March 17

Events

• Current events

• 1997 - Give him a gold star for originality, at least - A kindergarten teacher from New Jersey who thought he had used the Internet to arrange for sex with an 11-year-old boy was arrested in a motel room on this date by police who set up the "cybersting." Lawrence Cohen used the Internet to send the cops posing as a boy photographs showing young boys engaged in sex acts involving leather restraints and other sadomasochistic devices. Cohen's lawyer said he has four separate personalities and that one of them - a 14-year-old named Jason - had done the cruising on the Internet. The lawyer said Cohen was sexually molested at a summer camp when he was a child and that Jason had set out into cyberspace to find the culprit. He admitted that his client had pornographic materials but said he had never sent them to the Customs Service informant. He said a hacker must have interfaced with Cohen's computer, downloaded the material and transmitted it to Arizona. He also said Cohen had never attempted to arrange a meeting with an 11-year-old and that he was planning to meet an adult at the motel. At least his explanation was better than saying his dog ate his homework. No more believable, but interesting.

• 1998 - The cycle of violence? - Six people were arrested in the UK on this date after an angry mob smashed windows at the home of a man they suspected of being a pedo. Police said the "unruly crowd" wanted to "forcibly evict" the man they suspected of sexually assaulting a local boy. The man was not in the house at the time, but his wife and child had to be escorted from the property for their own safety.