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>------------------------------------ >The Sickest Urban Legend of them All >------------------------------------ > >I have yet another "forward an email to all of your friends and >something great will happen" hoax to debunk. Before we get to that, >though, let's do a quick review of US child protection laws. > >True or false: if you live in the United States and your child is >missing, you have to wait at least twenty-four to forty-eight hours >before you can file a missing persons report with your local police >department. > >FALSE! Despite what you have heard from Hollywood, The National Child >Search Assistance Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-647, Title XXXVII) makes >it illegal for State law enforcement agencies to require a waiting >period before accepting a missing child or unidentified person report. >The 1990 Act also reconfirms The Missing Children Act of 1982 (28 USC >Sec. 534), requiring Federal, State, and local law enforcement >agencies to report each case of a missing child under the age of 18 to >the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) of the Department of >Justice. [The NCIC is a computer database under the authority of the >FBI, and it enables law enforcement agencies across the country to >gain access to descriptive information about a particular missing >person or fugitive.]. Finally, the National Child Search Assistance >Act of 1990 requires law enforcement agencies to maintain close >contact with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children >for the exchange of information and technical assistance in any >missing child case. > >With that said, let's get to today's hoax: > > I am asking you all, begging you to please forward this email on > to anyone and everyone. As most all of you know, I have a 5 year > old daughter named Kelsey Brooke Jones. We are from Southern > Minnesota. She has been missing since 4 pm Oct. 11, 1999. The > police were notified shortly after. If anyone anywhere knows > anything, sees anything, pleeeeaaaase contact me if you have my > number. The police don't recommend I put my number online, but > you can contact the Police, a missing persons report has been > filed. I am including a picture of her. > > All prayers are appreciated!! > >I am happy to announce that this is yet another Internet hoax. Kelsey >Brooke Jones, if she even exists, is *NOT* missing. Here's how I >know: > > 1. There is no NCIC report on Kelsey Brooke Jones. As you saw > earlier, if Kelsey really *is* missing -- and if the mythical > "Southern Minnesota" police department really *did* file a > missing persons report -- federal law requires that there be > an NCIC report on Kelsey's disappearance. No such report > exists. > > 2. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children > [ http://www.missingkids.org/ ] has no report on Kelsey Brooke > Jones or, for that matter, any other child from "Southern > Minnesota" who went missing on October 11. > > 3. The FBI office in Minneapolis, the largest metropolitan city > in "Southern Minnesota," has no information on Kelsey Brooke > Jones. In fact, according to an agent I spoke to, the FBI > thinks the Kelsey Brooke Jones story "is probably a hoax." > >Wait, it gets better. The original sender is now reporting via email >that Kelsey was recently returned by the police after being "taken >from the public library yesterday while her preschool class was >visiting it." Kelsey's abductor was a "mentally handicapped [man who >was] living on his own." This too is a lie -- if it were true, you >would have read about it in every newspaper in the world. > >In short, some bozo thought it would be funny to create a false story >about a missing child in "Southern Minnesota." When confronted with >the fact that there are no records that the child even exists, let >alone is missing, this bozo decided to create a false, happy ending to >the Kelsey Brooke Jones story, deceitfully blaming Kelsey's fictitious >abduction on an unidentified, "mentally handicapped" man. > >I can't think of a sicker urban legend. > >The moral of today's story? YOU CAN'T GET SOMETHING FOR NOTHING, and >you certainly can't get something for simply forwarding an email to >all of your friends -- even the return of a missing child. >=====================[ Tourbus Rider Information ]=================== > The Internet Tourbus - U.S. Library of Congress ISSN #1094-2238 > Copyright 1995-99, Rankin & Crispen - All rights reserved > Archives on the Web at http://www.TOURBUS.com janet paterson 52 now / 41 dx / 37 onset 613 256 8340 po box 171 almonte ontario canada K0A 1A0 a new voice: <http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Village/6263/> <[log in to unmask]>