Spam King Escapes From Federal Prison 596
Bobfrankly1 writes "The FBI, IRS, and the Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force are helping the US Marshals search for escaped 'Spam King' Edward 'Eddie' Davidson. He apparently jumped in a car with his wife, changed clothes at home, and hasn't been seen since." Update: 07/24 22:20 GMT by T : It seems that Davidson has been found, victim of a murder-suicide which also left two others dead.
Federal prison camp? (Score:5, Insightful)
What an idiot (Score:5, Insightful)
He had a 21 month sentence in a minimum security work camp a.k.a "Club Fed". Now he gets an automatic 10 years added on for escaping and he'll be doing it in maximum security "Pound me in the ass" prison with the real bad dudes. This guy really isn't very bright.
Re:Federal prison camp? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Federal prison camp? (Score:5, Insightful)
Because there is a difference between sending spam and committing a violent crime?
There are countries where jail is jail, whether you're a mass murderer or a serial jaywalker. I kinda like living in a country where they're not going to throw me in with the violent offenders if I scam the IRS.
Re:21 months? (Score:5, Insightful)
A moron? I guess we all suspected the kind of people who make their living spamming, but now we have proof.
Re:The FBI press release (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Federal prison camp? (Score:5, Insightful)
I kinda like living in a country where they're not going to throw me in with the violent offenders if I scam the IRS.
Probably the laws are that way because the law makers are more likely to scam the IRS than to be murderers.
Re:What to do next? (Score:5, Insightful)
Really, really bad move. Now, instead of two years at summer camp, he will go to many more years of Federal Pound-me-in-the-a$$ Prison.
Spammers are not known for taking the long view and doing the right thing.
Re:Heh (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not how much you steal, it's how you steal it. If you pull a gun to steal a twinkie, you get more time and higher security than if you steal millions in some white collar scheme.
In the end, just being caught is often the end of your white collar crime spree, because it's really difficult to get yourself back in that position when you've got a record. But if you're a violent offender, you're equally a danger to society before and after jail.
I am very pleased to hear of this escape! (Score:5, Insightful)
And I'm sure when he's there, locked up late at night with 'tiny', that he's going to regret sending those herbal Viagra and penis enlargement emails.
Re:Heh (Score:5, Insightful)
Prison is for violent people.
You forgot our incredibly successful war on drugs.
Re:Federal prison camp? (Score:4, Insightful)
Tell that to Al Capone.
Easy... (Score:3, Insightful)
Just put on a Whitey Bulger disguise. They'll never catch him.
Re:That Bastard (Score:2, Insightful)
What a clever quip.
Re:What to do next? (Score:5, Insightful)
Prison rape is a serious problem in the United States, where over 2.1 million people are incarcerated. Depending on the statistics you believe [wikipedia.org], there are more men raped in prison then women are raped outside of prison. And it is not the "real" criminals who are the victims. For example, a 17-year-old boy was gang-raped in prison [nytimes.com] after he robbed a guy with a toy gun. Sure, the robbery was a stupid thing to do, but our society punished him by putting him in jail, not to have him gang-raped. Victims of gang-rape risk getting STDs including HIV, which effectively renders a prison sentence for forging a check into a death sentence. Our nation's drug laws have placed many in jail for relatively small crimes. These people are in danger of being raped.
Only people in the United States think it is funny that prisoners are being raped. Prison guards and administrators do not care about this problem, and it is unconstitutionally cruel to allow this to happen. I am not a softie liberal; on the contrary, I believe in the strict letter of the law. We sentence people to jail, or to die. We do not sentence them to get gang-raped for the rest of their lives. (Believe me, I'd be all in favor of getting the real criminals who rape and murder others to be raped themselves for the rest of their lives, but quite expectedly, it is those people who are doing the raping in prison.)
Re:Since when? (Score:5, Insightful)
He was spamming for pump-n-dump stock schemes. The SEC doesn't like that and had the resources to go after him. If he stuck to replica watches and bogus diplomas he'd still be living like a Spam King.
yeah (Score:5, Insightful)
Nothing quite as funny as gay prison rape.
Re:What to do next? (Score:5, Insightful)
he will go to many more years of Federal Pound-me-in-the-a$$ Prison
First, a minor bit of pedantry: only prostitutes have a$$es. Everyone in the US has asses, and everyone not in the US has arses.
Second, isn't "I hereby sentence you to five years of being assraped" unconstitutional? It violates the injunction against cruel and unusual punishment, and only men get assraped in prison. I'm surprised that freed felons aren't suing the government left and right; it's the warden and jailers' responsibilities to ensure that prisoners aren't committing crimes in prison.
Re:wow (Score:4, Insightful)
A clever idiot. But not intelligent in the Socratic definition of the term, which is to say, long-term intelligence, to live a long and contented life. Wisdom, damn it.
I mean, he made his fortune by targeting and flooding our homes and offices, via our inboxes, with something everybody detests, and he was real good at it, too.
This man made a conscious decision to become a lifelong pariah. Clever, yes, intelligent, no.
So it shouldn't be too surprising that he continues this pattern by not paying his dues in minimum security, choosing to become a much more serious target for the law for the rest of his life.
There is not a particle of common sense in this man's mind. The asshole acts like an identity thief.
Re:21 months? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What to do next? (Score:3, Insightful)
Even in some place like Mexico he would be quite a stand out if he flashed cash, and in the US you'd ultimately fall temptation to going to the local drugstore and risk being nabbed on camera.
Do you really think that the police go over drugstore security camera footage looking for guys like this?
Re:What to do next? (Score:5, Insightful)
Wish I had mod points.
It's one of the sickest little bits of our culture that prison rape jokes aren't considered offensive.
I mean, I still make them, but I make rape jokes in general, and am occasionally considered an ass for it. Your grandma can make a "guy gets raped in prison" joke on the morning news and no one would get offended.
There are multiple cases where a man sentenced for non-violent crimes was turned into a sex slave for years, given HIV, and sent to the hospital multiple times for internal injuries relating to his treatment, and the prison guards said "tough it up and don't be a pansy."
Re:What to do next? (Score:5, Insightful)
People bag about the Japanese prision system being so harsh and mean, I disagree.
I would rather be in a Japanese jail cell where they lock you in a small room with no one, no prison yard, no TV, no personal property privileges and it is lonely. That a prison in the US where your bunkmate is "Bubba" and he thinks your lips look really pretty. I would rather be isolated and cut off from any one that have someone raping me in a prison.
I think the US prisons are cruel in that they allow such behavior to occur in the first place. In a way it is cruel and unusual punishment.
Re:His "inbox"... (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, if they made a fuss about spam and caught him then, imagine how they will react to him escaping a federal prision (no matter how lenient the punishment was).
He is in for a baad life. However, no intelligent wife-of-a-delinquent rescues his husband without some sort of financial plan. I bet the guy has a million or two stashed somewhere.
Re:What to do next? (Score:5, Insightful)
People talk about "inhumane" prison systems such as those in Iran (they cut your hands off!) or Saudi Arabia (they have public hangings and beheadings!) but we have gang-rape that is basically sanctioned by the state. Americans think their prison system is cushy but if they only knew the truth to the ass-rape joke they make they would be inclined to do something about it.
I love America. That's why I try to improve it (by criticizing its failures) so we can do more to improve it. It's un-American, I think, to rest on the laurels of our forefathers and say, "America is number one!" without doing anything to make it better.
Re:Editors (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Editors (Score:2, Insightful)
This is more sad than funny, I know many Asperger/grammar Nazi's who have no qualms about being this rude in real life.
I suggest giving them pity rather than ridicule. They aren't even bright enough to figure out that grammar really doesn't matter in the big picture, at least vs. communicating with some manners.
Re:You gotta hand it to those Federal Corrections (Score:2, Insightful)
As long as you are willing to foot the entire bill for increasing the level of security, I'm all for it.
Re:The FBI press release (Score:4, Insightful)
That's assuming they catch him. If they do, he won't be able to walk away because it won't be minimum security. He'll be found guilty of additional crimes, and his wife (if caught) will be sent to prison as well.
They're probably both in Mexico by now.
Re:Heh (Score:2, Insightful)
For some people it is indeed very successful. The contraband economy(weapons, drugs, people) is flourishing(betcha it encompasses at least 20% of the world's economy), along with the law enforcement and prison industries. It all depends on which end of the stick you are. Or maybe you were pointing that out...
Re:Editors (Score:5, Insightful)
Here on Slashdot, a Wife is at the very least a mythical creature like a Gorgon or a Chimera, if not an actual Deity. Capitalization is required.
I love my wife dearly. I really do.
But if you're equating wives to deities in the sense that they're mystical infallible ideal beings, it's very clear that you're either unmarried or a newlywed. If you're comparing them to immensely powerful beings whose will dictates all that happens around them with no regard to the consequences and around whom all within their realm must quiver before and do their bidding or fear their wrath, I suspect you've been over to my place to visit.
[I'm kidding - she's really sweet. If you're reading this, Hon, it was a joke. Really. OK... I'll pull out the couch...]
Re:What to do next? (Score:5, Insightful)
Both my parents are in prison (my mom is guilty, but I believe my dad to be innocent)in Texas
My mom shared a story to me and it was many years go...in the 90s. The story is about how Texas uses live prisoners to test their tracking dogs.
that is cruel treatment....
another dog tracking tail....
I have no understanding of why prisoners are needed to test dogs tracking abilities or why tracking bracelets weren't used on the prisoners.
Re:His "inbox"... (Score:3, Insightful)
Whoa. Someone didn't watch enough cartoons as a child.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=E8gsaDdqGzA [youtube.com]
Re:His "inbox"... (Score:5, Insightful)
Not anymore.
Re:What an idiot (Score:5, Insightful)
He needed clothing sure, but why go home? They are sure to 'attempt to reacquire him there. I would.'
I suggest that we proceed on the assumption that he is bright enough to (1) run the cost-benefit analysis on escaping and (2) have a cache of cash and ID stored in preparation for a serious attempt to get out of the country and (3) isn't planning on returning to the US, ever.
What were her circumstances? (Score:5, Insightful)
It feels like you're not telling the whole story -- what did she possesses and how much and in what circumstances?
In even the harshest states, simple possession of small use quantities of even felony-level drugs doesn't result in maximum security prison time simply because there are too many people being caught committing the crimes and even our idiotic justice system has recognized to some extent that addiction and dependency are real issues.
Only 3-strikes offenders, non-personal-use quantities or possession during the commission of a felony end up adding up to real prison time. The federal system is worse due to mandatory minimums (which, IIRC, they recently made harder to impose).
I have heard of (usually) women getting burned on conspiracy beefs due to boyfriends/husbands/fathers/brothers being involved and the women being passively complicit.
So what actually happened to her that Illinois wanted to spend $40k a year to house her?
Re:To quote George Carlin (Score:4, Insightful)
Did you miss the part where I said that I make rape jokes? :)
It's not about lightening up - jokes are perfectly fine. The cultural attitude of behind them is not.
Everything is a joking matter - but some things we should be laughing at so we don't cry, not because we think it's slapstick.
I make the point about this because I don't think most people consider male rape a real social problem... it's just funny. Whereas a girl getting raped, that's serious business.
I guess I say it's the difference between making Pollack or Nigger jokes tongue in cheek and actually being racist. The jokes are fine - meaning them isn't.
Why is everyone so confident he'll be captured? (Score:2, Insightful)
Take a look at the FBI's top10 most wanted list. Other than Bin Laden, most of those guys have been on the run for 3+ years without any cash reserves. You can bet this guy has millions hidden and a boat somewhere. It's also not difficult to your change your appearance drastically at which point your only risk of being caught is usually fingerprints or an unrelated offense.
I'd be surprised if he was recaptured soon. Typically if you aren't recaptured within a week then it's usually years later. So I guess we'll see.
Re:What to do next? (Score:3, Insightful)
What are we supposed to do about it? Tell people "some guy on the internet" told us this human rights violation. And demand that it be stopped? Please.
The guy's (obfuscated) email address is available. If you really want to know what to do about it, why don't you email him and get more information?
Excuses, excuses.
So he escapes jail to kill himself and his family? (Score:5, Insightful)
Sad (Score:5, Insightful)
"victim"? (Score:4, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)