Just a little over a year ago a story that the FBI was looking for a man they called “John Doe 27” circulated in the national press. I read about it first in Slate.
A day or two later, the FBI released a statement that they knew who the man was, that an arrest warrant was imminent, and they extended their gratitude to the public for helping to ID him. And that was it. A Google search turns up nothing of substance on the case after Nov. 15, 2013. Was the man ever located? Arrested? Charged?
I wrote to the author of the Slate article; got no answer. Wrote to the Cleveland branch of the FBI, no reply.
How does one track the progress of a case like this?
I see that the link I provided is to an arrest made in May 2013 whereas the John Doe 27 article is dated Nov 2013. I did find this link specifically to John Doe 27 but it does not provide any followup:
Actually, the Slate article I linked to is pretty poor, playing the guy’s choice of furniture for cheap laughs. You can see a more typical piece here.
I’m rather surprised that the FBI made a big deal out of trumpeting their swift conclusion to this case. Except they forgot to add they didn’t actually get him.
I neglected to mention what this man did to make him a person of interest. Here’s the wire service version:
WHO IS JOHN DOE #27? THE FBI WANTS TO CATCH THIS ALLEGED CHILD PREDATOR
The FBI is on the hunt to identify a man who is allegedly involved in sexually abusing a minor and child exploitation. Teams from the FBI located images of this man who they’ve dubbed, “John Doe 27” on the Internet.
If you take a close look, the suspect appears to be a white male, with brown hair and a bald spot. It looks like his sideburns are graying and the FBI says he’s between the ages of 40 and 50.
NBC San Diego says the suspect was first seen abusing a child in April 2013 and the images are being spread through child pornography forums online.
According to a press release on the FBI’s website, “Based on audio taken from video files associated with this individual, it appears as though he speaks with a southern accent and refers to himself as “Jimmy.” The suspect also has a ring on his right hand.
The space used to allegedly molest the child, you can see easily spot a plaid chair in the room, gray carpet, white walls and a table.
(Pictures can be seen at the link on my previous post. The guy looks like a creep, not to typecast or anything but - T. Bag from Prison Break.)
There’s a false implication there.
“Photo of Ugly chair helps FBI crack case”. NO.
They also provided photos, and a number of aliases… some of which may be an official name or close to it.
Anyway there can be reasons for the privacy on the case from that point, eg they implied he was the abuser, when actually he may have merely been set up by circumstances. Also, the FBI might be embarrassed that they were searching for someone already caught (eg by state authorities.)
I didn’t see any aliases, other than “he referred to himself as Jimmy, so that could be his name”.
I suppose we could say that the news media were premature in accepting the FBI’s last statement as some kind of closure. In any case there seems to have been no follow up, surprising for a story that got wide coverage. Or am I naive?
Finally, where does an interested, non-credentialed person go to get a status report on the whereabouts of someone they told us could be a menace?
Right, is there a list of uncaptured, unprosecuted fugitives that the FBI warned us about but then boldly declared were as good as nailed, and now hopes we’ll forget they ever said that?
Well given your disbelief, I was prompted to do a search for those aliases and fbi, arrested, etc and I found they have arrested JOHNNY BENJAMIN NAPIER, owner of ugly chair.
The FBI link you provided shows a picture of Johnny Benjamin Napier, the word “CAPTURED” across the bottom. Interesting to note, the accompanying text mentions an alias, “Sean Denning”, and a lot of other things known about him, but says nothing about when or where he was captured.
Googling “sean denning” “john doe 27” gets you to Websleuths, a forum for armchair detectives (well I guess I’m one too), where you learn that Denning=Napier (probably), but the man is called “John Doe 12” by the FBI, and the information released about him doesn’t really match that released about #27. The dates are mostly earlier than Nov. 2013.
There are pictures of #12, and there’s a definite resemblance but I’m not prepared to say they’re a match, and the Websleuth posters aren’t sure either - in particular, the CAPTURED shot of Napier looks older to me than the “T.Bag” picture I referenced above.
Googling “johnny benjamin napier” “john doe 27” gets you less, just the same Websleuths posting and some unrelated stuff.
And if you follow Websleuth’s thread on #27, and a different one they made for #12, there’s no definitive answer at all on whether or not he is in custody. (The amateur sleuths seem quite invested in solving this, so it’s not like they lost interest.)
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Ok ppl first of all the guy with the ugly chair aka blue checkers went by the name of Jim I’m his videos and the girls name was amber, his username was tangokid they still have videos up except that one video where ppl thought she was to young…when he already said she was 18 in the video, and they have a kid together, and they broke up years ago cause of life differences it was all in his xhamster profile before it was retired, so why this one video out of all the others that are still up? and I heard he wasn’t convicted then he died a few years ago…I don’t think this benjamin dude is the same guy he looks totally different, plus this videos was made back in the 90s early 2000s omg ppl these videos are old as fuck and she was 18 so what’s the deal
No that’s not the same guy and she was 18, and they had a kid, those videos were old back in 90s early 2000s they broke up they still have other videos up, so why take the one down with the chair
John doe 27 with the ugly chair went by the name Jim and her name was amber, his xhamster name was tangokid, they still have videos up except the one with the chair, I guess cause ppl thought she looked to young when years ago he already mentioned in the comments that she was 18 and they had a kid and dated and broke up years later and she’s in her 30s this was all in the comments now his profile is retired and comments gone and I heard he died after being found not guilty, that’s not the same guy and John napier photos, plus the videos were from the 90s early 2000s they literally have all there other videos up except that 1 video with the checkered chair, they still got the videos of the checkered couch and bedroom so why are ppl so stupid they don’t realize a video is like 20 years old and take one video down and not the others lol these videos were made back in latest 90s or something they’re grown adults now ppl see a video and act like it’s brand new