gamepolitics: JUSTICE FILES: Counter-strike Clan Leader Busted as Pedophile

Game Politics (

gamepolitics) wrote,
@ 2006-03-07 13:21:00

Entry tags:

counter-strike, george finley, green berets, pedophiles, spike

JUSTICE FILES: Counter-strike Clan Leader Busted as Pedophile

From Got Frag comes word of a disturbing incident.

A 52-year-old man who helped manage the Green Berets, a competitive video game clan, was busted by police in London, Ontario following accusations that he solicited obscene pictures of young boys he recruited for the Green Berets' Counter-strike team.

The London Free Press reports that George "Spike" Finley, found guilty of possessing child pornography in 2005, was charged with violating the terms of his probation by having contact with minors.

It is alleged that Finley recruited 10 to 13-year-old boys to help manage the Green Berets, advising them to lie about their ages to seem older. Finley then used the popular voice chat program Ventrilo to solicit nude pictures from the boys. The convicted pedophile promised the boys PC hardware and promotions to clan leadership positions as enticements. Potential victims who refused Finley's overtures were dropped from the team.

The leader of the Green Berets, 24-year-old James O'Connor became suspicious after several former members complained to him about Finley's scheme.

"Those children would come to me with crazy accusations..." said O'Connor. "George went on to tell us that this person was just making up the meanest things possible to get back at him for being removed from the team. This whole thing, about George possibly being a pedophile... seemed almost inconceivable. I didn't believe it at first."

After suggesting that one of the boys record the Ventrilo conversations, however, O'Connor and other clan officials turned the matter over to law enforcement authorities.

"Similar situations kept occurring every other month or so for about 4 months," said O'Connor. "I would ask these children for logs of IRC chat and they would always say that they never had any. George was careful to only talk about his perversions on Ventrillo."

GP: Coupled with January's Xbox Live pedophile incident, it's clear that some online predators are turning to multiplayer gaming venues as a source of potential victims.

A shout-out to GP reader Steven Strasser for the story...

(115 comments) - (Post a new comment)

imdwalrus
2006-03-07 07:25 pm UTC (link)

Coupled with January's Xbox Live pedophile incident, it's clear that some online predators are turning to multiplayer gaming venues as a source of potential victims.

As opposed to...every other venue of communication online that kids and preteens use?

I have a sinking feeling that this might balloon into a huge story. Look at all of the coverage MySpace has been getting lately; I've seen plenty of stories on how predators are using the site to track down victims. With the notoriety that games already seem to have - especially after GTA and Hot Coffee - this would make for even splashier headlines and interviews.

Just what we wanted, right? >_

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	catch_33 2006-03-07 07:34 pm UTC (link)
	Except MySpace is just another segment of the internet that needs to be closely monitored. I'm more concerned about the trend of pedophiles and kidnappers using online gaming technology to obtain victims. The mainstream media's going to run with that like never before, spreading fear like never before as well. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

Not to sound like JT....but -

jindewinter, 2006-03-07 07:41 pm UTC

	Props to James O'Connor verbinator 2006-03-07 07:28 pm UTC (link)
	And a big thanks and double thumbs up to James O'Connor for being proactive in this and involving the police in this. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	Re: Props to James O'Connor jdmdsp911 2006-03-07 07:37 pm UTC (link)
	But you know that certain people who will use this in their rhetoric will conveniently forget that part. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Disturbing Trend catch_33 2006-03-07 07:30 pm UTC (link)
	This is an unfortunate part of growth in the online world. The people that are "jack in", so to speak, the more likely we are to see the wicked ones using the technology to perform their wicked deeds. I just hope this doesn't usher in a whole new wave of fear over the gradual "webification" of video games. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	Re: Disturbing Trend jindewinter 2006-03-07 07:33 pm UTC (link)
	There was a story on the news last night about some teen boys who tricked a pedophile into thinking they were a 12 year old girl who wanted to meet up with him. They used MySpace and lured the guy to a park, when he showed up they called police and he got busted. The kids handed over a few pages full of chat logs this between the fake girl and the pedophile. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	jindewinter 2006-03-07 07:31 pm UTC (link)
	It sickens me to think that some sick fuck like this would use a game to prey on children. What is the rating on CS? I wouldn't know never having the pleasure to play one of the games before. Just seems to me that CS would be rated M. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	anticron 2006-03-07 07:45 pm UTC (link)
	It isn't specifically Counterstrike. It could have literally been anything. The predator used voice communication (Ventrillo) for his illicit deeds, which in the olden'days it would have been the phone instead. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Man, this is all politicians need... bustermanzero 2006-03-07 07:34 pm UTC (link)
	First that guy who was busted in January, then the DS thing, and now this guy. Politicians will probably just say that people should ban the games, rather than realize that this is another reason why kids need education about the dangers of chatting online. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	Re: Man, this is all politicians need... catch_33 2006-03-07 07:39 pm UTC (link)
	That's what I'm worried about. A psychotic gamer shooting people is one thing, but when the technology is actually physically involved with the crime, it's a lot worse. I can just feel the media drooling over this too. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	xenosphobatic 2006-03-07 07:36 pm UTC (link)
	Playing devils advocate here...maybe this'll mean there will be less stupid kids playing Counter Strike. ...Maybe. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	jindewinter 2006-03-07 07:43 pm UTC (link)
	doubt that will ever happen (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Re: It needs to balloon into a huge story. catch_33 2006-03-07 07:54 pm UTC (link)
	Considering that, I agree. There should definitely be an effort by gamers and operators of online games alike to crack down on this. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	Re: Just f-ing dandy jindewinter 2006-03-07 07:56 pm UTC (link)
	All I see is a red X....I am still sad :( lol. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	Something a bit ironic anticron 2006-03-07 07:59 pm UTC (link)
	We consider pedophilia serious enough to get police/government figures involved, yet murderers are pretty much swept under the rug. I am in absolutely no way stating that either is not, in fact, quite disgustingly heinous.. but rather the interesting gap in the community response. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	Re: Something a bit ironic jindewinter 2006-03-07 08:02 pm UTC (link)
	I feel both types of people should be put to death if found guilty of their crimes. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	scazza 2006-03-07 08:46 pm UTC (link)
	Wow, this is shocking, I played with the GBs in a tourney downtown toronto awhile back, never actually met them, we were all in a tournament together. This is sad that people like this exist, and this is just another stain on the videogame industry. However, I am kind of shocked it hasn't happened b4 in CS. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	it has before silentdeath11 2006-03-07 09:14 pm UTC (link)
	but it has happened before, and people just hid the fact, hushed it up to avoid bad press. The typical stance by the gaming community was to look the other way and pretend it didn't happen to avoid bad press. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	kurisu7885 2006-03-07 08:58 pm UTC (link)
	Goddamn. YOu know the anti gamers are gonna eat this up as yet another reason for games to be banned as a whole andn ot just a few that relaly are damaging. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	chenry 2006-03-07 09:19 pm UTC (link)
	i knew there was a reason i hate clannies. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	xenosphobatic 2006-03-08 06:34 am UTC (link)
	Like anyone needs a reason, I mean, c'mon. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	Well, maybe it isn't entirely bad... startropics 2006-03-07 09:39 pm UTC (link)
	These kids are learning the wondeful lesson of how to sleep your way to the top? ...Yeah, I can't really put a positive spin on this at all. (Reply to this)

About

Help

Get Involved

Legal

LJ Labs

Store

	Off Topic, but important. majestic_12_x 2006-03-07 09:42 pm UTC (link)
	I'm sorry for going OT, but has anybody seen Jack lately? He hasn't posted anything in the last week and I was just wondering if we might have made him crack. Hopefully he's sitting in a corner sucking his thumb. Either that or he's compiling hundreds of "press reports" based on stuff like this. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	Re: Off Topic, but important. endless_day 2006-03-07 09:50 pm UTC (link)
	I don't know, did soemthign happen? I noticed he deleted all of his livejournal accounts. Is he being emo or something? (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Re: OT: What's all this? jbourrie 2006-03-07 09:51 pm UTC (link)
	For google and other search engines (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Like a deer in headlights! jbourrie 2006-03-07 10:22 pm UTC (link)
	As a side note, post rant, this story SHOULD be presented to the media so that people can know that sickos have another way to take advantage of children. Not as fnords, but as a way to let parents know that it IS happening out there. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	ace_ofspade 2006-03-07 11:40 pm UTC (link)
	The wiki page for CLGW is... well, blunt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_Life:_Gang_Wars (Reply to this)

	mnementh2230 2006-03-08 03:28 pm UTC (link)
	Oh yeah - maybe not the original Counterstrike, but Counterstrike Source (CS for Half Life 2) Graphics are great, gameplay is as good as it ever was (debatable to different people)... Of course, the cheaters are also there, but it's not as bad as it used to be since Valve introduced their Anti Cheating system (VAC) - at least, not on the servers I frequent. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	but some medias are better then others silentdeath11 2006-03-08 02:16 am UTC (link)
	The issue is what media works best. As this has shown gaming communities are a great way for predators to get children, better then chat, better the forums. So while it's not singling out gaming (read the linked articles) it does point out that gaming holds a specific danger, and thus the solution needs to be gaming oriented. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	majestic_12_x 2006-03-08 12:40 am UTC (link)
	Hooah! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	kurisu7885 2006-03-08 02:31 am UTC (link)
	Um, who are you? And you do know Majestic 12 is a supposed conspiracy group, right? (Reply to this) (Parent)

	More myspace.com fun! jdecamp 2006-03-08 03:31 am UTC (link)
	http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/07/myspace.arrest.ap/index.html When will the pedophiles catch on? Never, I hope. More of em in jail. (Reply to this) (Thread)