A new way of communicating - to authorities

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DIXON - As the popularity of social networking Web sites grows, so does the list of things they can be used for. Sites like MySpace, Facebook and Friendster have been around for several years, and allow anyone with Internet access to make a profile for messaging friends, posting journal entries or sharing music or online videos.

Now, prosecutors around the country are using those same sites to do things like track down deadbeat dads or find out whether people are adhering to house arrest.

The idea came to Lee County State's Attorney Paul Whitcombe as a result of a conference hosted by the Cook County State's Attorney's Office in 2006.

Since then, Whitcombe also has used those tools for things like enforcing probation orders and trying to determine whether someone should qualify for bond.

"It's a new way of communicating, and that's how some people are most comfortable communicating," Whitcombe said. "We're not here to spy on people, but to be a part of that [online] community."

Just one example is William Torres, who fled Lee County years ago and accrued $20,000 in unpaid child support. The state's attorney's office was able to locate him in Arkansas using his MySpace profile.

Torres has since paid more than $7,000, Whitcombe said.

When it comes to determining whether someone should be eligible for bond, or whether probation terms were violated, messages and journal entries as well as online photographs all help. They can reveal things such as underage drinking, illegal drug use or threatening messages made against someone else.

"And that's later a signal of intent," Whitcombe said.

The sites also have allowed his office to identify people who may not be eligible for bond because of dangerous behavior, or people who have violated their parole or house arrest.

Those sites also provide an alternative means of contacting the state's attorney's office. Writing a letter or making a phone call sometimes can seem daunting, especially to younger people.

"What it does is it makes us accessible to a part of the community that otherwise wouldn't contact us," Whitcombe said.

Jim Rosenow is the investigative specialist with the Whiteside County State's Attorney's Office.

He said social networking sites have multiple applications for his office, too, including developing background information, finding potential witnesses and understanding social connections.

"If you're familiar with the sites, one person can lead you to another person," Rosenow said, referring to how most profiles list someone's "friends," and may even describe how they met.

"There's a lot more being done on computers, I think, than most people actually realize."

Although information posted on those sites rarely is 100 percent reliable, it provides a starting point and can help in comparing stories. "The key is finding two or three sources that are telling you the same thing, then you can follow that direction," Rosenow said.

Those sites have provided "good, solid" information used in well over 20 cases, and have been used as a reference in many more.

Some people complain that using such sites for legal reasons is a violation of their privacy. To that, Rosenow's response is simple:

"If you don't want people to see it, don't put it out there."