Man accused of using phone relay for deaf to make obscene call

Miss-Delectable

Miss-Delectable

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Man accused of using phone relay for deaf to make obscene call

A Jacksboro man has been charged with harassment after he allegedly made an obscene phone call to a 10-year-old girl.

The Campbell County Sheriff's Office says Johnny Ledford, 19, used a phone system for the deaf to relay his vulgar message.

Investigators say the crime happened at 5 a.m. on Wednesday.

In one of the milder portions of the voice message left on the girl's personal phone line, the voice of the operator is heard saying, "This is your daddy speaking. I have gone deaf and dumb because I hate you a lot, son."

Another portion talked about having sex in a vulgar manner, and that's what shocked the girl's parents.

Sheriff's deputies say the obscene message was sent by Ledford by way of a text telephone device called a TDD/TTY. It is normally used by the deaf to send messages, which are relayed by a hearing operator.

The girl's parents, who we are only identifying by their first names, are angry the call got through.

"He needs to be put in jail. I know what I'd do but that's beside the point," said Kevin, the girl's father.

The mother, Tammy, added, "I think the relay center should not be allowed to do this. I was fortunate my child did not hear this but what if some other child did?"

The operator was legally bound to relay the vulgar message to the girl's phone.

Bob Rittenhouse, the executive director of the Knoxville Center Of The Deaf, told 6 News, "The FCC regulations identify her sort of as an inanimate member of this system of communication so she has to voice what she heard, by regulation."

Ledford is charged with a misdemeanor count of harassment by phone. He was released Friday after posting bond.

An arrest report states that Ledford admitted to making the call.
 
Good grief. What's the use in singling out one obsene phone call? This kind of bullshit makes up at least 10 percent of all IP Relay calls. Until the Deaf Community stops being stubborn and pushes the FCC to take action, this kind of bullshit will continue, and it seems as if no one cares. "It doesn't effect me, so why should I care?" Just wait until the government is tired of paying that $1.28 per minute for a service that is being abused more than it is being put to real use.

Fuck IP Relay. Use VRS.
 
guido said:
Just wait until the government is tired of paying that $1.28 per minute for a service that is being abused more than it is being put to real use.
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More like just wait until the government actually puts in security measures and starts tracking down IP addresses of the offenders and banning them from the relay site, reporting them to their service provider or other such sanctions.

Shutting down the service is stupid and totally unnecessary when some simple security measures would eliminate 80% of the crap going on.

Personally I don't use VRS out of protest due to the fact that they are stealing away quality interpreters from colleges and other schools with their higher pay.

I can't blame them for wanting to take the higher pay for themselves and their family, but I lost my favorite interpreters to that crap. OK maybe it's not crap but I'm still upset that I lost them.
 
zeroality said:
Personally I don't use VRS out of protest due to the fact that they are stealing away quality interpreters from colleges and other schools with their higher pay.

I can't blame them for wanting to take the higher pay for themselves and their family, but I lost my favorite interpreters to that crap. OK maybe it's not crap but I'm still upset that I lost them.
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There are terps at my school that are both vrs and uni terps.

The companies are not stealing the terps. Perhaps the school can't or won't match the vrs companies on terp pay, so the terps, themselves, choose to take the same job with more pay, as you pointed out. Nobdy is to blame but the system.
 
Yeah, I was using 'stealing away' as an expression, not literally.

I actually prefer text relay as opposed to visual. I can type and read much faster in written English as opposed to sign language and am much more comfortable with it.

I did grow up using sign language and went to a deaf school for 4 years (5 if you count 1 at Gallaudet) but I am just much more comfortable with the written language.

I would be pissed off if they cut text relay off due to factors that are easily controllable with just a few security precautions.
 
TTY reply is not only have problem with sex offenders, harassers and other. Also, it have problem with scammers target most deaf community for money.

If you tell tty reply what number of your credit card, You do not see who in reply whethery real scammers or not.

Here are informations:

Current News- Local company avoids scam, warns other businesses

The Nigerian TTY scam – Le «blog personnel» de Joe Clark

Welcome to the Better Business Bureau

And here is example:

TTY Scam 07-26-04
 
guido said:
Good grief. What's the use in singling out one obsene phone call? This kind of bullshit makes up at least 10 percent of all IP Relay calls. Until the Deaf Community stops being stubborn and pushes the FCC to take action, this kind of bullshit will continue, and it seems as if no one cares. "It doesn't effect me, so why should I care?" Just wait until the government is tired of paying that $1.28 per minute for a service that is being abused more than it is being put to real use.

Fuck IP Relay. Use VRS.
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How is this really any different than the guy picking up the phone himself and using his voice? The only difference is that he thinks he could get away with it by using someone else's voice - but they're still his words and words he would say, and that's the part that identifies him.
 
Dennis said:
How is this really any different than the guy picking up the phone himself and using his voice? The only difference is that he thinks he could get away with it by using someone else's voice - but they're still his words and words he would say, and that's the part that identifies him.
Click to expand...

The difference is he is abusing a service that is not meant for him, and its coming out of our tax dollars. Relay companies are making millions off this bullshit.
 
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