Internet Fraud Casebook

Chapter 39. Cyber Psycho

ERIC A. KREUTER

—In cyberspace, no one can hear you scream.

Connie Delvecchio was raised by her parents in a tiny Pennsylvania coal-belt town. She had a younger brother and shared a bedroom with her older sister. Connie was a sociable child with disturbing antisocial tendencies. Her family often treated her as if she were invisible, because, frankly, they saw her as a disruptive, creepy girl. When she was young, Connie frequently stole her sister's clothes and later stole money from relatives with unwavering denials. Since childhood she displayed an innate ability to lie unflinchingly and with age, her psychopathic behavior became more pronounced and intimidating. Connie didn't express guilt or remorse for the wicked things she did; indeed, she seemed to derive pleasure from her actions.

Before turning 16, Connie was sexually precocious. After playing in a high-school basketball game against state police, Connie snuck off with a married officer named Max, who was twice her age, and easily seduced him into having sex with her. This provided her with blackmail leverage over him, and their lives remained entangled for the next 25 years.

Connie was quick-minded and clever. She was seen as troubled and unsettling by most of the people in her life, but those who knew her best found her frightening and evil. She married soon after high school, had her first child (Clarissa) at age 20, and had her second child (Anne) at age 25. In her mid-thirties Connie became a licensed ...