Update: Va. woman arrested for blogging about police has white supremacist past
By Carlos Miller
A Virginia woman who blogged about an undercover police task force – posting their pictures and at least one home address – was arrested for the content of her blog in a case that might end up setting precedent for the First Amendment in the cyber age.
Elisha Strom, 34, was charged with one count of harassment of a police officer.
Police raided her home on July 16, seizing computers, cameras and notebooks. She remains incarcerated and it is not clear from the article whether she is allowed to bond out. Her next court appearance is September 17.
Her blog detailed the daily activities of the Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement Task Force (JADE). The title of her blog, I Hearte JADE, is supposed to be interpreted as “I Hate JADE.”
Police accuse her of putting their lives in danger because she is blowing their cover
Her blog contains head shots of several of the officers as well as one officer getting into his unmarked car in front of his house.
On July 3rd, she posted the home address of a Charlottesville police sergeant.
However, she maintains that all the photographs she has taken were in public, so therefore legal. And she also learned of the sergeant’s address through public records, as she explains on her blog post.
In the days leading up to the raid, police warned her to stop her postings, including threatening her with the following Virginia statute:
§ 18.2-186.4. Use of a person’s identity with the intent to coerce, intimidate, or harass; penalty.
It shall be unlawful for any person, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, or harass another person, to publish the person’s name or photograph along with identifying information as defined in clauses (iii) through (ix), or clause (xii) of subsection C of § 18.2-186.3, including identification of the person’s primary residence address. Any person who violates this section is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Any person who violates this section knowing or having reason to know that person is a law-enforcement officer, as defined in § 9.1-101, is guilty of a Class 6 felony. The sentence shall include a mandatory minimum term of confinement of six months.
So it really boils down to how the judge or jury define “harassment.”
Her final post, dated July 16 at 7:00 a.m., simply states, “Uh oh, They’re here.”
Last year, police sent her the following letter warning her to stop her actions, which she posted on her blog:
Dear Ms. [Me]
Personnel of the Charlottesville Police Department and the Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement Task Force brought to my attention your recent behavior directed towards them. The most troubling behaviors they identified consisted of following police officers while they are on duty, photographing them or their personal property, and publishing potentially identifying information about them on readily accessible public media.
The purpose of this correspondence is to notify you that your behavior is interfering with the ability of these officers to conduct necessary and appropriate law enforcement activities. I presume that you may be unaware of the degree to which following and photographing police investigators may constitute a material interference with their work. This is especially true with narcotics enforcement officers who must be able to meet with citizens, suspects, and others with complete confidence that they have not been followed and are not being watched. These officers must be able to assure confidential informants and operatives that their anonymity is being scrupulously maintained.
Furthermore, your behavior is placing officers in fear for their safety and that of their families. I presume that you may not have been aware previously that officers live on a daily basis with the concern that their families will be subjected to danger as a result of their work. Your behavior in following officers to their homes and posting photographs of their property on publicly accessible media places officers in fear for their safety and that of their families. Posting identifying information about officers and their property on publicly accessible media makes it easier for those who might do them harm to gain information that can be used to do just that.
I urge you to stop the activities in which you have been involved as they are interfering with the work of law enforcement officers in the City of Charlottesville. Continuation of your behavior may further disrupt their work and may obstruct ongoing law enforcement efforts that are being undertaken on behalf of our community.
Furthermore, I urge you to cease the behaviors you have exhibited that place officers in fear for their safety and that of their families.
I welcome the opportunity to discuss this matter with you in person. Please feel free to contact me at [555-555-5555]
Sincerely,
Timothy J. Longo, Sr.
Chief of Police-30-
I am a multimedia journalist who has been fighting a lengthy legal battle after having photographed Miami police against their wishes in Feb. 2007. Please help the fight by donating to my Legal Defense Fund in the top left sidebar, which helps pay for the thousands of dollars I’ve acrued in debt since my arrest. To keep updated on the latest articles, join my networks at Facebook, Twitter and Friendfeed.
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39 responses so far ↓
1 discarted // Jul 29, 2009 at 5:19 PM
This letter is a joke because if she actually broke any laws then she would have been arrested immediately. However, she didn’t because photographing undercover cops while in public or even on their private property, is not a crime. Here’s my shot of three undercover cops working Hollywood Boulevard. Notice the LAPD badges and guns exposing their cover.
http://www.discarted.com/images/photo_jpegs/street_jpegs/19.jpg
I would like to know why this woman was doing this though?
2 Dashfield // Jul 29, 2009 at 5:25 PM
Elisha Strom’s blog is really quite interesting.
Leaving aside the legal issues, it’s a testament to a totally obsessed woman. Celebrity stalkers and John Hinckley’s “thing” for Jodie Foster are nothing compared with Elisha Strom’s obsession with Brian O’Donnell and the JADE Task Force. Apparently Elisha once had a close relationship with O’Donnell that went bad:
http://iheartejade.blogspot.com/2008/12/ghost-from-christmas-past.html
That relationship, whatever it was, started when Elisha Strom was a star witness in this politically-tinged trial, in which O’Donnell was the lead FBI – Joint Terrorism Task Force agent:
http://www.kevinalfredstrom.com/2009/01/kevin-alfred-strom-address-to-the-court/
It’s not clear how the relationship went bad, but Elisha gives O’Donnell credit for inspiring her blog and her “intelligence gathering” activities, as she makes clear on her very first post:
http://iheartejade.blogspot.com/2008/10/coming-soon_25.html
She also had what appears to be a sexual relationship with another unnamed officer linked to the JADE Task Force (who she nicknamed “Boomslang”), and was using him to get confidential information about other officers and about JADE operations:
http://iheartejade.blogspot.com/2009/04/put-camo-green-up-somewhere-anywhere_30.html
She also refers to O’Donnell (who she openly nicknames “Longhead” or “LH”) as a “bully”:
http://iheartejade.blogspot.com/2008/11/longer-version-with-oodles-of_13.html
Right at the end of the above post, she implies that she’ll retaliate somehow if the FBI (probably meaning O’Donnell, who works with the FBI as well as JADE and JTTF) comes down on her.
It’s not clear what she means, but revelations of inside information on agents – possibly including marital infidelity and law violations – seem the most likely to me.
(In other posts, she claims to have discovered a married agent’s mistress/girlfriend. She asserts close relationships herself with the possibly-married O’Donnell and “Boomslang.” Maybe it’s a kind of blackmail, though money doesn’t seem to be a motive: “Leave me alone or I’ll tell all I know.” Were there other demands we don’t know about?)
It’s cosmically bizarre the lengths to which this woman went to stalk her prey: following agents into stores, finding out their pants sizes, going to the property rolls and then letting everyone know where their families live, where they do target shooting, what kind of cars they drive (even down to updates when something is added or repaired to the vehicle), lying in wait for them at home, at work, at stakeouts, at court. When did she have time to work – or to raise the 12-year-old daughter she claims to have? Just the writing alone must have taken many many hours, to say nothing of the stalking.
3 jgodsey // Jul 29, 2009 at 6:05 PM
i too would like to know what she was expecting from this. her early posts don’t indicate what she has against this task force.
whereas i feel most citizens, photographers and journos when doing their jobs should be left alone by the gendarme – starting a blog merely to antagonize men who carry guns is just nutty.
4 John // Jul 29, 2009 at 6:22 PM
I agree with godsey… antagonizing cops that are busting criminals who are eager to get back at them IS nutty. Providing those same criminals with the information to do it should be a criminal act.
5 AngryHateMusic // Jul 29, 2009 at 6:31 PM
Criminals hate to be filmed, pictured, or referenced. Please don’t expose us while we commit crimes….
6 Karl Mansoor // Jul 29, 2009 at 6:43 PM
Wow Carlos!
What a small world! You just did a post on some happenings in my back yard. I worked with some of those very people pictured (the ones I know personally are pretty much decent folks) in Ms. Stroms blog.
I can see/relate to LEOs being uncomfortable but I can’t see that Ms. Strom is violating any law. Seems she has a First Amendment right to her posts the way I read them.
She doesn’t seem like one to back down either. I wonder what it was that got her started on all this. Her blog is funny – of course probably not so much to the LEOs in question. It will be interesting to see how this turns out.
…Yikes! Last minute thought…! I wonder if I’m going to get special love and attention. I am writing a book you know, involving at least some former co-workers.
7 steveo // Jul 29, 2009 at 7:15 PM
Another boundary, i love it. She’s attempting to establish a boundary to the 1st Amendment. Did she step over the line? This new media is exciting. We are really testing the boundaries and there are going to be alot more of these things happening daily. I kind of wish that she didn’t have to stay in jail for such a ridiculous victimless “crime”.
8 steveo // Jul 29, 2009 at 7:22 PM
I hope she gets the same treatment in the courts that Larry Flint got. Probably not, Larry was just selling pictures of womens’ T&A, not pictures of (gasp) Leos.
9 Scott Chamness // Jul 29, 2009 at 7:26 PM
Hey, umm, wouldn’t her behavior be consistent with stalking? I mean, following these cops around and stuff, it seems like it would be a bit like harassment. And creepy. Isn’t there enough for like a restraining order or something?
10 Karl Mansoor // Jul 29, 2009 at 7:36 PM
Her actions don’t fit the stalking code.
http://law.justia.com/virginia/codes/toc1802000/18.2-60.3.html
11 Ms Calabaza // Jul 29, 2009 at 8:04 PM
Great story! This one will be interesting to follow …
12 Scott Chamness // Jul 29, 2009 at 8:51 PM
Oh, ok, thanks Karl. Didn’t know that.
But I’m still hazy on the whole reasoning behind all of this. I mean, what was the point, really?
13 Karl Mansoor // Jul 29, 2009 at 9:06 PM
Same here, I’m curious to find out what the whole thing is about – other than the obvious; certain folks don’t like the publicity on the blog.
14 Jade // Jul 29, 2009 at 9:39 PM
The woman is an idiot helping criminals. I hope the judge throws the book at her.
15 Jade // Jul 29, 2009 at 9:40 PM
The woman is an idiot for helping criminals. I hope the judge throws the book at her.
16 Michaelk42 // Jul 29, 2009 at 10:24 PM
So terribly odd.
Though I’m fairly certain being bizarre isn’t a crime.
There has got to be more to this.
17 Karl Mansoor // Jul 29, 2009 at 10:34 PM
Hi Jade at #’s 13 & 14,
No… she is not an idiot, that’s for sure. She’s not helping criminals either. I don’t know what she is up to, but the more I read her posts the harder I’m laughing – especially knowing some of the folks she is dealing with.
All the officers I know in that task force have been publicly identified in one way or another and most have been so multiple times. Many of them also regularly wear police gear and vests with the word POLICE in big letters in public. Not to mention guns, cuffs, and perhaps a radio in hand while in plain clothes. All she has done is take pictures.
Personally, I am not interested in seeing any harm come to ANY law enforcement officers nor am I interested in seeing criminals succeed. I don’t see Ms. Strom as facilitating either of those events.
It really seems to me that the officers who don’t like what this young lady is doing – and I concede that if I were on the task force I wouldn’t like it either – are bummed because she is doing some of the things they do and she is doing it at least as good if not better; namely, conducting lawful surveillance and lawfully collecting information… easily available information I might add.
From one of Ms. Strom’s posts with the link below the quote:
“All it takes to completely disrupt an entire badass Task Force is one skinny little White girl. I wouldn’t let that get out if I were them. Oops! Too late.
http://iheartejade.blogspot.com/2008/12/learn-as-you-longo_27.html
…and check this out too.
http://iheartejade.blogspot.com/2008/12/letter-with-commentary_27.html
It doesn’t seem to me that arresting this young lady on less than sketchy charges was the best way to go. Ignoring her and getting better at being covert would have been a better path to take.
It really seems like the more various LEOs tried to unlawfully intimidate, the more they increased her fortitude. Some cops… no, many cops don’t like that.
18 Carlos Miller // Jul 29, 2009 at 11:48 PM
I wrote this very quickly because I had to leave home for an assignment, so I didn’t get a chance to really research her blog to find out what makes her tick.
Normally, I would have waited until I got home to write this with a little time, but this was too interesting to hold off on.
I just got home so I’m glad this has generated some interest with my readers.
19 Carlos Miller // Jul 30, 2009 at 12:42 AM
Check out Dashfield’s comment at # 2.
That comment was originally held in my spam filter because of the multi links so I approved it when I got home
I don’t want anybody to miss it.
It sheds some light on this story.
20 Karl Mansoor // Jul 30, 2009 at 1:06 AM
“Hell hath no fury…”
Dashfield’s comments at #2, now showing, do indeed provoke interesting thought. So Ms. Strom, in addition to her diligent information gathering, is either engaging in some very interesting creative writing, or she is actually touching on the fringes of intimate relationships gone bad in her view.
And if there were intimate relationships with one or more of the LEOs on the Task Force and it resulted in Ms. Strom being privy to otherwise confidential information, it then appears that some members of the Task Force may have brought on the unwanted attention themselves.
21 genewitch // Jul 30, 2009 at 7:26 AM
i wasn’t aware that blowing someone’s cover was illegal? covert operations are a give and take and are rarely successful anyhow.
Regardless of what her “issue” is, it’s still a first amendment question here.
If what she’s doing is somehow illegal, then any photographer that has taken many photos of celebrities, police, or whomever is just as culpable.
undercover, or “narc” cops from the cities i’ve lived in don’t try very hard to hide it. Going “deep undercover” is something i think the movies and TV shows do, and real cops don’t. I can’t see a risk assessment meeting ending with “well, many many people could die, mostly innocent, but fuck it, we want to bust generic gang boss #33.”
there are people who break the law and do it in very clever ways (al capone?) – but cities that have less than 100,000 people probably aren’t dealing with criminals of that caliber.
Remember, RICO allows law enforcement to seize assets that may have come from criminal activity. that trumps expensive lawyers that can be bought, making it less likely for the really bad guys to skate.
It’s a thin line undercover and surveillance teams walk on…
22 300baud // Jul 30, 2009 at 10:33 AM
Very good writing. It is hard to be both informal and professional.
A parallel situation comes to mind. In computer security, there is a debate whether or not it is ethical to publicly disclose security issues. Doing so allows the people affected to protect themselves from the security hole, and forces the vendor or responsible party to take action. On the other hand, it tells less talented attackers exactly what to target.
(I believe many people compromise, giving the vendor the information some period of time before the public disclosure. Nearly everyone agrees that public disclosures become necessary if the vendor will not take responsibility.)
JADE is getting a free security audit. If this blogger can track them so easily, and if they have indeed made enemies in the criminal community that could endanger LEO families, there is a problem, and it’s not the blogger.
23 Thorg // Jul 30, 2009 at 11:59 AM
This whole thing could be a double bluff. These cops could be doing it to expose themselves because they are afraid of actually having to do real dangerous undercover work. They just want to laze around tasering grandmothers and children, getting fat on donuts and doing desk work.
24 Asshole who leaves links that make your computer crash // Jul 30, 2009 at 12:53 PM
Elisha is a nutjob. Her ex-husband, Kevin, helped run a skinhead group called National Alliance and he got kicked out for his fetish for young girls. This was confirmed when he was arrested for possession of child pornography. Elisha helped the police bang the final nails in Kevin’s coffin. Google Kevin Alfred Strom. If you look at his picture on Wikipedia, I wouldn’t let him near my kids.
25 Michaelk42 // Jul 30, 2009 at 1:12 PM
@r4l
Avast! Antivirus warns me that the link in your name is a virus.
I did wonder if that was the right Elisha that Google was throwing up links for. The plot thickens.
26 300baud // Jul 30, 2009 at 1:22 PM
r41′s “website” link will, at best, crash your browser. Do not enable plugins or javascript if you investigate it. It is intended to be a “grief” attack. Carlos, would you please remove the link?
27 Carlos Miller // Jul 30, 2009 at 1:42 PM
Thanks for the heads up. 300baud.
I deleted the link and blocked his IP address so he can’t post here anymore. At least from that one IP address.
28 steveo // Jul 30, 2009 at 3:13 PM
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances, except for Larry Flint, Elisha and other nut jobs.
29 Michaelk42 // Jul 30, 2009 at 5:59 PM
@300baud
Ah, silly apologist script kiddies. Avast! kept the link from even loading for me.
30 Kip // Jul 30, 2009 at 7:47 PM
As a photographer, I have to agree that yes it is legal to photograph them. I don’t think they have a real legal standing to bust her unless they go the interfering with an investigation route which would be fairly easy to prove. I also don’t agree with the drug war. All of this said, I think that her doing that was irresponsible and not a good judgement call. Just because it’s not illegal doesn’t mean you should do it. What if some cop had gotten killed because drug runners know who they are where they live? What the cops do often is not right but that doesn’t mean they deserve to be put in more danger than they are.
Just my two cents.
Carlos, keep up the awesome blog. I love this place.
31 metasonix // Jul 30, 2009 at 11:45 PM
Did you know about Elisha’s background?
She and her ex-husband were the founders of the now-defunct National Vanguard neo-nazi group……
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Strom
http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2008/01/17/NEWS-strom-elisha-C.rtf.aspx
They were being tracked by the SPLC.
She also has another website, full of racist rants:
http://www.angrywhitefemale.net/
This story was so “colorful” I just had to put it on my sarcastic blog:
http://shitplanet.org/2009/07/have-you-shaved-your-nutsack-today.html
32 the change // Jul 31, 2009 at 12:24 AM
shocking, however there is a blog, not the best written on the web about afew judges and the DA in VA and the author to my knowledge has never be contacted about his blog..
33 appmanga // Jul 31, 2009 at 1:19 AM
If she’s photographing undercover police with the intent of publicizing them and their activities, I would think she’s leaning in the direction of obstruction of a LEO, which, in many jurisdictions, is at least a misdemeanor.
34 pacific_waters // Aug 2, 2009 at 8:50 PM
If she has a grudge against them then I would bet it works the other. Cops not above their power for their ends. It’s happened more than once.
35 ThisOne // Aug 4, 2009 at 6:09 PM
This all seems a bit overboard, and without real purpose. I’m for citizens’ rights, photographers’ rights, and against police misconduct, but I don’t see any this brought up as an issue anywhere. The first amendment tie-in may be valid, let’s see what ground is broken there, but I don’t really know if I’ll ever know what her beef with the local narcs is.
BTW, is the ‘War On Drugs’ another one of those wars declared, fought and lost based on non-existent rationale?
36 Big Mike // Aug 4, 2009 at 9:41 PM
Why exactly must she provide a reason for engaging in any business that does not violate a law?
I believe the cops in this situation need to provide justifiable reason for engaging in their clearly illegal activity of unlawfully detaining this woman.
I haven’t clicked any of her links or know anything about it – I don’t need to. It was done in public, and doesn’t seem to violate the VA stalking statute someone posted.
The chick’s got a point – if a woman and a camera and a free blog can “endanger” so greatly the activities of these police, what about a couple teams of gang bangers, narcotics traffickers or mafiosi who would have cameras and guns? Perhaps they need to evaluate their behaviors instead of violating her rights.
BTW F THE PIGS.
37 Any Mouse // Jan 16, 2010 at 9:34 AM
I have personal experience with the Charlottesville PD. From what I have seen their opinion is not that they enforce the law, but that they ARE the law. They arrested me (for having a necklace hanging on my rear view mirror) on the UVa campus, then went to my house (in Nelson County), entered it without permission or warrant, tore it apart and took what they liked.
Do not challenge these people. Not if you want to live.
38 Johnny Law // Jan 16, 2010 at 1:59 PM
AnyMouse, so what is the real story behind your arrest and search of your house? I know there is more to it than you are letting on.
39 Whitney Segura // Aug 10, 2010 at 6:51 PM
Wow, this is really intense, I knew blogging could occasionally be dangerious, but this is pretty bad. Thanks for the heads up.
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