Anonymous Hackers Threaten Maryville for Letting Abusers Off the Hook
In January 2012, 14-year-old Daisy Coleman and her 13-year-old friend were allegedly abused by two boys, one of whom was the grandson of state official Rex Barnett. In March 2012, the charges against the alleged assailants were dropped.
Since that point, life became a nightmare for the Coleman family, so they moved to another town.
Now, Anonymous hacktivists are demanding an investigation into the way local authorities handled Daisy’s case.
“Why was a suspect, who confessed to a crime, released with no charges? How was video and medical evidence not enough to put one of these football players inside a court room? What is the connection of these prosecutors, if any, to Rep. Rex Barnett? Most of all, We are wondering, how do the residents of Maryville sleep at night?” the hackers wrote in a statement on Pastebin.
“If Maryville won't defend these young girls, if the police are too cowardly or corrupt to do their jobs, if justice system has abandoned them, then we will have to stand for them. Mayor Jim Fall, your hands are dirty. Maryville, expect us,” they added.
The campaign against Maryville has been dubbed #OpMaryville or #Justice4Daisy. The hackers say they’re preparing a Twitter storm to raise awareness of the matter. Some have also posted a link to Rep. Rex Barnett’s bio.
The Anonymous hacktivists also highlight the fact that this isn’t the first time when authorities fail to properly handle such abuse cases. They point to the cases from Steubenville, Halifax and Uttar Pradesh.
