Talk:Tulsa media erroneously reports San Diego Comic Con Pedobear was 'registered sex offender'

Original Sources
In compiling this story, I spoke on the phone with Abbie Alford, reporter for FOX News 23 in Tulsa, OK, who broke the story about the registered sex offender.

Original phone call was placed on 14-SEP-2010, to 918.369.6397 During the conversation, Ms. Alford stated that the information about the "registered sex offender" came from the Tulsa Police Dept. Sgt. John Adams, 918.596.9920

I called Sgt. Adams number and left a phone message. I also called the individual at the Sand Diego Police Dept. who handled the original Pedobear case, but he has yet to return my calls.

From: Kevyn Jacobs  Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2010 6:39 PM To: Alford, Abigail  Subject: Pedobear story Hi Ms. Alford, We spoke on the phone earlier about the Pedobear story. So far, I haven't been able to independently confirm that the individual removed from the San Diego Comic Con was a registered sex offender, but I'm still digging. I've placed calls to Sgt. John Adams, as well as officer Jim W. Jones of the San Diego Police Dept., which handled the case in San  Diego. I'll let you know what I find out. Just in case you haven't seen it, here's the original Gawker.com story from earlier this week, which broke the news that law enforcement was warning parents about Pedobear: http://gawker.com/5636011/stupid-california-police-warn-parents-of-pedobear-the-pedophile-mascot The story has since been picked up internationally, subjecting the police to a great deal of ridicule. Regards, Kevyn Jacobs Independent blogger and journalist Bellingham, WA Tel. 360.450.2930

From: "Alford, Abigail"  To: Kevyn Jacobs  Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2010 18:53:12 -0500 Subject: RE: Pedobear story Mr. Jacobs, Thank you for contacting me about this story. It is after hours (central time) so hopefully you will hear back from Sgt. Adams. If you do hear back from San Diego Police that would be very helpful as well. As you can imagine whether this is a joke, many parents wouldn't find making  fun of child predators funny. This is a very interesting story and I appreciate your interest. Thank you Kevin, Abbie Abbie Alford KOKI Fox 23 News Tulsa, Ok aalford@fox23.com Desk (918) 388-5260 Fax (918) 388-0516 Sent from my Treo™ smartphone

This morning (15-SEP-2010), Sgt. John Adams from the Tulsa Police Department called me, and admitted that he was the source of the erroneous information about the man in the Pedobear suit being a "registered sex offender." "I did say it." He stated they were talking about two separate cases, and mistakenly told her the wrong individual was a registered sex offender. "It was bad information on my part, a miscommunication."

From: Kevyn Jacobs [mailto:kevyn@kevyn.com] Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2010 1:13 PM To: Alford, Abigail Subject: Re: Pedobear story Hi Ms. Alford, I just got a call from Sgt. Adams, and he said that the information about the Pedobear at San Diego Comic Con being a registered sex offender was bad info, and his fault, that he miscommunicated it to you. So, that explains things, and your reporting is clearly not at fault. Will Fox 23 issue a retraction for that part of the story? Thanks again for your cooperation in getting to the bottom of this matter. Regards, Kevyn Jacobs

From: "Alford, Abigail"  To: Kevyn Jacobs  Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2010 14:19:05 -0500 Subject: RE: Pedobear story Kevyn, thank your for checking with me. I have checked with Tulsa police again and they are retracting the registered sex offender statements. We are runnning a retraction. Thank you again for keeping me posted Kevyn, Abbie Abbie Alford Reporter FOX23 News-KOKI 2625 S. Memorial Dr. Tulsa, OK 74129 Desk: (918) 388-5260 Cell: (918) 408-1414 Fax: (918) 388-0516 aalford@fox23.com www.fox23.com This e-mail (including any attachments) may contain material that is confid= ential and for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any review, relian= ce or distribution by others or forwarding without express permission is st= rictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact t= he sender and delete all copies.

As of this writing, I have not had my calls to Detective Jim W. Jones at the San Diego Police Dept. (Tel. 858.268.5409) returned. However, since the Tulsa PD was the only known source of the bad info, and had retracted it, I felt it was appropriate to move ahead with the story.

Kevyn (talk) 02:03, 16 September 2010 (UTC)

Screenshot of FOX23.com allegation
A screenshot of the Fox23.com story, showing the allegation, can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevynjacobs/5005328540/. Fox23.com has since altered the story to remove the allegation, but this is how it appeared before the retraction. Kevyn (talk) 18:21, 19 September 2010 (UTC)

Suggested images
I have posted 2 images with this story in its original incarnation on my blog: http://kevynjacobs.livejournal.com/370566.html

The Pedobear image itself has no known origin or copyright, and probably can be used without problem: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4124/4993399071_989e884a36_m.jpg

The image of the man in the Pedobear costme handing out "Free Candy" at San Diego Comic Con: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4090/4993399035_790e867bd3_m.jpg was released by the Tulsa Police Department as part of the Public Information Bulletin: An Introduction to "Pedo Bear," and has unknown photographer and original source info. However, since police are handing this image out, wouldn't this be appropriate to be used in a press story? Kevyn (talk) 02:31, 16 September 2010 (UTC)


 * I uploaded the last one as [[File:Cos-bear-san-diego-police-department.jpg]] . Hope that helps. --InfantGorilla (talk) 14:40, 16 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Thank you! How can I upload the other one? I think it's important to illustrate the story, but since it's a non-free fair use image, I can't upload it to Commons. Kevyn (talk) 17:51, 16 September 2010 (UTC)


 * Is there a style or policy I am not aware of, that only one image should be used in a story? I believe both images are germane to this particular story. Kevyn (talk) 20:31, 16 September 2010 (UTC)


 * One is up for deletion as an apparant copyvio. I've not looked into if it is or not, but I'm not prepared to publish this with it included unless and until that's resolved. If nobody else does, I hope to review this fairly soon.  Blood Red Sandman  (Talk)   (Contribs) 20:33, 16 September 2010 (UTC)