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Rapist Invited for YC Interview

7 points by amendor ↗ HN
Someone claiming to be ‘Web Smith’ @Web (www.twitter.com/web) has been tweeting about YCombinator lately, and when seeing that he was invited to the program, I curiously wanted to learn more about him.

• Claims to be Web Smith, but his real name is Webster Morlowe Smith.

• Smith was the first ever US Coast Guard cadet court martialed for numerous accusations of rape. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/28/AR2006062802008.html

• Smith lives in Columbus, Ohio and is a registered sex offender: http://www.icrimewatch.net/offenderdetails.php?OfndrID=1581254&AgencyID=55213

• Smith is operating an unlicensed courier business and application named Whence (www.twitter.com/whenceco)

Smith has gone to great lengths to hide from his past, and he is not disclosing to anyone who he really is. He recently wrote an article for Inc about Being a Black Entrepreneur in America, and was recently covered in Columbus Business First, always as Web Smith, in which he never discusses his most well known story of all.

Before assuming the name of Web Smith, it appears that Webster has tried to paint himself as the victim. He eventually pled to other charges of extortion, sodomy, indecent assault and other charges, but after reading the rape and extortion accusations brought forward by numerous women, make your own determination about what really happened. https://www.google.com/search?q=webster+smith+coast+guard

Smith and the people of Whence are delivering goods to unknowing females and families in Columbus, but customers should know when they use Whence they are inviting a nationally recognized rapist to their doorstep. Webster Smith has created an elaborate story, a façade about his past that has led him to running Whence in the Midwest. The curtain needs pulled back, so he is presented truthfully in full disclosure to YCombinator and the citizens of Columbus, Ohio.

7 comments

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greenyoda
"Claims to be Web Smith, but his real name is Webster Morlowe Smith."

What evidence do you have that Web Smith is really Webster Morlowe Smith? There could easily be someone with a similar name living in the same city, and Smith is one of the most common names in the U.S.

amendor
The listed sex offender website contains his information and a his photo, which is the same as @web.
greenyoda
The photographs do look somewhat similar, but that's still not proof that they're the same person. If you had a similar name and appearance to someone convicted of a crime, would you want to be publicly accused of being that person?

I'd be more convinced if you could find something like a public business record for Whence that has his full legal name on it. He's a co-founder, so he'd probably be listed as an officer of the corporation.

stray
You know, using a shortened version of your first name isn't the same as using an assumed name to hide your true identity.

Probably nobody named Mike was given that name at birth. More likely it was Michael. And for people named Michael it's fairly common to go by Mike.

It doesn't sound all that sinister for someone named Webster to go by Web.

And it's not really clear how a criminal past is relevant to a company a guy is trying to get off the ground years after having already been punished for his crimes.

Unless of course, the crime was fraud. That would be clearly relevant.

petersouth
1. amendor-account created 2hrs ago-wondering if maybe you have previous ties to this person and just trying to haunt him? 2. Is he actually delivering the goods? I'm not sure if whence employees do it or a third party. As CEO i would be surprised if he is handling any of the transactions by hand. 3. As a previous Coast Guard Academy student, I question the validity of the findings and take any punishment sentencing with a grain of salt. The barracks are tiny and highly-populated with 2-4 people per dorm room. Doors have to be open all the time during daylight hours unless changing or sleeping and there cadets on duty monitoring the areas. You were not allowed to have closed doors in rooms occupied by opposite sex so that would be caught and investigated immediately. Just seems highly unlikely to me especially with 4 different people. During my stay, we had the campus locked down because of a rapist and something like six months later the female cadet admitted she made the whole thing up - so there's a history of false positives. Lastly, they over-punish. I had one friend get discharged for verbally hitting-on another cadet while he was drunk and another friend discharged for getting help from a classmate on a homework assignment. 4. I have a friend who is a registered sex offender and constantly goes through shit for it. If he did something legit wrong I would have no sympathy for him, but the details of his case in particular opened up my eyes alot to how someone can get screwed. Web Smith jumps out to me as one where it may not be the severity of the label or even true.
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