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4chan Cyberbully Jailed Over E-Mailing Lewd Photos to School

by Terrence O'Brien on January 19, 2011 at 04:35 PM

4ChanWhen they're not launching ill-advised DDoS attacks, flooding Tea Party forums with LOLcats or attempting to send Justin Bieber to North Korea, the members of 4chan like to pass around naked pics of dumb teens, and generally make life a living hell for everyone they can. [Ed. Note: They also like to party at Barcade, apparently.] An unidentified student from Philadelphia was the victim of a recent round of cyber-taunts on the site; unlike many other 4chan targets, though, this young boy will get a chance to see at least one of his tormentors punished.

Matthew Riskin Bean, a 20-year old from Bergenfield, New Jersey, will be spending the next 45 days in jail after pleading guilty to one count of stalking (and narrowly avoiding more serious charges of possession and distribution of child pornography). Bean allegedly sent images of the victim's penis (which the not-so-bright boy posted himself on 4Chan's notorious /b/ message board back in 2003 or 2004) to officials at his school, claiming to be a concerned parent.

Bean was among a group on /b/ that attempted to identify the boy, and use the photo of his genitalia to embarrass him. Some -- although supposedly not Bean -- openly expressed their hopes that the humiliation would drive the boy to suicide. (As you can see, 4Chan is populated by only the finest of Earth's citizens.) The school sent Bean's e-mail to the FBI, who eventually identified and arrested the /b/ member. Bean was remorseful at his sentencing, but it's hard for us to have even a shred of sympathy for a person who finds it amusing to e-mail a photo of a 13-year old's penis to his principle.

Tags: 4chan, b, ChildPornography, crime, CyberBullying, stalking, top, web

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