It’s been 2 months since #Oprollredroll was engaged in the small town of Steubenville, Ohio by Anonymous.
Operation creators, @Kyanonymous and @justBatcat are long gone. Bat Cat has been revealed to be a state department employee named Noah Mchugh, a department of defense employee with no love for anonymous or activists in general. Kyanonymous has vanished into thin air.
The trial set for the 2 alleged members of the Steubenville Big Red Rape crew is set to begin on March 13th. Trent Mays and Malik Richmond are accused of raping 16 year old victim known only as Jane Doe. Countless pictures and videos of the fateful night back in August circulated on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube of a unconscious Jane Doe being held by her arms and legs by the accused. A third party, Michael Nodianos, made sveral tweets mocking the victim and acknowledging the alleged rape in a now viral video.(Nodianos will not be charged and according to investigators, was not at the scene of the alleged rape) Only Mays and Richmond have been charged despite multiple witness testimony from others attending the Steubenville August parties in which alcohol was provided by adults, and one party even having a Steubenville Coach named Matt Bellardine present. Bellardine eventually kicked everyone out of his house forcing the drunk teens to drink and drive to other locations.
The Ohio attorney general’s office has made it clear no additional people will be charged in this case.
So has #oprollredroll accomplished their goals in the past 2 months?
- Garner international media and citizen attention- This goal has been accomplished through a twitter campaign as well, as the initial hacking of the school booster site. (after the fact, @justbatcat claimed he didn’t hack it, just guessed the site’s security questions and password.) Media has since moved on to other stories aside from initially covering the first few rallies, but most likely will return to Steubenville for the March trials.
The rallies in December, January and February brought out thousands of concerned Steubenville residents as well as concerned citizens throughout the country.
2. Have the alleged other guilty members of the “Rape Crew” come forward, and be charged- In the initial hack of the roll red roll website, anonymous threatened to release the personal information of all those in attendance at the parties, and those who sent out tweets mocking the victim, or claiming to have been at the parties. @kyanonymous later recanted on the promise to release to social security numbers, and personal information after allegedly speaking with Jane Doe through one of her friends. No other teens or adults are being charged in this case due to the Ohio BCI’s inability to retrieve alleged deleted pictures and videos from seized phones of other teens who either were at the parties, or witnessed the alleged rape.
3. Have the residents of Steubenville take over the operation- This was a huge success as countless local Steubenville businesses, support the operation send freee coffee, and food to the rallies while locals continue to organize rallies and rape culture awareness in the Steubenville area now that the original anons who started the ball rolling have disappeared.
On the other side of the coin, some Steubenville residents have been having their own counter protests against anonymous and the activists feeling that their town, and high school football program is under attack and in jeopardy by this high profile case. Stand Up Steubenville is what these residents call themselves. In the one town rally I attended, it appeared to me to be more about bashing anonymous, and rallying for the football team than it was about defending the honor of the town. Some residents have gone so far as to allegedly impersonate anonymous by phoning in threats to local schools, create false anon accounts on social media and harassing #oprollredroll supporters on twitter. During covering this case I have received 1 death threat, been harassed in local Steubenville bars, and had my cameras blocked at a Stand up Steubenville rally. There are alot of good people in the town of Steubenville, some who have been bullied online by social media accounts claiming to be anonymous, or Jane Doe Supporters.
It should also be noted alot of inaccuracies in this case have been reported from a site called local leaks. A website set up where residents could allegedly send in their tips. The website often used by media to report facts, but no media retractions have been made for reporting false facts.
An interesting development through out this anonymous operation and the Justice for Jane Doe campaign has been activism being introduced into the Ohio Valley, and new activists taking up multiple causes in the region unrelated to this case.
Rallies are planned in Steubenville during all 3 trial dates for Mays and Richmond on March 13th, 14th, and 15th. The trial will be open to the public and the media. Jane Doe will have to testify about the events in question, and it’s apparent the defense attorneys will bring up personal and life choices of the alleged victim in this trial.
No matter the outcome of the trial, Steubenville will never be the same again.
Anonymous is also moving toward getting involved a case in Weirton, Wv in which a 19 year old man allegedly raped a 2 year old and transferred a STD to the infant. A rally in Weirton is planned for March 2nd.
