A spokesman for a Canadian-based instant messaging application says despite claims to the contrary, the company did provide the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office with the information it requested concerning the case of a 14-year-old Oxford girl who was allegedly blackmailed last year.
‘In this specific case, Kik did receive requests from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office and responded in a timely manner in full compliance with our policies and our law enforcement guide,? wrote Rod McLeod, spokesman for Kik, in an e-mail to the Leader. ‘We also followed up with the agency and have received information from them that our responses met their needs.?
McLeod was responding to comments made by Oakland County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Paul Walton in a June 24 article.
The story was about a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court against the sheriff’s office and the county. It was filed by a 21-year-old New York man named Johnny Aptkia Tlapanco, who claims his constitutional rights were violated when he was wrongfully arrested and incarcerated.
Tlapanco was accused of using Kik to blackmail the Oxford girl into sending him sexually-explicit images of herself in March 2014. He was arrested, charged with eight felonies and spent five weeks in jail before the charges were dropped and the case against him was dismissed in Rochester Hills 52-3 District Court in August 2014.
The prosecutor’s office dropped the charges because Walton said, ‘We just didn’t feel our proofs were sufficient at the time.?
Tlapanco’s attorney, the Southfield-based Solomon Radner, says his client is innocent and never had any contact with the Oxford girl, but the sheriff’s office maintains he’s still a suspect in the case.
In the June 24 story, Walton told the Leader the case ran into ‘an international snafu? when ‘the records that we needed? couldn’t be obtained from Kik.
‘They wouldn’t honor the request for information or the subpoena,? he explained. ‘At that point, we needed that information in order to pursue the prosecution.?
These comments were disputed by McLeod, who, based on a review of Kik’s records, said the company did comply.
Undersheriff Mike McCabe disagreed with McLeod’s claims.
‘Kik didn’t give us everything we wanted,? he said. ‘They cited a Canadian statute that prevented them from doing that. So, we did not get everything we needed from Kik.?
Detective Sgt. Joe Brian, who’s part of the sheriff’s Investigative and Forensic Services Division, backed up what McCabe said. ‘Kik would not confirm whether or not the two (account) usernames ‘Anonymous? and ‘AnonymousFL? were in fact the same person due to a reported change in the Canadian law,? Brian wrote in an e-mail.
Whoever allegedly blackmailed the Oxford girl through Kik did so anonymously.
In response to Brian’s comments, McLeod said, ‘In this case, Kik responded and provided the specific information requested by the Oakland County Sheriff’s (Office), pertaining to the display name and the username of the involved account.?
McLeod noted, ‘Kik works with various agencies on a daily basis and has a very comprehensive law enforcement guide that outlines how various law enforcement agencies can work with us. We have also partnered with global anti-child abuse organization Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT) and implemented Microsoft PhotoDNA Cloud Services, industry-leading technology that helps identify and eliminate abusive content.?