IANAL, but that sounds like a threat of extortion to me.
It very much does.
Wow, when I read the very wordy letter he wrote a while back about his relationship with DDS I just thought it was written by someone who might be a bit out there. I may need to re-evaluate my original thoughts.
Stay safe.
ETA: It just occurred to me how ironic it is that he posted/wrote some less than flattering things about DDS, insinuating that he thought she should be looked into further concerning Kyron's disappearance. And sent his opinions to the press to make sure everyone saw it. What is that old saying? Something about a goose and gander....
I gave a friend a synopsis of this case and the issue with Mr. Wishert. Her immediate response was, "Did he take the kid?" I don't for a moment believe that's the case but the instability that is apparent from the letter to Tricia combined with the bizarre letter to MSM about DeDe makes me understand this response.
Wow! so sorry Tricia
please be safe. The tone of the letter is very disturbing.
I must had miss the posts here but read plenty else where that I by pass.
He had no information that would help find Kyron. I never did understand why he put his self out there.
This is what I found on him sorry if post already.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_is_wishert
Wishert may refer to the last name of Jason Wishert of Multnomah County, Oregon. Mr. Wishert is a 6 time Oregon Supreme Court appointee, elected to the OJD State Advisory Council in July 2006 at age 37, and a writer with several articles published in The Hillsboro Argus in 2008. His biography states he is pursuing a criminal justice degree at Washington State University. He is founder and owner of Embassy Enterprises, an Oregon based fencing company.
Mr. Wishert is a child advocate, serving on a board that provides Judicial oversight to children placed in State custody. He is a supporter of several non-profit child outreach organizations including CCF out of Richmond and Friends of Pimpollo out of Salem Oregon. His personal motto is "Trust God Everyday, and Never Give Up".
That only the part that gave me a hinky pause. Being that we talking about a missing little boy.
Okay, this is very odd. Did this guy post this about himself? An OR Supreme Court appointee? Is he saying he was a commissioner for the court? What?
I'm very glad Tricia has taken steps to protect herself. Tricia, clearly he has no case. The basics of libel law prove that. He is definitely a public figure, for one, which means, for those who would like to know, that in order to win damages, one must show actual malice existed in the publishing of FALSE information. Actual malice means the person publishing knew the statement was false or acted with reckless disregard to its veracity. It makes it a bit harder to win a libel case, then, when a person suing is a public figure and that would be anyone who inserts themselves publicly into a high profile case such as this. It would also apply to people who do not willingly insert themselves into public issues but are there anyhow, like the miners in Chile, for example.
In any event, even if Mr. Wishert was not a public figure, he would have a real hard time proving any case due to posts on websleuths. He could not do it because the TOS are strict here. No one made any allegations against him of any kind in past posts as I recall. There were just questions and concerns about the tone and content of his letter to the press. Saying, for example, "Wow. This guys seems a bit odd. Why is he so concerned with what DeDe ate or how clean she was?", that's not a false statement. It's a statement based on what was before us at the time.
Now we are making some assumptions about Mr. Wishert, based on the past letter to the MSM
coupled with his extortion attempt against Tricia. Those assumptions would not constitute libel either because he could not prove those assumptions are false or that we know them to be false. I think we have excellent grounds to be concerned at this point about the danger Mr. Wishert may pose to Tricia and her family as well as other website owners and their families and to come to some conclusions about the motivations of this man as a result.
I love this site. It's a joy to come here and have real discussions rather than having to sift through immature attacks on other posters or victims or against witnesses or suspects. It's wonderful not to have to read foul language rants every other post. Things happen here. Our input has helped to solve serious cases, because this is a serious website with devoted mods who work hard to make sure it stays a top notch site. That's why Mr. Wishert has no case and never will.
But Tricia does:
Extortion:
The obtaining of property from another induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right. http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/extortion
Tricia, thank you so much for having this excellent site, devoted to solving crimes and preventing others from occurring. We all appreciate it so very much. Take care of your family and yourself!