Somerville man lied for sex. Film at 11.

[jspazzer.livejournal.com]

News from boston.com:

A man in the Boston area who has been passing himself off as a former NBA player and Sonics front-office employee told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer he is an impostor.

Ronnie Craven of Somerville, Mass., went by the name Jeff Turner. When contacted by the Seattle paper he says he misrepresented himself on an online dating site and lied to women for sex.

Original Somerville News story showing their high quality fact checking:  "A hometown guy has made it big...  In June Craven was hired as the Seattle Supersonics director of player development."
http://tinyurl.com/3hy8hm

Now the Somerville News is outraged at having been snookered.  Outraged, I tells ya!   "Who do you think you are?  Local man lied to many, including a newspaper"

http://tinyurl.com/3fe4q6

Comments

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

So, wait, they didn't make so much as a PHONE CALL? Jesus!

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

OMFG - this guy was the property manager for my apartment!!!!

[reverend-jim.livejournal.com]

Yeah, me too! I heard about this from someone else in my building last week, but it's still crazy to read about.

[ron_newman]

Read all about it here and here. Real headline should be "Somerville newspaper duped after not checking sources."

The paper's publisher did not appreciate an invidious comparison that I made in the comment log.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

He's a big Pats fan, I'm gathering.

Jeez, suck it up, guys. You didn't do your job and it bit you. Don't fuss about it so much.

[teratomarty.livejournal.com]

A man lied on the Internet to get laid? Oh NOES!!

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

Oh, he didn't lie on the Internet. He was my property manager and he told me alllll about how he was moving to Seattle to join the coaching staff of the Sonics. Like, he had no real reason to lie to ME about it.

[beowabbit]

A man lied on the Internet to get laid? Oh NOES!!

Yeah, creepy. Next thing you know, people will be lying in bars to get laid, and then, who will you be able to trust?

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

A more shocking headline would be:

Man Found In Somerville Who Has Never Lied To Get Sex

/snerk :-p

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Gee. Thanks.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Sing it, sista!

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Sexism against any sex is still sexism.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

Ok, I can't leave well enough alone. I have to add: I have been a victim of this guy's lying.

I noticed in his interview with the Seattle org, he claims that he was just lying to this woman to seduce her and she went out of her way to trash his rep. This is probably totally untrue. HE HIMSELF told ME that he had gotten a job coaching the Sonics and after that, when he was spotty about getting back to me he asked me to cut him a bit of slack as he was going to be "traveling back and forth between Boston and Seattle a lot" and was just "filling in" until his replacement was found. ME! One of the tenants in one of the buildings where he was a property manager. Me. Who has NO INTEREST in basketball. This guy was clearly lying to just about anyone and everyone and not just this one woman.

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

I assume that you have reason to believe that he wasn't trying to seduce YOU?

[wonkywheels.livejournal.com]

Based on what on_reserve is saying, this guy is a sociopath. It seems like an amusing story at first, but it's actually kind of scary.

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

I like how his name is Craven.

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

The HUNTER!

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

I seem to recall (and someone correct me if I am wrong because I can no longer locate this information online) that when this story was first published on the Website of the Somerville News that Tricky questioned the reliability of the story because he couldn't find Ron Craven listed as a coach on the Seattle Supersonics' Website. IIRC, he suggested that the News could easily verify the story by making a quick call to the Supersonics. It sounds to me as if Tricky did more fact-checking than the News.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

When you say "Tricky" I think of:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tricky

I KNOW you're not talking about an English trip hopper, though. It's confusing.

[crazybone.livejournal.com]

People lie. Really?
In other news:
Grass is green.
Pope is old.
Yogi Bear has no indoor plumbing.

[kvarko.livejournal.com]

Things are going to be OK[tm].

[lizzielizzie.livejournal.com]

This is me being amused that, as I read this post, there were 69 comments. HAH.

[jspazzer.livejournal.com]

Strangely enough, there was another similar story this week of someone using a fake name, Senator "Happy Hands" Marzilli of Arlington. "Police said the senator told them that he was flirting with the woman and that his name was Martin Walsh of Medford."

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/06/facing_charges.html
http://bostonist.com/2008/06/05/jim-marzilli-grope-060508.php

[winterhill.livejournal.com]

Yep -- he said that Norton typed something about "Farm Team" and then banned his IP. I told him it's a blessing in disguise not to be able to join the fray. But now all the comments are gone. It's a little like watching a train wreck.

[ron_newman]

The managing editor of the Somerville News decided to deal with all the negative comments by deleting the entire discussion!

Look here -- no more comments!

[winterhill.livejournal.com]

From what my friend told me, Norton will probably come back all blustery like "hey you knuckleheads ... blah blah ... you have no idea .... we have to protect against libel.... blah blah... we don't know who writes this stuff .... I'm going to ban all of you..."

Surely you are pulling my leg that he is on the School committee?

[winterhill.livejournal.com]

That is my friend -- it *is* funny. He was sort of exercised over being banned and asked me if I'd ever heard it referred to as "snews" which I have. Whatever, I feel kinda bad for my buddy, but still think not being able to post on a garbage site like that is a good thing.

Somerville News editor offers a response on UniversalHub

[ron_newman]

James Norton, managing editor of the Somerville News, explains himself at Universal Hub.

Re: Somerville News editor offers a response on UniversalHub

[somertricky.livejournal.com]

(scrambles for copy of DSM-IV...)

say it ain't so...

[jamesnorton.livejournal.com]

okay, so i got a little heated at Ron over something that actually had little to do with this whole Craven thing. I regret that, almost as much as I regret nobody calling to verify that dude's claim to be working for the Sonics. because of the confusion and the misdirection of the comments, i decided it would be best to: 1. unban everyone, period. 2. let the story die its shameful death. this banning and commenting thing should be a distant memory soon enough - they're doing the mockup of our new site this coming week. this Craven guy is still clinging tight to part of his story, and absolutely none of it is true. this guy is so creepy and obviously has a screw loose. he makes me look like james lipton. left to continue unabated, i can envision it turning into a made for tv movie - with casualties - so why keep the attention seeking liar in the public eye anymore than necessary? honestly, i am trying very hard not to react so angrily at things on the website - i have done much better than in the beginning, but it is what it is. that being said, i didnt remove the comments and/or the story because i or the newspaper couldnt take the heat for not doing something you learn in Journalism 101. far from it. i have no problem admitting the error and regret it deeply, all i could do is act responsibly to admit the wrong, set the record straight and move forward. anyways - aside from the occasional ballistic episode on the website, i rarely lose my cool. there should be a good buffer in the next iteration of the somerville news website. everyone - have a great weekend. did i mention everyone is unbanned? JN

Re: say it ain't so...

[jspazzer.livejournal.com]

What did Ron say 10 years ago that still has your panties in a bunch?