Posted on 07/17/2003 7:01:17 AM PDT by Servant of the Nine
I believe you're missing the point here. What I am saying is that NONE of the NEWS stories have indicated any criminal activity - not that there hasn't BEEN any. In fact, until today, none of the NEWS stories have said what he was charged with. Just that he had been arrested.
In fact, the news media coverage of this story has been quite shabby to say the least. First, we're told that the couple hung around in the beyond-passport-control Transit Area of CDG for a couple of hours after which she flew back home and he went to Germany. Then we're told that, no, she DIDN'T fly home. Then we find out that she DID fly home, just not when earlier reports said. And we learn that his family says he didn't know she was 12, but "fishals" say he DID. And, as if by magic, someone finds "child porn" on a computer he had access to.
Sorry, good friend, but this story is not being well-reported and there are a lot of holes in its reportage. I never said that the incident "was her fault." What I've said is that there seem to be few hard facts in the story from which to draw conclusions. Expecially since "child porn" can be a picture of a topless 17-year-and-364-day-old teenager. Not exactly a "child." Or did the girl email HIM pictures of herself? Those details are not in the story.
Also not in the latest stories is the fact that the two prior incidents involved charges being dropped. Michael
Check out the info on his previous 'situations'
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/doc_o_day/doc_o_day.html
Just so:
Thursday July 17, 8:03 PMGerman prosecutors have established no grounds to charge a former US marine with the intent to sexually abuse a 12-year-old British girl with whom he fled to France and then to Germany last weekend.
A spokeswoman said Thursday that Toby Studabaker had so far been charged only with abducting Shevaun Pennington on Saturday, after the pair allegedly built up a relationship over a year through the Internet.
The spokeswoman added that Studabaker was not suspected of a more serious charge of child abduction with intent to commit sexual abuse.
Police in his home state of Michigan have said he does not figure on its Public Sex Offender Registry, indicating no criminal record for sexual abuse.
Studabaker was due to face a German judge to determine whether his arrest in the city of Frankfurt on Wednesday conformed to German law, to verify his identity and to read him an international arrest warrant issued from London.
The spokeswoman said that if Studabaker accepted a demand from Britain for his extradition then the case in Germany could be closed within a few days, however it could drag on for much longer if he were to seek to oppose it.
The 31-year-old Afghan war veteran was picked up in Frankfurt following an operation by British, French and German police, Interpol and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
He was questioned Thursday by British police, prosecutors said.
The young girl, meanwhile, was reunited with her parents in an emotional homecoming on Wednesday after a five-day escapade that saw the two fly from Manchester to Paris and then move on to Germany.
Studabaker's arrest came after police sources revealed that child pornography had been downloaded from the Internet onto his computer, information reportedly withheld so as not to jeopardise the investigation.
Police also said they had evidence he was aware of Shevaun's real age, despite his claims in calls to his family in the United States that he had thought she was 19.
Frankfurt police said the girl had already boarded an aircraft and was on her way from Stuttgart back to Britain when they picked Studabaker up.
She was still with her parents in northern England Thursday but was being kept away from both the family home near Manchester and the media spotlight.
Specially trained police officers hoped to speak to her later in the day to find out where she had been in the days between her disappearance and phoning home on Wednesday to say she was on her way back.
Detectives have been able to use the pair's mobile phone signals to trace where they called from early Wednesday, when Studabaker also called the FBI.
But it remains unclear how they got to Germany from France.
Studabaker has been described as a devout Christian who attended a bible college in Ohio from 1993 to 1994. His wife Jenny died of cancer last year. The couple were childless, according to family.
He grew up in Constantine, Michigan, where he trained in martial arts and was a keen American football player. He was decorated after serving with the marines in Afghanistan but left the military in June with a shoulder injury.
Whoops! Shoulda reformatted that HD several times before he left. Details, details!< /sarcasm>
I can't think of any scum much lower than a pedophile...except perhaps one who has also dishonored the U.S. Marine Corps. He should be shot. Failing that, he should be sterilized and incarcerated for life.
Michael
LOL---please be sure to make sure your 'strapped' when you meet the freaky.(Do they have CCW Laws in Penn.?)
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