Started digging for some follow-up on this. A sort of "Where Are They Now." Haven't found that yet but I did find
this:
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/nov/14/authorities-crack-down-gang-using-internet-recruit/Evidently, there were a dozen others nabbed up in "Operation Firewall" including:
Of special note is the arrest of Devin Goldie, DOB 4-5-93, of 1735 NW 13th Terrace, Cape Coral. On November 12, 2008, Lee County sheriff's detectives received information that Goldie, a student at North Fort Myers High School, had posted on his Myspace homepage the statement "MY HIT LIST: (people I wanna kill)" that listed as many as nineteen names including classmates, a teacher, a principal and a Cape Coral police officer. Goldie is a self-proclaimed member of "JUGGALO" ..a gang recognized as a national security threat by the FBI.
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The only follow up I've found yet is that the two named in the OP and one other filed a motion to dismiss, which was denied with the obligatory nod at constitutionality:
Upon review of the applicable law, the court hereby denies the Defendants' motions because the Court finds that the statute can be construed in a constitutional manner. However, because there is a substantial potential for the statute to be misapplied to unconstitutionally burden core constitutional freedoms, this Court believes that the judiciary must be very vigilant in regards to any criminal prosecutions brought under this statute to ensure that constitutional standards are met.
IOW: There's a high potential for other courts to fuck this up...but we never would.
The third person took a no lo contendre (which is a thread roiling in my guts right now). The other two, as of January 12, 2010, had their cases still listed as pending.
EDIT: Poked further.
Figueroa-Santiago, as near as I can tell, originally plead no lo, but there appears to be some sort of appeal underway. This was the 22-year-old college student, who's now a 25-year-old filing an appeal against a sentence he's already served and fines he's already paid, using a public defender because of indigence. This one kind of gets to me.
The prosecutors elected not to pursue the case against Elvis Rodriguez'.
The third dude who was mentioned in the OP plead no-lo, served 300 some odd days in jail, and was assessed $600 bucks or so of fines and fees which have been turned over for collections.
The Juggalo??? TBD.
http://www.citmedialaw.org/threats/florida-v-figueroa-santiago---------
EDIT FOR HOLY FUCKING SHIT!
This case is truly the gift that keeps on giving.
This is taken directly from the FUCKING COURT OPINION:
Interestingly, articles about increasing usage of the internet by criminal gangs can be found on websites run by news agencies. Specifically, the website for the local NBC network affiliated television station has such an article that can be found at http://www.nbc-2.com/Global/story.asp?S=10684061. In this January 18, 2007 Lee County news story, NBC2 investigators say they have discovered that gangs are recruiting kids by using popular social networking sites like YouTube and Myspace. They quote gang experts who say that gang videos are the newest threat on the internet.
I for one, am comforted to know that our courts have finally come around to judging constitutionality based on the evidence of some scary-ass shit I seen the other day on the evening news.
