For months, a small, sleepy Ohio town with a major football program has been wrapped in a major controversy surrounding the actions of a group of the town’s prized football players. Precisely how many athletes were involved in the alleged actions, and what they did, are still matters for debate, though the New York Times reported at length about an alleged rape of an incapacitated teenager by at least two of the team’s players.
Now one powerful organization feels that it knows, and the identity of that group should send chills down the spine of anyone who might have a connection to the incident in question.
As noted by the Times and a handful of other sources, the self-appointed freedom fighting hackers collectives Anonymous and KnightSec have allegedly gained access to the hard drives of a football booster who controls the team’s independent web site. In the process, members of the group allegedly posted the video you see above on the team’s site, where they announced that they had gained Social Security numbers, addresses, names of relatives and phone numbers for everyone connected with the case, from the teenagers involved and their parents to police officers who Anonymous and Knight Sec hold complicit in the young mens’ alleged crimes.
The hackers claim they will release all information about everyone involved in the case unless all apologize to the girl who was allegedly raped and her family by New Year’s Day, 2013.
“This is a warning shot to the school faculty, the parents of those involved and those involved especially,” a person wearing a Guy Fawkes mask claiming to represent the hacker collectives said in the video.
While two male teenagers -- 16-yer-old Trent Mays and 16-year-old Ma’lik Richmond -- have been placed on house arrest until a February trial in the case, the Anonymous and KnightSec speaker on the video claimed that “everyone present [at the party] was guilty,” in the alleged rape of the underaged girl.
That apparently includes teenagers who testified against their teammates, telling officials they witnessed them rape the girl in two different situations. The group released information about those witnesses and repeatedly referred to them as “targets”.
What may be most surprising is that Anonymous and KnightSec would target Steubenville at all. Past Anonymous crusades have focused on the likes of MasterCard, the U.S. Department of Justice and Westboro Baptist Church. Clearly, among those collective targets Steubenville’s high school would be the smallest in stature.
Size was not important to the hackers in this case, with their apparent disgust at the treatment of the teenage girl who is the apparent victim overriding any other concerns. You can read much more about her plight in this New York Times profile here, though be warned, many of the details of her alleged rape and treatment in general are quite graphic.
Anonymous makes how it feels about the teenage boys' alleged actions quite clear.
The boys have even dubbed themselves Rape Crew, and further evidence can be seen in the video here: http://rutube.ru/video/5e440e56a0bf56bc88f6d9d59ed08db0/#.UNnMhonjm59.. We ask that the proper authorities do not allow the coverup of this potential criminal ring and that the victims do not go unprotected.
We are anonymous, We are knightsec, the wicked should expect us.
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