Perps speak as Ashton Lundeby detention gets 'curiouser and curiouser'

May 8, 2:07 PMCharlotte Gun Rights ExaminerPaul Valone

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Did he do it or didn't he? Are the feds detaining him under the Patriot Act, or not?

Like "Alice in Wonderland," the Department of Justice detention of Ashton Lundeby becomes more convoluted with each passing day.

Is it a Patriot Act detention of a teenager, or not? Is Lundeby guilty as sin, or was he set up? Is he a misguided teenager making prank calls or the next Unibomber?

It is becoming increasingly clear that Ashton made prank phone calls via the Internet, some funny (in a bent sort of way), and some quite racist. What is not clear is whether he perpetrated bomb threats at all – specifically the five threats delivered the night of March 5 which precipitated his arrest. And although "Jason Bennett" claims to have called police after Ashton made a threats to Perdue University on February 5, the timeline suggests Ashton has a tight alibi (his mother, Annette Lundeby, says the entire family arrived home from church later than the call began).

But strangest of all are comments delivered to my last piece which appear to be by individuals involved in the hoax.

PATRIOT ACT OR NOT?

Is Ashton being held under the Patriot Act? His mother says “yes.” But just yesterday the office of United States District Attorney David Capp issued a press release insisting that Lundeby’s detention is “unrelated to the Patriot Act.”

Speaking to an attorney today, however, he noted: “There is a wealth of information in what is not being said.” For example, in the press release, DOJ press contact Mary L. Hatton says:

“That charge alleges a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 844(e), which prohibits sending false information about an attempt to kill, injure or intimidate any individual or to unlawfully to damage any building through an instrument of interstate commerce. This charge is unrelated to the Patriot Act.”

What the state does not say is that it is highly probably Lundeby is being held under more than one charge, and the statement carefully does not address whether other charges might be “related to the Patriot Act.” Nor is Ms. Hatton especially helpful in clarifying that: When I asked her, this morning, she stiffly replied, “other than the press release, this office has no comment.”

Equally curious are the following questions:

• Why is Lundeby being held in Indiana rather than North Carolina or any of the other states to which he allegedly made bomb threats;
• Why is he being detained at all? Legal proceedings are typically biased against holding suspects, typically being limited to flight risk, being a danger to self or others, or (you guessed it) a Patriot Act detention. Indeed, for any case other than the Patriot Act, an open hearing with testimony would be required. Was such a hearing held? Mrs. Lundeby says she has been denied transcripts and other information critical to her son’s defense.
• Where is Ashton’s case file being held? Juvenile court? Criminal court? Is it open or closed? What about the original file in Granville County, NC? Why won’t the DOJ answer the questions? Perhaps only a Freedom of Information inquiry will provide the answer.

As the lawyer I spoke to pointed out, the frustration is that under the Patriot Act, the federal government can stonewall. One might add that, regardless of the circumstances of Lundeby’s detention, if Congress hadn’t passed the Patriot Act, we wouldn’t be forced to ask these questions.

IS THE KID GUILTY?

The FBI seems to think bomb threats originated from Ashton’s house. Mrs. Lundeby says the teen was “Skype-hacked” and that others made it appear Ashton made calls he did not. She alleges that other online individuals were acting on a grudge because her son would not make bomb threats.

MEET ‘TYRONE’
“Tyrone” was Ashton Lundeby’s online identity in making prank calls. Although the actual bomb threats of March 5, given by wired.com in its March 7 piece sound like the same voice as Tyrone, the answer may lie in the use of “Ventrilo” software to disguise voices. As you will see below, spoofing voices and caller ID’s was standard operating procedure for a large group of teenage pranksters whose pranks became increasingly serious.

MEET THE OTHER PLAYERS
Strangest of all were a series of 14 comments left on yesterday’s piece; comments by three people who appear to be the other players.

Background: wired.com quotes a “Jason Bennett” of Australia as the individual who became disturbed by bomb threats and called the cops. Mrs. Lundeby earlier noted – BEFORE the following exchange – that the family received numerous harassing phone calls and a spurious 911 complaints, which she attributed to an individual identifying himself as “Britfag” (no, I’m not making this up). When interviewed by wired.com yesterday, she assumed Britfag and Jason Bennett were one and the same, making the point that only the individual who actually made the bomb threats could have given wired.com the information they had. “Anonymous” appears to be a third player in the saga.

All of these teen pranksters broadcast their activities on a web site called fridaynightcranks.com which is sponsored by “SpoofCard” (marketing byline: “Be who you want to be”), featuring such services as “Fake a caller ID: Have any number appear on the display” and “Disguise the voice: Change your voice, male, female or your own.” (The latter would explain not only “Tyrone’s unusual voice during prank calls, but also similarities with the voice of the individual who made the actual bomb threats).

LET’S HEAR THEIR VERSION, SHALL WE?
(Spelling and grammatical errors are their own)

Britfag says:
No information came from me at all Annette.

Jason Bennett was causing problems on the vent because he in fact donated money for a bomb threat that did not get carried out, and was butthurt because of this.
May 7, 11:10 PM

Anonymous says:
The fact of the matter remains is that the involved parties or so called "white knights" are wolves in disguise. The parties who perpetuated this arrest were simply upset things did not go there way.
Bennet is a fraud.
Lundeby is innocent.
Besides, the majority of this issue was caused by the famous Friday Night Cranks. Check them online this Friday on stikam. They even have one of the original prankers, Frank Vaulttackie.
May 7, 11:32 PM

Anonymouse says:
There has been a great deal of information spread over this case.
Jason Bennett didn't get what he wanted, and has been trying to get revenge.
He in fact donated to have a bomb threat done to his own school- and when it did not get carried out, is when his grudge started.
May 7, 11:41 PM

Jason Bennett says:
Lol,

I see, so you guys are trying to discredit me by posting things like I am just angry that I didn't get my bomb threat?

I can provide proof (in the form of my PayPal statement) which will prove that I have never provided money to Ashton Lundeby, I have provided money to "Delicious_Cake" to keep his Ventrilo running prior to any bomb threats being made.
May 8, 1:34 AM

anonymous says:
You're a liar.

You donated money for the Trafalgar Square call, and when it didn't happen you done this.
May 8, 1:51 AM

Jason Bennett says:
I donated before the Trafalgar Square call, I have never donated after I heard about a bomb threat. Because the first bomb threat I heard about was Purdue, since then I was in contact with police.
May 8, 1:53 AM

anonymous says:
So, you admit you gave money to Delicious Cake, an internet users currently on Child Porn charges, as he was on these charges at the time, it makes one wonder what exactly you were paying him for eh?
May 8, 1:54 AM

anonymous says:
Surely the word of someone who affiliates themselves with child porn collectors, and supplies them with funds, should not be taken for much!
May 8, 1:59 AM

Jason Bennett says:
Haha, I doubt it, this was before he ran away with all the donations. Besides, it was only $2 :)
May 8, 2:12 AM

anonymous says:
Bennett is nothing more than a troll.

Trolls trolling trolls trolling trolls.

For his own lulz, he decided to stick Tyrone in.

Epic troll is epic.
May 8, 6:35 AM

anonymous says:
So Jason, you and Britf@g are two seperate people?
May 8, 7:00 AM

Jason Bennett says:
Well, considering I am Australian and he is British, we are two different people.
May 8, 8:18 AM

anonymous says:
Just wondered after reading the article. His mommy thought you and he were one and the same.
May 8, 8:33 AM

CONCLUSIONS (If such can be made)

I can’t tell you with certainty whether Ashton Lundeby made bomb threats. I can say that if the comments left were by the other players, it sounds as though he was “lulzed” for refusing to make bomb threats, just as players in this group of online pranksters had “vanned” one of their own earlier.

Nor can I Say with certainty whether the DOJ is holding Ashton under an abuse of the Patriot Act. I can say that if they aren’t, they had better be far more forthcoming than they have been, and I can say that repeal of the Patriot Act should be the priority of liberals and conservatives alike.

As we focus the telescope, saga of Ashton Lundeby continues to get “curiouser and curiouser …”

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