Clarence Worley

My friend is not Matt Gaetz. I repeat, my friend is not Matt Gaetz.

Agree with you @SKJ. It is hard to get through life without friends though. There are times in your life when you need a friend to avoid absolute tragedy and you can never predict when that time will be. I’m learning that more and more as I get older. If my friend had a criminal record, I wouldn’t believe him at all. Also, he wouldn’t be my friend. But he doesn’t have a criminal record. The dude is in his mid-50s. I can’t imagine that he would wake up one day as he is getting close the retirement and decide to be a pedophile. Anything is possible, but there is not a history of this kind of behavior.

Lmao. I left out “and the most diabolical and deranged yet magnificent assholes.”

Couldn’t agree with you more @ztejas. It is why I decided to post here. Most message boards make you feel dumber after reading posts and replies but SurlyHorns has some of the most thoughtful and intelligent posters that I’ve come across. I am a class of 2000 graduate btw. Another big win for the our basketball team! Hook ‘em!

Btw to keep this Surly relevant, my friend whose kids have been around our other friend ran into Brian Cushing the other night at a local eatery. I asked my friend if he asked Brian Cushing how Vince Young’s nuts taste. 😝

Thanks @Captainant. last few weeks have been tough. Thought I was going to lose my mom over the holidays, my wife just had a tumor the size of a golf ball removed from one of her glands the other day after I acted like a complete asshole about having to take care of her for an extended period of time, half of my team may be fired because my boss wants me to rebuild the team, and now one of my best friends has been charged with a horrific crime that is instant ruination in our society. Trying to be the best version of myself I can be right now. It ain’t easy

@MaybeACoordinator, I’m with you. However, my friend is not wealthy and he and his wife are living paycheck to paycheck. He doesn’t have a side hustle that we are aware of. And if he did and we and others in the community found out, he knows he would be ruined. His wife is a teacher at a local elementary school and they are very involved in the local community. Even ran a charity event to provide gifts to underprivileged kids in the local community over the holidays. I could be the one that’s being duped and it hasn’t happened before, but there is always a first time.

Thanks @Oxdeadbeef. You’ve shared some really good advice on this thread as well.

When I was talking to my wife this morning, sorry ya’ll no pics for you thirsty bastards, she felt helpless and it tore me up. I had to do something’. I’m still relatively young but I’m wise enough to know that friends and family take precedence over everything. It is situations like like this that really test your character.

Really good advice txhorns. This has been top of mind for me. We had a neighbor that committed suicide a couple of years ago. I know what one of my friend’s dreams is and because of this situation, he potentially had to give up one of his dreams which is where he wants to retire. Some of you make think I’m foolish, but I did something this morning that would ensure that dream can still happen: I am concerned about his and his wife’s mental health. So I wanted to give them some hope. It was the least that I could do.

Definitely. Waiting for a SouthAustin mom’s reference. Come on Surly. You’re letting me down. 😝

Thanks Pig. Great advice. When I was talking to his wife the other night I was captain Picard facepalm. Don’t say shit if there is not a lawyer present. Told him to keep his mouth shut but unfortunately my friend is an open book. Good news is that he does have a good attorney now.

I partner with sales leadership and work with a lot of sales reps and procurement, and most of my career has been in consulting so I have a hyoersensitive bs meter as well. I could be 100% wrong, though, about the situation because it is so personal. This is really eating me up.

I don’t disagree with you Gil Bang. We usually rationalize things based on how we would react to a situation. He has every reason to lie us. I also know that he has always been very transparent with us even when it is bordering on tmi and risking damaging our friendship. He should also know his lies will be easily exposed and will do much more damage than admitting that he fucked up and is trying to cover it up. He knows that I’m a hyper analytical/logical person and that I don’t believe the bullshit that he tends to comes across.

And thanks for educating me Deej. I googled Pete Townshend thinking that he may he be a lawyer or an activist. Should’ve known better. Knew he was a member of The Who. Thought maybe he was a lawyer with the same name. Just learned much more about The Who’s Pete Townshend. 😀

And no, she is not underage for those wondering. She is in her mid 50s

Lmao. Wife is actually pretty attractive for her age. Would love to post a pic, and I do know the rules. 🤪 given this situation though, it is not appropriate. Sorry you horny animals. 🤪

100% agree Parliament. Everything that we are doing is to support our friend’s wife as much as anything else. We want to make sure she is taken care of regardless of the outcome.

Thanks TwiceHorn. Always love your legal insights and have been following you on another forum. I was surprised that this was being handled by local law enforcement vs. the feds.

Thanks everyone for the insights. This is a learning experience for me as much as anything else. I admit I have had some skepticism since I first learned about this as well. I haven’t misreported anything purposely because I need expert point of views. I probably shouldn’t have said my friend is completely innocent because at the end of the day you have to be smarter and can’t be easily duped. I wholeheartedly don’t think someone’s life should be ruined over something like this if it was his first offense. Agree with those that say that he may need a therapist. That’s what we should try to do as a society instead of sentencing people to a life of ruin over a moment of weakness. Also, it seems that my friend has been cooperating from the very beginning with law enforcement which may not have been the smartest thing to do. He admitted clicking on a link instead of saying that wasn’t me or that was someone renting my house at around the time the incident happened or my IP address got hacked, etc. He is super honest and trusts law enforcement because he has family members in law enforcement. We are on different ends of the political spectrum as well and have had debates about this. I also just let some good friends of ours whose kids have been around our friend and whose kids love him, and they said they would be a character witness if needed and they would have no issues with their kids being around him now that they know what he was charged with. Their reaction when I told them confirmed my point of view on this situation. I told our friend and his wife beforehand that I had to tell them since it was now public record and we wanted them to find out from us. He was ok with it.

Thanks everyone for the serious and less serious replies. Humor often is the best medicine for the harshness of life. He does have one of the best lawyers that has experience defending cases like this. He doesn’t know how he is going to afford it but knows he needs the best defense lawyer he can find. He could be lying but can’t imagine that he would lie to his wife, closest friends, and family when all of the facts will be learned and presented in court and make matters worse for himself. I know everyone is wired differently though and many go into immediate survival mode not considering the additional damage they could do by not telling the truth. I will share other relevant info as soon as I get it.

I know the circumstances of the case sound unbelievable and I know I don’t have all of the facts. Like I said, I took a chance posting on this forum to see if anybody has good legal advice. I just want to make sure he gets a proper defense. We should try to assume someone is innocent until the facts are presented and the case has been tried not the other way around.

Not at all. His wife is devastated and has had a life of tragedy. Talked to them both this morning now that he is out on bail and they were both breaking down. This is a dude that is a true patriot and has spent a big portion of his life in the Middle East diffusing bombs and has partial hearing loss because a bomb went off while he was diffusing it. He always puts others first. He has always been there for me when I needed him so trying to do everything I can to help him and his wife.

Thanks for the laugh. That may be his only career option now.

Moderators, please move this to another forum if this post should not be in this forum. Apologies for the long post. I’m a first time poster but long time lurker. I know that Surly has so many experts on many subjects and thought I would take a chance to see if anybody in the Surly community could help. A good friend of mine was just arrested and charged with a crime that anybody’s first reaction would be absolute disgust and your first instinct would be to distance yourself from the situation. I’ve had enough experience with law enforcement to know that they don’t always do proper thorough investigations and are quick to assume and prove you’re guilty so I’m giving my friend the benefit of the doubt especially based on the evidence that I’m currently aware of. Here is the situation. My friend received an email over a year ago and he clicked on the link. The link had content that is illegal to download and distribute. The content was earmarked and as soon as my friend clicked on the link, the information was reported to local authorities. The first police department that received the info decided not to act on it. It was a one time incident and It was clear to them that as soon as my friend clicked on the link he knew he had viewed illegal content and closed the webpage, but the crime had already been committed. The info was passed on to another police department that has jurisdiction over the county that my friend resides. That police department decided to act on the information over a year after the incident occurred and just arrested him and charged him with possession and intent to distribute. He never distributed the content. My friend’s life has already been ruined over something that was done by mistake and any of us could do. I work for a Tech company and never click on links if I don’t recognize the sender because of all of the security awareness training I gave gone through. Not everyone goes through this kind of training and are naive. Also, my friend’s aunt is a retired sheriff and called the first police department that received the info. This is why we know the first police department which is a major metropolitan police department decided not to get an arrest warrant when they first received the info. The second police department that decided to arrest him is in a more rural part of the state. Has anybody had experience with anything like this? This seems like a case of entrapment on the surface, and I can’t believe that a major email service provider would allow distribution of illegal content and wait for someone to accidentally download illegal content and then share the info with local authorities instead of preventing the distribution of the continent in the first place. This seems like a sting operation that an innocent man got caught up in. I do believe my friend is innocent and deserves every opportunity to have his case argued in court and given every opportunity to clear his name if he is found innocent. I want to make sure he has access to all of the resources available to get a fair trial. Everyone close to him is rallying around him because of the person he is. I also believe that when you are arrested for a crime like this that it shouldn’t become public record until you are tried and convicted. The local community that has no information on the facts of the case is already labeling him a monster because his arrest is now public record. I can’t believe that something like this can happen and how vulnerable we all are if your life can be ruined over accidentally clicking on the wrong link. Any advice from the Surly community is extremely appreciated.