For the second time this month, police in Bensalem, Pa., will make arrests based on undercover work on the Internet, says the Philadelphia Inquirer. Police intend to arrest and charge three adults and 24 juveniles with 1,500 acts of graffiti that caused more than $100,000 in damage throughout the township during the last year. After vandals spray-painted sites at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post on Flag Day, June 14, a tip led to one of them, who disclosed an Internet connection, said Fred Harran, public safety director.
Earlier this month, police arrested 12 people suspected of offering prostitution and four others suspected of dealing or possessing the drug OxyContin. All were found through the Web site Craigslist. In the graffiti case, a detective discovered 27 suspects by using a false identity to converse with them at the Web site MySpace.com. Bucks County District Attorney Diane Gibbons said, “MySpace can be a wonderful thing, but it’s very, very dangerous. You don’t know who you’re talking to.” Harran said the Crips and Bloods gangs are recruiting on MySpace.com.