Free Legal Consultation Advice

[Dorm201]

A good friend of mine is being stalked and threatened on the various Instant Messangers (Yahoo IM, AIM, etc). It's progressed to the point that no matter what names she blocks out, the offending party (a friend of her's from the US) creates new names to continue and send threatening messages (e.g. "Blocking my new handles will not save you"), and he is known to be unstable amongst his friends.

Does anyone know of any legal counsel which may be able to provide advice on this matter, preferably at a low cost (as her funds are limited)? The most important thing is to find out what can be done to prevent any harm from coming to her, secondary is the cost issue.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.

 

[Stealth Charmer]

Ignore him or change your handle

If he's bothering her so much why doesn't she just change her handle?

Hiring a lawyer to get a restraining order would be costly and would offer no gaurentee of success. She'd have to pay the lawyer to meet with her, get the facts, prepare materials, go to court and get the order. At a min of $200/hr u can do the math as well as I can.

My advice ignore him or change your handle.

 

[Stealth Charmer]

Great Idea Aurora!

A free 1/2 hour chit chat with a lawyer who needs to get his referrals from the Law Society is not going to solve this girl's problems. At best she'll get some basic advice on what she needs to do, nothing more. A demand letter would be a good start, but my guess is she'll have to pay for it and if that don't scare the creep then what?

With that said I still think ur suggestion is an excellent one, here's the #: 1-900-565-4LRS (4577) & the url: http://www.lsuc.on.ca/public/referral_en.jsp

 

[Dorm201]

Further Clarification

Sorry if I hadn't been more clear in the original post. Said creep knew her for several years and was considered at the time a friend. Consequently, he knows where she lives and has threatened violence via IMs. However, as I understand it, emails are required in order to gain a restraining order. What she is looking for is clarification on what actions can be taken and what the costs are.

The idea of changing screen names has occurred to her, but the most important thing is to ensure that all legal possibilities to prevent any harm to her are taken. Thanks again for all the advice!

 

[TheNiteHwk]

I agree...

with Sheik... phone the police. Failing that maybe she has some other friends (real friends) that could pay this guy a visit and have a little 'chat' with him.

 

[The Real Deal]

Dorm,

She obviously knows where this "friend" lives. All she needs to do is contact the local constabulary in the town where he lives (which I understand is in the states). She can ask them what her options are and if the harassment is that bad, then they will send someone to visit this "friend".

I agree with Sheik on his latest advice.
In some states anti-stalking laws have been passed that deal directly with this and to expand on what Sheik mentioned, the police in his local area should take a report and follow up with this clown, specially if she's got his threats documented.

I had a clown start some similar crap with my sister a couple years back, ok maybe I rode down to Orlando to deal with this clown myself but that isn’t recommended, even though it worked quite well. I turned it into a small vacation.

I’d suggest that a restraining order or any form of cease and desist letter will not do the trick if she feels she’s in physical danger. Lord knows paperwork and idle legal threats never stop some people. Suggest that she do as much research as possible on the net as there are many sites that give suggestions as to how and what should and can be done.

Her biggest mistake, never underestimate what anyone is capable off. Deal with this swift, hard and fast, piddling around may end up in her being a victim of more than just some nuisance e-mails.

 

[Sansabelt]

I'm a lawyer. She doesn't need a lawyer in Ontario. She needs to talk to the cops here and let them take care of getting in touch with cops in the US (where this guy is located). A cease and desist letter from a lawyer will have nowhere near the impact that a little visit from the police will have.

And, as TRD points out, she should do it sooner rather than later (i.e., now).

Sans

 

[syn]

Go to the police

Make sure she makes it clear to the police that she is afraid of him. [They will not assist if it's just a nuisance.]

Syn

 

[TheNiteHwk]

Re: Go to the police

Make sure she makes it clear to the police that she is afraid of him. [They will not assist if it's just a nuisance.] Syn

Syn is right. Make sure you stress that she is afraid of him and that he has been acting unstable lately. Very important. Also as others have already mention... DO IT NOW!

No offence to other posters but my direct experience with this kind of thing is that these guys who do stalking and other similar type behaviour are usually a bit unstable as you already posted. They care little about some paper work by some lawyer. They need f2f 'intervention' to make them 'understand.'

 

[Dorm201]

The problem is, her friend moved around in the last year and she no longer knows his current residence. Whereas he knows her's. The lawyer may be useful in getting the location of the stalker from his ISP in order to contact the authorities there and at the very least place a restraining order on him.

Thanks for the advice and the support

 

[svtcobra]

The problem is, her friend moved around in the last year and she no longer knows his current residence. Whereas he knows her's. The lawyer may be useful in getting the location of the stalker from his ISP in order to contact the authorities there and at the very least place a restraining order on him.

Thanks for the advice and the support

If he is sending emails to her. There is a way to track him. The computer or computers that he is using on the internet all have it own unique ID. Ip address are always in email sent to anyone with date/time stamped. I suggest to save all this info put it on a disk. With the ip's numbers from the email you can easily track which ISP he is using and give the info to the police they can get the information from the ISP easier rather than a regular person. There is allot of red tape ISP have to go through with this. (IE: Privacy Laws) With the police they can get it done quicker and track him down.

Also she should go right to the police so they can get a record of what is happening to her.

just my .02 cents.

Svtcobra

 

[Sansabelt]

If you need to track him down, go to the police. Forget about using a lawyer. The lawyer will either tell your friend to go to the police or hire a PI.

Sans

 

[Stealth Charmer]

I still say she should change her cyber identity

If all this guy has done is send her irritating msgs through IM software, u may have difficulty getting cops from another jurisdiction to intervene. Ur probably gonna have to convinvce them that her safety is at risk, look what happened to Nicole Simpson, he beat the crap out of her & the cops still didn't react in time (I know, I know OJ's innocent).

Looking into anti-stalker measures might also be a good idea, but I still say she should change her cyber identity.