Month: November 2006

VANCOUVER SUN — Nov 20 — Bennett was wanted in connection with the killing of Pierce Odell, 79 and his wife Mary Odell, 78. Frind — who operates PlentyofFish from his downtown Vancouver apartment — said he got an e-mail from the U.S. Marshals Service at 8:16 p.m. Saturday. Someone watching Americas Most Wanted had called to tell them they saw Bennett’s picture on PlentyofFish. Frind combed through the messages Bennett had sent to other users which showed that Bennett had been sending messages to various women as he travelled north from Arkansas. One woman had agreed to let Bennett stay at her place. Frind checked that woman’s profile and realized that both Bennett and the woman had recently logged into PlentyofFish using the same IP address — meaning they were visiting his site using the same computer. Frind wasn’t able to figure out the woman’s phone number or address from the messages she sent, but was able to give police the phone numbers of other people she had contacted. Frind spoke with U.S. marshals on Sunday, following Bennett’s arrest, and they thanked him for his help. “They told me it was vital information,” he said. “Basically they had no idea where he was until I gave them all the numbers and the information.” Frind is not worried about the bad publicity Bennett’s case may attract.  “When you’re dealing with millions of people, it’s bound to happen,” he said. “It’s like getting struck by lightning.” He said nothing like this has happened on the site before. Frind was never served with a search warrant and voluntarily looked through Bennett and his girlfriend’s message traffic. He said he wouldn’t hesitate to look at a user’s private messages again “if a crime has been committed or someone is in danger.”

The full article was originally published at Vancouver Sun, but is no longer available.

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