Joey Dauben, felon (updated)

Joey Dauben/Via Waxahachie Daily Light

I was wondering why my last previous post about Ellis County (south exurban Dallas) newspaper reporter Joey Dauben was getting more hits.

And, I now see it's because he's been convicted. And on the lesser of two cases.

The more serious one? Charges of sexual assault of a minor. He goes on trial for that early next year.

And (updated Jan. 16, 2013) a Corsicana jury has given him plenty of reasons to wipe the smug look off of his face.

Either 10 years, or 30 years, worth of reasons, depending on whether a judge says his sentences should be consecutive or concurrent.

Per the three links above, Dauben is an exotic mashup of Walter Mitty with dreams of being William Randolph Hearts and possible repressed homophobe (The alleged victim in the sexual assault case is male but in his teens, so there is the issue of sexuality in play, as I've noted here, wondering why a writer at Dallas' LGBT mag, the Voice, has such an interest in Dauben's case.)

Dauben was also extensively profiled for some strange reason by the Dallas Observer (my blog take on that here.)

The man, or man-child, is incorrigible. He violated terms of his pre-trial release on bond. He acts like this is all some big libertarian "game."

Well, Joey, and any of your friends like "sunflower" who see this? It's not a game.

But, I don't expect you to admit that. In part, I think the Walter Mitty is grasping at a dream you'd like to be true. In part, I think it's hiding from a past you'd like to not be true. Indeed, I wonder where your crusading against child abuse (or, wrongly identified non-abusers, in this case) comes from.

That said, per the Corsicana charges, one could laugh at Dauben being hoisted by his own petard, too:

“At the end of the day, Joey Dauben raped a 14 year old boy,” said Navarro County District Attorney R. Lowell Thompson. “He complained about Ellis County being soft on sex offenders. He found out that in Navarro County, we aren’t.”

But, of course, it's not a laughing matter. Certainly the sexual assault isn't, and ultimately, and sadly, neither is the character of Joey Dauben.

And, sadly, I don't expect you to admit you're gay, either. (And, no, if both my suspicions are correct, I don't believe child abuse makes you gay.) Speaking of this, Dallas Voice contributor David Webb hasn't written anything about Dauben since last April. What gives?

Update, March 16, 2013: I had a new light bulb pop on tonight. Joey Dauben reminds me of a slightly less mature James O'Keefe of Breitbart fame, detailed here in all his sordidness.