All-Star Sex Offender Arrested At Cheer Comp

[bellalexi]

I hate to be suspicious of everyone, but I was recently at a competition and a guy sat down in front of me, wearing a well-known gym's t-shirt, and was taking pictures of every team that was performing with his big ol' zoom lens. I guess I could understand videos if you were comparing teams in a division, but why in the world would anyone need still pictures of every single team? Do people do this and offer to sell them or something?

 

[Cheer Dad]

very true Mom2K about kids being more at risk on the beach than elsewhere, at least for observation purposes but think the danger of abduction would be the same regardless of wardrobe.

I remember taking a survey and it was solely discussing image as for how it portrayed the industry as a whole. If safety was ever discussed I don't recall.

 

[WorkToWin]

Literally nothing in this world disgusts me more than pedophiles. If anyone ever looks at my future kid in that way... yall can find me in jail.

 

[John Butler]

Here's a suggestion which might solve the problem, although it would create more expense for the competition companies so they most likely would not do it. If photography is allowed at the event (I know some competitions don't allow photography at all), and the competition companies were to issue a "parent photo pass" that you had to acquire prior to the event and display, they could quickly identify who is a parent taking pics of their kid and who may not be. It could be a badge you pin to your shirt or something. This way only parents would be allowed to take photos. Just a thought, although it's not the most practical of solutions.

 

[CricketCheerMom]

I thought the reason for the cover up rule was to portray a more positive, professional image?

Another thing to remember, though not as likely, is he could have been there for the boys just as much whom have typically been more covered up.

This has happened before on a lower scale and been downplayed. I was told that at a coaches conference it was discussed but they are never going to say the coverup rule is so you don't get raped at a cheer comeptition.

 

[Anna-grace]

Here's a suggestion which might solve the problem, although it would create more expense for the competition companies so they most likely would not do it. If photography is allowed at the event (I know some competitions don't allow photography at all), and the competition companies were to issue a "parent photo pass" that you had to acquire prior to the event and display, they could quickly identify who is a parent taking pics of their kid and who may not be. It could be a badge you pin to your shirt or something. This way only parents would be allowed to take photos. Just a thought, although it's not the most practical of solutions.

BCA in the UK tried permits, one per team and you were only allowed to use it in one zone that you could only gain access to with the permit when your gym was performing, I think that is the best idea

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[xomckenzieee]

As access to technology increases, so does the amount of creeps using it. It's sad the extremes that some people go to but unfortunately we can't live in a bubble for our entire lives. I commend the security guard for tracking this guy down and taking care of the situation but I don't believe kids need to be attached at your hip anytime they're in public. Parents now GPS their kids and do all this crazy stuff... and people wonder why some kids go off their rocker. If I went somewhere, my mom would ask the where are you/who are you with questions and I turned out just fine. She didn't need to track my whereabouts and she always was relieved just knowing where I was.

 

[Mom Jeans]

We had someone sitting in a hotel lobby exposing himself once and it was the moms that noticed and made sure no kids walked by him and after security took took too long a mom who is a cop went up to him and took care of the situation, then dealt with the hotel

I have a friend who has also run off pervs from a couple of comps who've been randomly taking pics of kids.

 

[VTX]

This is really scary one of the teams I coach performed right before this arrest happened and this is the first I'm hearing of it. That venue is really big, that was a good catch by that officer.

 

[EricaElite]

Last year was my first year on allstar, luckily we didn't have any incidents like this. Although, we had one or two mothers who took great photos of every team's performance. They had a facebook page, but it was set up as a person's page instead of a likeable page. So they were able to set everything on private and only accept friend requests from athletes or parents. It was great because not only did it prevent anyone and everyone from seeing the pictures, other parents knew they could just get photos from her, so if we ever saw someone else taking pictures, we knew it wasn't someone from our gym.

 

[scottish_cheerleader]

As far as I'm aware this works pretty well- I tried to find the password online when I couldn't contact my coach and couldn't, the only mention I found was on a forum where someone had posted it and an admin had removed the post within minutes.

that would be me i think its great we have the passwords but it doesnt work if they get posted all over the web!

 

[12stepCheermom]

As access to technology increases, so does the amount of creeps using it. It's sad the extremes that some people go to but unfortunately we can't live in a bubble for our entire lives. I commend the security guard for tracking this guy down and taking care of the situation but I don't believe kids need to be attached at your hip anytime they're in public. Parents now GPS their kids and do all this crazy stuff... and people wonder why some kids go off their rocker. If I went somewhere, my mom would ask the where are you/who are you with questions and I turned out just fine. She didn't need to track my whereabouts and she always was relieved just knowing where I was.

Oh. I'm gonna drop a bomb here and get flamed but here goes....

I agree!

This is also the reason why I don't Gestapo monitor everything my kid does online. We're on the same platforms (Facebook, twitter, Instagram) and friended to each other ... Yes, I know things can still be "hidden" from me... Shoot I do that to others that don't know I have them restricted...

.... But my kid has never given me a reason to invade everything he's doing and look at every post. IM etc. if he ever does, it will hit the fan and he knows that but I did the "read all his texts etc" when I first got him his phone and it was detrimental to our relationship. Even the DH got angry with me for "snooping" through everything he was doing (all of which was terribly boring).

Call me naive (and a bad parent and everything else you're getting ready to lob at me) but until my kid gives me a reason to strip every bit of privacy he has (and he knows ill do it if I'm given reason) I'm going to trust the way I've raised him and trust him to be the man we expect him to be.

I've studied (and worked with) young adolescents way too long to know what happens when they're not given some leeway to learn to be adults. Ill catch him when he falls. But he needs to be given the trust to make those mistakes on his own.

And at CHEERSPORT I'm going to let him hang with his best friend (who's coming with us) with the sane understanding we always have... You have an iPhone, you've got less than 5 minutes to answer my call/text. At 5:01 your life becomes very bleak.

Worked for the 12step family so far and (so far) I've got some amazing, and responsible, kids. Well keep this plan until that changes.

 

[cheertired]

and this is why the crop top rule has been established...

 

[NJ Coach]

And at CHEERSPORT I'm going to let him hang with his best friend (who's coming with us) with the sane understanding we always have... You have an iPhone, you've got less than 5 minutes to answer my call/text. At 5:01 your life becomes very bleak.

.

This made me laugh :D

 

[GreenStormLucy]

Here's a suggestion which might solve the problem, although it would create more expense for the competition companies so they most likely would not do it. If photography is allowed at the event (I know some competitions don't allow photography at all), and the competition companies were to issue a "parent photo pass" that you had to acquire prior to the event and display, they could quickly identify who is a parent taking pics of their kid and who may not be. It could be a badge you pin to your shirt or something. This way only parents would be allowed to take photos. Just a thought, although it's not the most practical of solutions.

At our regional and national competitions we have photo rules:

Every team/newspaper can fill out a form for a photographer, that will be allowed to take pictures with high quality cameras with zoom objectives (not sure if it's the right word).
They get a registration number and a button, but it's not for the person especially, but for the team, so it is possible to change the photographer for different events, but they will still know which gym he/she is from.

Everyone else is allowed to take fotos with their mobiles, ipads or small cameras without big (quality) zoom.
We don't have VIP areas where parents or fans can see the performance near to the stage, in front of the stage are only the coaches and the registered team photographer.

At the entrance, the security checks bags and everything and won't let you in if you have any photo equipment that is not allowed for fans and parents.

I'm sure some creepy people will still find a way, but it is a step in the right direction.

Video taping is not allowed and the security is trying to enforce this rule.
The coaches still videotape their own routine.