty of disorderly conduct. This occurred after the administrators gave the student a Saturday detention to serve and he completed it as asked.

The 15-year-old defendant, whose favorite class is Civics, plans to appeal the conviction. His next court appearance is April 29 in Pittsburgh. When asked if she was afraid of retaliation by school officials or harassment by the police, Love said, “I refuse to be threatened. I just want my son to have a chance to bloom and not fall so far behind in a totally disruptive environment.”

The school immediately removed Love’s son from the special education math class. The students whose voices were caught on tape remain enrolled.

Shamalamadingdong ending.......
This is the school I pay taxes for and my alma mater
 

skybald

Member
My acquaintance was being sexually harassed by a room mate in university and recorded an incident to present his case and the same thing happened
 

Suikoguy

I whinny my fervor lowly, for his length is not as great as those of the Hylian war stallions
Expectation of privacy in a public classroom?

Really?
 
I was gonna say why the fuck is it always the victims of bullying etc. that get blamed and punished whereas the perpetrator always gets away with it but then I know the same shit happens at work, it's because teachers/managers etc. never want to deal with the shit that gets caused in these cases and would rather just shut you up to keep it all nice and simple.

I'm sorry, but if someone can prove that they are the victim of a crime, then something like this should be ignored because it's clear that there is never going to be a way to tackle things like this when the victims are literally powerless.

Its shit like this why we have a world where 90% or people are either arseholes or ignorant arseholes to the suffering of the other 10%.
 

bionic77

Member
As a parent I would think the first job of the teachers and principal is to protect their students.

All these cunts cared about is protecting themselves.

Hope that principal loses his job now that some details were released. But I doubt anything happens.
 

jet1911

Member
Principal Milburn advised her that her son was “facing felony wiretapping charges” because he made a recording in a place with an expectation of privacy, and that Officer Kurta agreed. Milburn defended the teacher’s response to the classroom disturbance.

I don't think I'll read a more dumbass news story this month. How does that even make sense? Privacy in a classroom?
 
School funded by tax payer money is absolutely a public place, fuck the school system and sue the shit out of them. If they don't want to get caught promoting this type of behavior they should quit and let someone else take over that will actually provide a safe learning environment.
 

wenis

Registered for GAF on September 11, 2001.
Poor kid.

All those people will get their just desserts in the end. The universe will balance this.
 

iammeiam

Member
There is no expectation of privacy in a public classroom. What nonsense is this.

This is what's baffling me--as far as I can tell, Pennsylvania is two-party consent for recording, but that usually doesn't apply to recording face-to-face conversations in public. Which I'd think a classroom conversation would be; the only thing I can find about reasonable expectation of privacy in school is as it applies to locker searches/drug tests/bag searches.

Why the hell a cop would participate in bullying a bullied kid to cover a teacher's ass, I do not know.
 

Stet

Banned
American privacy laws can get so wacky. As far as I know, in Canada it's legal to record anything as long as at least one member of the conversation knows it's occurring, which is a fine solution for people recording themselves getting fucking bullied or harassed.
 

neorej

ERMYGERD!
Sounds familiar; when I was bullied and physically assaulted, the principal said I should learn to fight back. Two days later I'm in the principal's office explaining why there's one kid in the nurse's office with a heavy nosebleed, one with a bleeding lip and how on god's green earth I managed to send one to the hospital with a broken finger. I told him I followed his advice and fought back, felt sorry the kids were in pain, but they deserved every second that they are in pain.

After the little shits found I got in trouble everytime I fought back, they kept coming. I kept sending them into the nurse's office and walking straight to the principal's office. He looked at me baffled, asked me what I wanted. Told him I fought back again and expected him to want to talk to me again.
 

dalin80

Banned
Off-topic here but it really isn't.

Last of my off-topicness: Here in this part of the UK at least it is and the terms are used completely interchangeably and apart from the spelling identical. Maybe it's a regional / national thing.

Now back to your daily feature!
 
Aren't educational systems throughout the United States pretty consistent in their assertion that students have little to no right to privacy in the classroom setting? That's basically how they justify searching one's person, backpack, and locker.
 

Madness

Member
Expectation of privacy? We were using talkboys and walkmans to record people in class and screw around back in the early 90's. "So Jessica, who do you have a crush on? Jason? I got that recorded."

Pretty ridiculous, but I can see where they might be iffy because of things like videotaping or recording of minors etc. You'd think though a kid being bullied recording his bullies in front of the teacher, would be the one vindicated here.
 
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