Web site claims to offer Bar-Jonah's personal items
GREAT FALLS, Mont. --An Internet auction site is selling items it says are the personal belongings of Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, a convicted sex offender from Massachusetts authorities accused of killing and cannibalizing a young boy in Montana.
Among the 30 items are shoes, bifocals, artwork and even Bar-Jonah's hair, according to the Web site, Murder Auction.
Mikie Baker-Hajek, director of Victim-Witness Assistance Services in Great Falls, called the auction, which already has drawn a number of bids, "outrageous."
"Him trying to capitalize off a crime ... I'm appalled," Baker-Hajek said.
Bar-Jonah is serving a 130-year sentence at the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge for kidnapping, sexually assaulting and choking a teenage neighbor boy.
In 2000, authorities also charged Bar-Jonah with murder in the 1996 disappearance of 10-year-old Zach Ramsay, whose remains have never been found. Authorities said they uncovered evidence suggesting Bar-Jonah had butchered the boy and disposed of his body in meals served to neighbors. They were later forced to dismiss the murder charge, however, after Ramsay's mother said she would testify she believed her son was still alive.
Operators of the auction site did not immediately respond to an e-mail inquiry on Monday regarding the authenticity of the Bar-Jonah items.
Bar-Jonah moved to Montana after facing legal trouble in Massachusetts.
In 1977, Bar-Jonah pleaded guilty in Worcester Superior Court to charges of kidnapping, attempted murder and impersonation of a police officer after he posed as a police officer and kidnapped two boys in Shrewsbury. Bar-Jonah attempted to assault the boys, and when they resisted, he tried to strangle them. One of the boys escaped and found help.
Later, a plea deal in another case allowed Bar-Jonah to move to Montana with his family.
Bob Anez, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections, said Monday the agency had not independently confirmed whether any of the items listed on the site actually belonged to Bar-Jonah.
But if they are authentic, Bar-Jonah likely is not doing anything illegal. Montana law does not bar criminals from such activity, although judges often set limits on defendants at the time of sentencing.
In Bar-Jonah's case, a judge ordered him to turn over one-third of anything he earns in prison to help pay for counseling for his victims.
Anez said prison policy in Montana bans inmates from operating a business from within the prison. He said the prison would try to determine if Bar-Jonah violated any prison policies, although he noted that Bar-Jonah has no access to the Internet from prison.
The Great Falls Tribune reported Monday that Bar-Jonah appeared to be sending his personal items to a woman in Utah, who was selling them on his behalf.
Andy Kahan, director of the crime victims office in Houston, has monitored such auctions for the past seven years and said the sale of what is often called "murderabilia," is a burgeoning industry.
Kahan has monitored the four major dealers of such goods in this country, including Murder Auction. The sites began popping up after other mainstream auction houses such as
Kahan said five states -- Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Texas and California -- have laws forbidding criminals to sell personal items on the Internet. Several other states have Son of Sam laws that stop criminals from making money by selling book or movie rights to their story.
Cascade County Attorney Brant Light, whose office prosecuted Bar-Jonah, said he was particularly disturbed about one of the items listed on the site: Court documents in the Zach Ramsay disappearance.
"That's alarming," he said. "I'm extremely concerned about the court documents. A lot of that is confidential information. He can't in turn make it public and make money from it."
Light said selling those documents could jeopardize the Ramsay investigation, which is still open.
------
On the Net: http://www.murderauction.com
------
Information from: Great Falls Tribune, http://www.greatfallstribune.com
