Google searchers: Please note that in the U.S. there are at least 32 people by the name of Steve Landon. This is Steven Thomas Landon of Isabella County, Michigan. Brown hair, blue eyes, 5' 9", 205 lbs, born 11/11/1981. - Tom
I received the following in the mail today. Handwritten on a yellow sheet of lined paper and dated 8-31-04.
"To whom it may concern
I would like to apologize for the delay in the lack of communication. I was recently arrested for downloading movies and music and am being prosecuted for it. The ISP I was using monitored my activity. The only peice of equipment that was confiscated was a PC I was using. I am currently incarcerated awaiting sentencing on 4 counts of possession of copyrighted material and 1 count of (word crossed out) using a computer to commit a crime. My attorney says that I have a 6 month cap so I will only get up to 6 months in the county jail. As far as deals (word crossed out) I had w/ the applefritter members, they are on hold until I get released. I had most everything prepped and ready to ship. The day I was going to Ship stuff out I got arrested. Im being held without bond. Please post a message on applefritter explaining the situation. I do apologize for any inconviencence this may have caused. And never have heard of being prosecuted for having movies and music. The possession of copyrighted material is a felony in michigan punishable by up to 15 years in the states prison. and everythring will be taken care of upon my release.
Thank You
Raven Darkness
(scribble that might be a first name and an L)
(P.S crossed out)"
On the back side - "to be mailed to the puter guy"
There you have it, copied as close as I could. I may have corrected some misspellings without noticing it. I'll be holding onto this, if anyone else receives anything I suggest they do the same. I'll scan it if anyone really wants to see.
I'm going to hold off a bit before commenting on what I think of this letter.
Any other info to be gleaned from envelope?
Easy enough for local law enforcement to confirm confinement if true.
Interesting inconsistancy:
"6 month cap so I will only get up to 6 months in the county jail"
. and
"felony in michigan punishable by up to 15 years in the states prison"
The plot thickens!
dan k (can't wait for next interesting development!!)
1) Check the postmark. Did it come from a jail or other incarceration facility? If not, what city did it originate from?
2) Arrest records are public data. Check for arrests in the zip code that the letter originated from.
3) Hand written, huh? How much have you handled this piece of paper? I would immediately put it in a plastic bag and get it printed.
4) So... after saying all this... we are all in agreement that the "arrest" thing is horse-puckey, right?
5) Do you have a scanner? Howzabout postin' a pic of said letter?
No return address, the postmark is from Lansing, MI. Lansing is the state capitol, though I'm not sure why he would be there. The address I received from him was in Clare, MI which is located in Clare County. If memory serves, that's at least 30 miles north of Lansing which is in Ingham county. The city of Jackson is south of Lansing and there is a large (State?) prision located there, but if he was there it would be postmarked Jackson.
The handwriting on the envelope looks like it could be from a different person, so perhaps he handed off this note and had it mailed for him. That would explain the notation on the back which was visible once when the letter was folded up.
I think the bigger inconsistancy here was his claim that he was going to ship items (to multiple people?) on the day he was arrested. He'd claimed he'd already shipped items to me and that they were returned.
I think its all more lies. I'm very interested in finding out whether I'm the only one to get this letter. Its not addressed to me which would make sense if he wrote out multiple copies to mail to other people. But then why note "to the puter guy" on multiple letters instead of something else? If I'm the only one who gets one of these then I assume he just forgot my name and had someone else retreive my name and address from the package I sent. If that's the case, was I the last person he ripped off (if he's in prision) or does he just figure I'm the most likely to keep after him and he wants to delay me?
Tom
As soon as I opened the letter I thought about putting it in a plastic bag but I think that's being a bit extreme...he hand wrote it... but I've been the only one to handle it and that was just to read it and now scan it. Its in a plastic bag and is also static protected LOL since I didn't have anything else big enough.
The scan of the letter is in my image gallery along with a portion of the address from the envelope and a note from me. The file size is pretty large on the letter but it came out clear on the first try and I didn't want to spend time messing with it.
Tom
What is the text in very faint ink on the same line as "of upon my release..."?
[EDIT]
Nevermind... I now see that it is “to be mailed to the puter guy
I don't know about you guys, but I think the whole thing is a complete lie. His lying patterns are very consistent and it matches the stuff he told me last year.
I am currently incarcerated awaiting sentencing on 4 counts of possession of copyrighted material and 1 count of (word crossed out) using a computer to commit a crime
the crossed out word almost appears to be "hacking" the first letter is "h" and there looks to be a "k" in the middle. Maybe it's not important
Figured I'd help out on this one, that signature is RD. Quite stylishly signed, but definitevly RD. Him trying to hide behind his AFF screenname is really quite odd actually. Also, the way it was written looks hurried, the script is quite messy, and it looks as if the paper was handled badly (on his side I presume). I think he may have saw our "little thread" and got worried. The postmark would suggest he could have been in town, possibly moving or running away? It somewhat would make sense, because his address changes so often that he'd wanna get away from the cops and angry Applefritterians (the second much worse than the first ;)) Yeah, well that's my incredibly speculative opinion. Good luck catching this guy.
The last letter apears to be an "o" but could be a sloppy g. The first letter is eather a 't' or a 'h'
I don't think it's important, I just mentioned it when I typed the message out to describe the manner in which the letter was written.
TB
From what little I remember of what my sister told me about graphology it may be that his 'o' style indicates lying. Both graphology and my memory are questionable, but I see a few signs and it would fit well with the situation.
I think this is just another ploy to distract
you and others from further pursuing him. If
I were you, I would mail a SCANNED COPY of the
letter to the police chief in Clare, MI and
give all of the details surrounding it. See
if he requests the original (which you said
you enclosed in a plastic bag) and be sure to
explain that you have handled it. Again, I
would say to download and print out and en-
close the entire content of the other thread
on this subject as well. Whether or not it
is a lie, it still may provide the police with
a clue. Don't forget to scan and copy the
envelope and postmark/date as well. The other
suggestions posted here are very good and
you should follow them as well. (ie..research
the Zip Code, origin of letter/jail, etc.)
Good luck on your quest. I hope you all will
get a reply on this and the police will REALLY
catch up with SL.
Has anyone either here or at the other thread
actually PHONED the police department in Clare,
MI? Might get a little faster results than the
'Net. Also get to actually speak with an inves-
tigator or the Chief himself. Could provide a
bit more details concerning developments...
Just 2c
Interesting how things are turning out. Personally i think he is lying but come Monday I will verify whether or not he is incarcerated. I will keep you guys posted.
When last I saw, he was arrested for sexual assault in the fourth degree, go figure this is all a pack of you know what...you know when last I checked I was one of those individuals who gave up an iMac for equipment that never arrived....it's been over two months, a heck of a long time to spend in shipping!
Just in case you guys missed this thread:
http://www.applefritter.com/node/view/4283?from=50&comments_per_page=50
and here for a good laugh:
http://www.state.mi.us/mdoc/asp/otis2profile.asp?mdocNumber=307030
According to Michigan's Offendor Tracking Information System, Steven Landon has been discharged from prison.
sledsbehave, on the MacNN Forums, has reported an attempted scam by Steven Landon, operating under the alias FryLock1701.
An Applefritter member reports seeing him active on MSN Messenger.
hey tom, what exactly is this all about? I seem to have missed the boad. could somebody catch me up to speed? I may want to be on the look out,as I live nearby in Detroit.
thanks. -digital
The man inquestion has earned himself a poor name for scams, fraud, and unsavory behaviour. He's the most well known bad-guy from the depths of AF. I don't want ot dredge up the details, but it seems his time in prison has not taught him the lessons he needed to learn.
He has pretty much shown himself to be just as most say. He sells broken macs to one of the lists I am on and he also has a web site with his ahh possible new addy in Owosso MI.
http://www.macmancomputers.com/
If anyone wishes to look for him hey go at it. I got four blue and whites all four are good for parts only. Had hoped to build me a second one as a back up but alas nope. I will also post this to other areas on apple fritters as well.
Is in Owosso MI on the address deleted - Tom. Has a 269 area code.
He has pretty much shown himself to be just as most say. He sells broken macs to one of the lists I am on and he also has a web site with his ahh possible new addy in Owosso MI.
http://www.macmancomputers.com/
If anyone wishes to look for him hey go at it. I got four blue and whites all four are good for parts only. Had hoped to build me a second one as a back up but alas nope. I will also post this to other areas on apple fritters as well.
email of: landon.steven@gmail.com
address deleted - Tom Owosso, MI 48867. Yep you guessed it I used to live in owosso.
269-838-2851 BTW 269 is not the area code of this area. should be 989. So he has a cell phone.
also has this email of
macmancomputers@gmail.com
I can call down to the county seat to see if he has a dba business license if anyone wants to email me off here.
We do have a DBA filed with Shiawassee County..
Now Bruce.. Those G3's were working when they left my house.. just needed ram and hard drive.. each one was tested and booted with an OS 9 cd.. all worked.. You picked them up from us at our home.. We sold them to you at 20 dollars each.. they were working perfectly.. I dont know what you could have done to them.. but they all fired right up at our house..
We run a legit computer repair business out of Owosso, MI.. Deal face to face Like we dealt with you. Now if you want your money back just bring me back the G3's in the condition they were in and we will refund your 100 dollars.. simple as that
Steven and or Niesha,
I have e-mailed you through your website over a week ago asking you to remove the link you place on your website linking to my site without permission. Please remove our link from your site. We do not want to be associated in any way with you site and your business.
Sincerely
Sherry Lanon
Legit ? You have G3 iMacs listed under "refurbished Macs" with OS X, Adobe and Microsoft applications advertised and installed. Do these come with install disks ????? These are all illegal (non-legit) copies of very expensive software if the original disks are not included.
So much for being legit......
actually this last lot of macs we got in bulk had about 60 copies of panther tiger along with 100 apple software packs that came with the original restore cd's to the iMacs.. and some adobe stuff so yes im including disks with these
And I cant sell a machine without the OS no one would buy it if all it did was do the blinkin question mark..
Actually, people will. I sell computers on Craigslist with no Windows installed, either blank or a free Linux install. They sell. However, you do have the right to sell an install of the OS that shipped with the machine, as most OS licenses are legally tied to the machine. Thus, if it's an early iMac you can include 8.6 with it, or a newer iBook OS X, etc.
Reverend Darkness has been taken care of.. he requested that Steven make a donation to a womens abuse organization.. That has taken place and the reciept has been overnighted to him via USPS Express Mail
The womens organization is called RAVE
Its address is 120 E. Exchange Street
Owosso, MI 48867
and the Phone Number is
989-224-4662
The Donation was not anyonamous so anyone can call and verify that steven did make a donation to these people
And for those of you interested here is the tracking number
EB 140583599 US
This should settle any beef between steven and Reverened Darkness
well, we've been infected with STL over on 68kmla, or at least someone using one of his older names: http://68kmla.net/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=1129
it certinaly seems like him, as he is pointing to an auction on ebay, and it's right in my back yard. He also mentions the same mac in another topic, but in the topic he links so, he claims he "found" it while crusing ebay, and from what I have on file, both the one he has, and the one for sale are identical.
anyone want to confirm this?
-digital
I looked at his macman site, and saw those same pictures of the duo and dock there. I'd say it's his auction. Wonder what his feedback on eBay is like.
the thing is, it looks like the posting on 68kmla was posted by STL's squeeze, and if that's so, she only makes them look as skuzzy as ever by saying "I was browsing around ebay today and ran acrossed (sic) this" when it's them after all selling it. It's just not an ethically nice way to mention an item you're selling.
You'd think they'd have learned by now that it's better to be above-board than sneaking around like that. (If I'm wrong about the substance of this, I apologize in advance.)
*sigh*
dan k
Here is a copy of the shipping reciept that confirms that Reverend Darkness Has been taken care of
edit by eeun: confidential information removed.
Also Let it be known that steven and I do not use eBay... if we have items that are going on eBay then they go to the local ebay auction place in town where they list it for us and take 30 percent of the profits
hmm, it looks like girlfriendof STL also posted about this same duo on our own forums a while back, but nobody seemed to have noticed it:
http://www.applefritter.com/node/20254
the plot thickens, again...
-digital
Id like to let you know that Steven and I do not use eBay for selling. We use it for buying and the username for that is macmancomputing.. Any time we want to sell something we take it to the local auction depot... The duo that is being sold on ebay was listed by a friend of ours.. It is not our eBay account.. so lets get that straight