Unknown Minor Chatting, No Meeting

ohio

i was recently contacted by a detective saying a underage girl had become missing but was found(she ran away i guess). the problem is they say she sent out nude photos and videos of herself. they said she had my email address from aol and that i had chatted with her 6 months ago. i did not know who this person was but they told me her screen name and i realised i havent talked to that person in about 3 years almost and when i did talk to her it was briefly, maybe some flirting but who knows that was a long time ago. the detective said i wasnt in any type of trouble becuase she posed to be 18 so i did nothing wrong. i am 27 by the way. i have never met this person nor have i got any type of nude photos of her or videos. the detective contacted aol about the screen names of our aol, aol gives u 7 accounts to share. so the detective went to my 9 yr old neices school asking her about our screen names, and then called my sister at work and made her come into the police station for questioning he said he wanted her computer and she said no. now he wants to talk to me and take my computer.
i dont understand any of this i have to wait for him to call me tommorow. is what he doing right? it seems like alot of harassment to me and my family. i dont feel i should have to give him my computer becuase i do all my work on it and my life revolves around my computer. cops are known to lie to you to make u say yes to things u aint guilty for then later they say i didnt say that.

can i be in trouble for chatting to someone 6months to 3 years ago whom i never even met? can i reject them taking my computer? furthermore do i have to come to the station if they dont issue some sort of subpeona or proof that i did these things and can i demand proof that ive chatted with this person. right now it sounds like all they have is my email address in her contact book. if there harassing every person in this girls address book that is really uncalled for.

It sounds like you're the target of a criminal investigation involving potentially serious criminal charges, so you should consider getting a criminal defense lawyer on board.

Under no circumstances let them take your PC without a court order. They will try to bluff you demand to see the warrant and note what the warrant says they can look for. If it's chat logs remind them they cannot look at your jpegs - just to let them know you are familiar with the law.

Don't offer any assistance don't tell them where anything is (in a nice way) or they will use your cooperation against you in court.

Make sure to establish the facts, they seized your PC against your will. Make sure all accounts are protected with a password.

http://www.law.com/jsp/legaltechnolo...=1202422837632

If they really needed the computer for evidence they would NOT be telling you they wanted to see your computer - they would show up with a search warrant. If they don't have anything, they might be fishing. i agree with Aaron, contact an attorney.

Also, if they do serve a search warrant, unless the officer writing it is a complete moron, the warrant will not limit the search solely to chat logs. They will be looking for anything related to such a conversation to include files, e-mails, digital images, file caches, etc.

- carl

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Quoting cdwjava

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If they really needed the computer for evidence they would NOT be telling you they wanted to see your computer - they would show up with a search warrant. If they don't have anything, they might be fishing. i agree with Aaron, contact an attorney.l

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Yes, good point I'm not sure it's time to plop down 2K on a lawyer though.

When would be a good time? After they cuff him and book him?:rolleyes:

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Quoting kist

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Yes, good point I'm not sure it's time to plop down 2K on a lawyer though.

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Then he might want to reconsider speaking to the detective.

- Carl

thanks for the replies everyone i appreciate the help. i hate the fact i did nothing wrong and have all this anxiety from the torture this detective is giving my family the past few days. the city where this cop called me from rarely has anything go wrong in there so im sure this guy has nothing better to do.

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Quoting panther10758

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When would be a good time? After they cuff him and book him?:rolleyes:

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That pretty much the standard isn't it? Until charges are filed there isn't much a lawyer can do.
I mean he can do certain things and be more involved in making sure no rights are violated. But having to spend a couple of thousand dollars on what turns out to be a bluff/fishing expedition isn't good husbandry.

I think the suggestion was consulation which many Attorneys offer free intially. OP should not be answering Police questions without an Attorney or at least consulting one