Some people are sick.
Really sick.
But Christopher Pierson, of London, England really takes the cake.
Pierson, a 40-year-old father of two (oh my, his poor children), was arrested and arraigned yesterday for sending spam to those known to be looking for lost loved ones, in the wake of last week’s tsunamis. The spam purported to be from the British government, and advised the recipients that their loved ones had in fact perished in the disaster.
Sick, sick, sick.
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Pierson apparently built the mailing list to which he sent the spam by harvesting email addresses from an Internet forum set up to allow friends and families of British people who had been travelling in the stricken area to post requests and share support.
What is amazing to Aunty is the speed with which they tracked Pierson down, arrested, and arraigned him. Barely a week from start to finish. U.S, authorities, take note! And, take notes!
As for Pierson, his defense has attributed his actions to, and Aunty quotes, “a moment of madness”.
Fortunately, insanity isn’t a valid defense to spamming.
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Christopher Pierson probably is sick, in the technical sense of the word.
Reports from his court appearance, at which he pleaded guilty, suggest that he suffered a double family bereavement in the days before Christmas, including his 12 year old son, and may have suffered a breakdown leading to mental illness.
Even the police who interviewed him after his arrest have spoken of his “extreme, visible distress”.
It is not impossible to feel compassion for the man, even while deploring the horrific impact of his actions.