Meet James Colliton, a disbarred corporate lawyer who served 19 months in jail after bribing a mother so he could sleep with her 13 and 15 year-old daughters. Colliton recently sued American Express for $4 million, claiming that he was captured because the credit card company told authorities that the fugitive gutter-cretin was signing for hotel rooms in Ontario.
Colliton insisted he wasn’t running from the law and had gone to Canada only to attend some harness races.
“You’re not a fugitive if you sign into a major chain hotel using your driver’s license and your American Express card,” he said.
In his suit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Colliton says Canadian authorities would never have “falsely arrested” or “unlawfully detained” him on immigration charges if American Express hadn’t revealed when and where he had used his credit card.
“That’s not why I gave them 20 years of fees and thousands of dollars in profits,” he said. “They spied on me.”
We’re not lawyers, but we’re pretty sure convicted felons lose their right to moral indignation or the right to vote or something.
Anyway, the moral of the story is that if you’re an indicted pedophile on the run, don’t use American Express.
Ex-con sues AmEx, says it aided in his arrest in Grimsby, Ont. [The Canadian Press]
Ratted out by American Express, charges perv attorney [New York Daily News]
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Thank you, American Express!
It is a shame the judge can’t just toss the case out and order this fellow’s balls removed with a butter knife.
Anyway, the moral of the story is that if you’re an indicted pedaphile on the run, don’t use American Express.
As far as I’m concerned, this should read:
Anyway, the moral of the story is that if you’re an indicted pedaphile on the run, PLEASE DO use American Express.
@mstevens: I don’t know about violent crimes, I thought that was more to protect people like Dr. Mudd (spelling?) who treated Abraham Lincoln’s assassin and was prosecuted for it
I’ve spent time in Grimsby. A lot of time. I’ve dealt with the cops in Grimsby. This accidental release surprises me not at all.
That being said, I’m very curious about the cross-border implications.
I will not discuss the finer points of when ‘maturity’ happens or what ever. I will stick with examining the chain of events leading to his arrest in Canada and examine how that is relevant to his claim
1) Reports of his sexual abuse are reported to child services and confirmed by the victims
2) He gets indited for several criminal charges
3) While his lawyer negotiates his surrender, he bails to Canada. His assertion that he went ‘only to gamble a bit’ is patently false, as he already knew the charges that had been laid upon him.
4) Now that he is a fugitive law enforcement use all available tools to find him.
Now what is the privacy policy for Amex? I found one for Visa which I believe is a good indicator of what Amex should be.
We reserve the right to share your personal information with third parties if required to do so by law, or if we believe such action is necessary in order to: (1) conform to the requirements of the law or comply with legal process served upon us; (2) protect or defend our legal rights or property, the Visa U.S.A. site, or our users; or (3) investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, or violations of the terms and conditions for using the Visa U.S.A. site.
This case falls under 1 and 3, they were probably served with a notice to provide records, and his actions were illegal, as he was evading law enforcement, and the use of the card is being used for an illegal activity.
Thus we can conclude that this guy has zero chance of succeeding in this case, regardless of how you feel about this vile excuse for a human.
For a totally ad-hominem attack, this guy really isn’t playing with a full deck of cards. For example he has filed suit with his employer for back pay, AFTER he was charged and subsequently convicted of being a sex offender
[abovethelaw.com]
@mstevens: The poster may have been thinking of “mandatory reporter” laws.
@JennQPublic: however sexually mature your friend may have appeared from your POV as a thirteen-year-old, an adult has no business screwing a child. “Well she was a MATURE child!” Whatever.
i am torn about this case…we definitely dont have all the facts
if there was a warrant out for him then of course they should have given the police the date, but if there was only suspicion then they shouldn’t have given out the data,
i am always wary of big companies giving out clients data, it shouldn’t matter how screwed up the client is
@tenio: He was INDICTED. That means a criminal charge was approved by a grand jury. Thats far beyond the level of suspicion.
Harness racing?
Bondage too?
Um, it says he served 19 months. Was that only part of his sentence? There seems to be a lot of information missing from the post.
@tenio:
Once the arsewipe failed to appear, most likely at the arrainment, the presiding Judge would then have the authority to issue a bench warrant for his arrest.
([en.wikipedia.org])
With a valid warrant for his arrest, the police can request subpeonas to track his movements.
The TOS of Amex most likely says they will cooperate with court orders.
Boom, done. Charge something on your CC and you will get nailed.
@Corporate-Shill: I’d hate to live in the universe where your proposed age of consent metric was widely observed. I have the reasonably common genetic variation that results in *no* wisdom tooth development at all.
“We’re not lawyers, but we’re pretty sure convicted felons lose their right to moral indignation or the right to vote or something.”
Only the right to vote in state elections.
“She don’t got her wisdom teeth she ain’t old enough to going bumping in the night. Period.”
My stepmom never had wisdom teeth – does that mean she’s still illegal?
Sexual abuse of a minor.
‘Nuff said.
Of course we’re all curious about the legal parts of his sexual deeds, but I’m curious what case law has to say about this. It’s not uncommon for telcos to reveal this kind of information freely; what about CCcos? It can’t be that uncommon… I’m not going to weigh on my opinion about companies yet until I look at some case law, though, to see planted arguments.
Actually, I don’t see why American Express would hand over that information unless they were told to do so, how else would they know he was on the run?
Ok, the guy is a felon, and he left the country inappropriately (whether or not it was intentional). But what the story doesn’t make clear is whether AmEx was responding to a legally obtained warrant or not. If he was a tax evader, would they have done the same thing? What about if he was dodging his Military obligations? What if he had been practicing medicine without a license, or behind on his alimony/child support. Would those crimes be acceptable reasons to disclose his whereabouts?
Given that he’d already been investigated and prosecuted, the content of his actual crime should not be relevant to whether or not his rights were violated. Unfortunately, in America at least, crying “pedophile” means that rationality tends to go out the window (consider this case for example, where a substitute teacher was in danger of being sent to prison for 40 years after the classroom’s computer became overwhelmed with porn popups.)
Were this guy’s right’s violated? Because if they were, that’s an entirely separate issue from whether he deserved to have them violated. I don’t know anything about AmEx’s customer agreement. Maybe it’s standard practice. The extent of all my legal knowledge comes from Law and Order, but usually they have to have a warrant before they get the goods. Is that what happened here?
Because, if a warrant isn’t needed, I surely don’t want anyone tracking my movements and purchases just by telling the cops I’m a suspected pedophile. I know saying the word “terrorist” gets around a lot of privacy laws these days, whether or not there is a legitimate security concern. And it sucks to thing that “pedophile” could be added to that list.
Disclaimer: before you rush out to reply and scream at me for supporting pedophiles, I don’t. In fact, I actually teach in a school for children who have been victims of trauma, including for many of them, sexual abuse. So I am both very sympathetic to, and aware of, the problem in all it’s ugliness.
Wow, what is it about these threads that always get people arguing “you said something good about a pedophile so you must be one!!!”?
To help defend a few of the guys above (who are not defending this guy’s actions, btw, nor am I) a few things bear stating/repeating:
1. This guys is not a pedophile. Pedophilia is defined as sexual attraction to *pre-pubescent* children. Unless they have something medically wrong with them, a 13 and 15 year old have entered puberty. There *is* a medical term for people who are sexually attracted to young children who have entered/passed puberty and that’s ephebophilia. I assume the latter term isn’t used in many of these articles because it’s not as inflammatory as “pedophile” (and it’s harder for morons to pronounce/spell).
2. While what he did was sick, it’s only barely illegal, depending on where you go. OK, the 13 year old was beyond the pale no matter who you are but the 15 year old? In many states, she might only have been a few months or days away from the legal age of consent. Put it this way – if the girl had been 17, would you all be so angry and screaming pedophile? Yes, either way the age gap is way too wide and she was clearly manipulated but depending on where she was living, she may only have been a few days away from that invisible line that makes it “legal”. Hardly the same as the real pedophiles who rape babies and toddlers, is it?
3. What’s especially sad here is all the righteous indignation about this “monster”, but all the anti-pedo flamers here seem to be missing out on the actions of the mother. What’s really worse – the guy who pays for sex with young girls, or the mother who sells her daughters for sex? I’d say the latter is far worse, but there’s not the inflammatory “pedo!” to shout about her actions so she gets ignored.
Again, neither I nor others here are actually defending this guy’s actions and he should rightfully be prosecuted. It’s just a shame that the real issues in this story (the mother’s actions, whether American Express were right to violate customer privacy in order to act as a police informant) are ignored because the headline contains the word “pedophile”, of which so many people don’t even know the correct definition.
First, there was no mention that AmEx was on the receiving end of a search warrant for any information on this guy. If an open warrant was on him, and the police got wind that he had an AmEx card, they’ll definitely ask AmEx for his financials… or convince a judge to issue the search warrant and force AmEx to disclose it.
AmEx I believe allows for such a disclosure under those circumstances. Read your Terms of Service, folk! I won’t be surprised if VISA, Mastercard, and Discover do the same.
BTW, if you’re doing something illegal, DON’T LEAVE TRACKS BEHIND! Geesh, what is with criminals these days…
Back in the pre-BC days, kids had sex, she got preggers, there was a wedding. Age of consent was a fiction that kept the babydaddy out of jail.
Oh yes, many young girls look fairly adult at 15. Only a pervert would pretend them to be adult.
As a former government enforcement officer, I’ll point out that I could pretty much look at everything.
@DHT: This is why I’m in favor of NAMBLA. I think ALL felons should join clubs announcing their intent to commit felonies. It makes it so much easier to find them.
@Human947: Unless you ask, oh I don’t know, the free world. Lets see what the United Nations defines as a child;
“Every human being below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.”
I understand your little theory, but there’s no justifying a 13 and a 15 year old. If this were some 16 year old kid, I’d cut him some slack but this is a 44 YEAR OLD MAN who BARGAINED with a mother to SLEEP WITH A 13 AND 15 YEAR OLD. That’s not just pedophilia, it shows that he seeks this out rather than acting on impulse. Absolutely no reason why he shouldn’t be getting traded around in a minimum security prison right now like a pack of smokes.
Ok People, lets keep this straight here!
It isn’t about what this guy did!
It is clear, and stay focused if YOU can!
THis is about giving up information and privacy issues without permission or for any other reason someone believes they can use anything they want , whether bank or identity whatever the reason may be is not important , it should only and i said ONLY be Released by the Owner of the information and not the USER at their own discreation or whim,,,
what happened if this guy is falsely accused or exonnerated from the charges , and the police were lying to find out his whereabouts, based upon an vindictive person, making up something to get him to lose his life and career, theri are some whacked out women out there like some fatal attraction and men haters or psycho’s out there and they are not always men that are the predators in every case or circumstance this woman may have a background of doing this in prior relationships,,,, problem is nobody cares to look into this or properly investigate surrounding circumstances without prejudice or being biased, due to the nature of the allegations or charges…
bottom line is …
the privacy laws cannot be abridged becasue they are guarantees by the US Constitution or Magna charta…
so lets not be hasty, or a witch hunt or trigger happy vigilante, and balance our skeotisims and misgivens…
@thrashanddestroy: “I understand your little theory, but there’s no justifying a 13 and a 15 year old.”
Nobody is justifying this guy’s rape of a 13 year old and a 15 year old. He is a rapist and a sexual molester and if he was on fire I wouldn’t cross the street to piss on him. But he isn’t a pedophile. As has been explained several times above, a pedophile is not attracted to teenagers who are legally protected as children; he is attracted to people who are prepubescent.
We have laws to protect children from people who would exploit them sexually during that period when their bodies run ahead of their mental and emotional maturity… but that has nothing to do with the appalling crime of pedophilia. Otherwise you’re going to have to label every high school senior who has ever looked at a high school fresher and said “she’s hot!” as a pedophile.
The problem with these cases is that they place precedent to erode our rights and/or liberties. The courts always find against the child injuring creep but in doing so that places case law in the books expanding government powers.
I looked at my AmEx terms and conditions and nowhere did I find a statement regarding “Your privacy will be protected should you decide to play ‘Hide The Pickle’ with minors.”
@varro: Nicely put.
Of course, “pedophile” rolls off the tongue more easily, and is more inflammatory, so that’s the term people prefer to use, accuracy be damned.
@theczardictates: there is a difference between close-in-age teenagers finding one another attractive, and middle-aged men having a preference for very young teenagers. I get that a lot of people find the term “pedophilia” upsetting because there’s some tacit acceptance of the latter (especially in geekdom; mustn’t hate on middle-aged nerds for drooling over barely-pubescent 2D anime chicks!) but c’mon. This isn’t a case of a 17-year-old getting busted for having a 15-year-old girlfriend. Nor is it a case of a twentysomething guy who thought his “college freshman” girlfriend’s ID putting her at 18 was accurate
@aphexbr: Nobody is “missing out on the actions of the mother”. There’s just no debate over whether or not her actions were justified or whether AmEx was picking on her. She’s evil and should be taken out and shot; did you expect people to DEBATE that?
@Corporate-Shill: Oh please.
I’m 28 and don’t have my wisdom teeth yet, I guess I’d better stop f**king my husband.
@danep: It wasn’t being interested in them that he was convicted of, it was buying them from their mother so he could fuck them.
There’s a whole list of wrongs in the latter there.
It’s easy to disguise infringements on our civil liberties and privacy by first using criminals. As much as I abhor pedophiles, and terrorists, etc., I abhor the loss of the rights of law-abiding citizens even more.
What’s the quote? Something like those who value security over freedom deserve neither.
As long as the public can be goaded into knee-jerk reactions where emotions override rational thought and long-term self-interests, police-state oppression — the wolf at the door — will inevitably be allowed in.
Grow up people. Yeah, there are bad people out there. But there are also bad people who want to control and monitor everything we do. There’s a price to pay for everything, as repulsive as it may be.
Well, I’m going to throw in an element that gives hebephilia a more artistic cant: the photographs of well-published artist, David Hamilton.
His several books of photgraphs are a sensitive record of the transformation from girl to almost-woman. His is an amazingly straightforward and (for the viewer, erotic for most) presentation of girls becoming women.
[ I see already a stir of response/rebuttal: Go ahead kids; I'm taking a 'tini-break;
Later
p
I’ll skip the debate over consent and all that hoorah. The crux of the guy’s lawsuit is whether or not Amex turned over information without a warrant. If they did, then his case, despite the fact that it was made by such a reprehensible character, may have some merit.
Cheers!
I need to play the devil’s advocate here.
Everyone is so outraged that this guy has the gall to do something actually legitimate — If American Express broke their agreement, then he does have the right to sue (but for $4 million? I don’t know about that). Maybe what he did is deplorable (However, it is generally not considered sociopathic to be attracted to postpubescent teenagers under 18 — in fact, anything on sexuality that I’ve read has classified it as normal. After all, youthfulness is generally an attractive trait.) But, even if what he did WAS terrible, and if they were much younger, that’s irrelevant. The fact that people (commenters and author included) are so quick to call names, point fingers, and be angry that this guy doesn’t cower with his tail between his legs is sickening. If we Americans are so quick to say that other people shouldn’t have their privacy honored, then we are in no position to complain as the government tramples over our rights as well.
People are on a witch hunt against people who commit sexual crimes, regardless of how just it is. What happens when we decide it’s okay to deny people the right to privacy for other crimes? How many of you are angry at what ISPs are doing to their customers that download music illegally?
Is “bribe” really the right word here? I mean, let’s face it, this woman was pimping out her underage daughters, was she not?
@Kirk Douglas: Age of consent in Canada is 14.
@aphexbr: The age of consent in Japan is 13.
[www.avert.org]
PRICELESS?
@TechnoDestructo: I guess Cher is creepy, too. Now that I think about it, I see your point.
You are indicted on a crime, appear to be on the run, and AmEx for some reason “gives up” his privacy? Probably something to do that that subpoena thing, don’t cha’ think?
i would guess the cc company gave the police the information on moral grounds – the safety and wellbeing of children trumps privacy in my books
@Kirk Douglas:
yea he’s a creep, but the catch all term of pedophile is probably over used these days. it gets really wrong when they are attracted to prepubescent children.
@Garbanzo:
The whole wisdom teeth statement was derived from an old Southern Joke.
DeWayne speaking to his friend Bubba about taking a young girl to be his bride.
“Damn, Bubba, she ain’t got all her teeth yet”.
@Corporate-Shill:
Not saying it is right or wrong. Just trying to interject a little humor into an ugly situation.
BTW, my Great Great Grand Mother was 14 when she was married off to my Great Great Grand Father. He was 46. It was 1847 in rural farmin country of Wisconsin and my Great Great Grand Mother was his 3rd wife. His first wife had died in childbirth. The other wife and a child died from an unknown disease when the child was less than 1 year old.
There was a time and a place when older men took younger wives.
I am in NO WAY defending this man’s actions. People are sick, yes, and this is definitely Sick.
BUT…what happens when the line of ‘sick’ gets pushed more towards normal, and it’s YOUR privacy that is invaded?
It is difficult to judge what happened here (regarding the disclosure of info by Amex) without knowing all of the facts.
And @humbop: Some guy named Benjamin Franklin…
“”Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither.”
If the cops had a warrant for the credit card information, AmEx was correct to turn it over; if they did not have a warrant, AmEx was wrong and $4 million is a reasonable penalty.
Pedo debates are funny to me because I am certain beyond a doubt I could find a picture of a 15 year old and a picture of a 20 year old people would say they were the same age. Also, every straight male would say they’d have sex with both of them. And, nothing about their age would come into play until AFTER they were told what the ages were.
I guess my point is that these debates about age etc are funny because everyone would react the same way and have the same thoughts, desires, etc until after they knew the ages. To me this indicates that pedophilia is to some a term that simply describes, “the willingness to have sex with someone where that willingness is against cultural normalities”, rather then “having sex with someone under X years of age”.
in Canada the age of consent was 14.( The Tackling Violent Crime Act took effect on 1 May 2008, making the current age of consent 16.)That is why he went to Canada in the first place. So, legally…having sex with the 15yr old was ok. Pathetic and sick, but legally ok. The 13yr old is another story . The mother on the other hand…pimping her kids out should be shot
Am I the only one who thinks you should have absolutely no expectation of privacy as to your physical location should the police issue a warrant for your arrest? I mean, what’s the whole point of a warrant otherwise? What do you expect the police to do, go around playing Marco Polo?
In any case, this guy doesn’t deserve squat unless Amex specifically agreed not to share this information without a warrant and they did so. And even if they did breach their contract with him, the private information disclosed isn’t really that “bad” per se. We’re not talking medical records or telephone conversations. We’re simply talking about financial transaction data. In my opinion any damages need to be in relation to the sensitivity of the data disclosed and the effects it had. Arguing “it caused me to be arrested for a legal warrant for my arrest” isn’t really an effect I’d say deserves much of anything. A financial data compared to say email or telephone conversation recording should be much less as well. $4 million is way too much. Maybe $10,000 or so I’d say.