Jeremy Alcede has gotten himself into hot water once again. He originally popped up on TTAG’s radar when he came out in support of Frank Lautenberg’s and Carolyn McCarthy’s attempt to ban online ammo sales. This time the dispute is over…wait for it…his Facebook page. Alcede is the now former owner of Tactical Firearms in Katy, Texas. Alcede lost his business during bankruptcy proceedings back in December of 2014 and Boyert Shooting Center took over all of his remaining assets. Boyert asserts that Alcede’s Facebook page and followers are part of the business’s assets and sought court assistance to force Alcede to hand them over. Boyert claims the page’s followers are “valuable assets and should stay with the company.” The courts have so far agreed . . .
Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge, Jeff Bohm, rejected Alcede’s claims of “freedom of speech” because Alcede claimed he mostly posted about personal matters on his page. The judge maintains the page is a business asset and has ordered it to be handed over to Boyert Shooting Center.
The order is directly contradicting Facebook’s written page guidelines prohibiting the transfer of a page without written permission from the social media outlet. The judge claimed his demands that Alcede turn over his page were done to “stop the barrage of vitriol that Mr. Alcede currently posts” there.
According to wsj.com, Facebook was contacted early Friday morning and has not responded.
Late last week, a bankruptcy judge ordered Mr. Alcede—a self-described PR genius and Second Amendment champion who posted anti-Obama rants outside the suburban Houston store—to turn over the passwords to the new owner of Tactical Firearms.
Mr. Alcede refused to do so and is now behind bars. In order to get out of jail he must turn over his Facebook passwords.
Judge Bohm detailed what he described a “manifestation of this genius” in his opinion:
“While Mr. Alcede was in charge of the debtor, the debtor was known for its marquee displaying messages promoting gun rights and criticizing President Barack Obama—no doubt with the objective of increasing gun and ammunition sales. Such messages include: ‘I like my guns like Obama likes his voters/undocumented,’ ‘Threatening to sue POS Obama and pro open carry is why I love Greg Abbott,’ ‘Honk if you support open carry/Don’t tread on me,’ ‘We have hit Barack bottom/go vote red,’ ‘Does one of Obama’s family members have to be beheaded for ‘change’ to happen?’ and ‘Will trade Obama to Mexico for Sgt Tahmooressi/God help us all.”
“PR genius” or not, Alcede certainly has a flair for getting his name in the news. How long he’s willing to hold out, living at the taxpayers’ expense is anyone’s guess.
The [court] order is directly contradicting Facebook’s written page guidelines…
I’m pretty sure the court order overrides Facebook policies…at least for now.
That was my favorite part of the story. I don’t care who’s wrong or right as long as company’s like facebook get their TOSBS invalidated (even in singular incidents).
Pretty sure “Stupid is as stupid does”, can’t even possibly apply.
My condolences to the Gump family for such a let down.
Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!
Is everyone a douche bag?
He’s right where he belongs.
So, who’s the bigger douche, Alcede or Bohm?
Considering that Bohm is illegitimately wielding government force, I’ll give him that dubious prize.
“It’s not a free speech issue because you use it mostly for personal stuff and not business or political speech”
“Even though it’s your personal facebook wall, and you use it for personal stuff, I’m declaring it a business asset because I can’t grant myself control over it unless it’s a business asset”
The judge “is illegitimately wielding government force” …. is bullshit. It depends entirely on what the contract says. This is not a criminal case with a government prosecutor. It’s a contract dispute between the parties involved, requiring some third party, and that’s all the judge is here. Even if you despise government judges (as I do; I despise all government judiciary, including police, prosecutors, and judges. There’d be more justice if victims prosecuted and all police and courts were entirely private), this judge is just a third party here.
If you check the wsj.com article you will find that the original name on the FB page was “Tactical Firearms,” not “Jeremy Alcede”. He changed it to “Jeremy Alcede Enterpreneur” after he lost the business, but the fact that it was Tactical Firearms’ FB page makes it an asset of the business.
Having been on the receiving end of a contempt finding during a divorce (my dental insurance carrier didn’t pay for my daughter’s braces fast enough to suit my ex or the judge, and I didn’t have $1500 laying around) I was tossed in jail for about a week with no recourse or hearing. It was only due to my attorney’s sense of outrage that he was able to meet with a senior judge to get me sprung. Bottomline is in civil matters, some judges become tyrants with almost no boundaries on their powers. The guy failed in business. The other company got his assets, cheap. His Facebook page is his.
One thing to note: I believe this is over the business page for Tactical Firearms which can be considered a business asset like a web page or domain. In that, I understand the judges ruling. If it’s his personal Facebook account, that’s a completely different story.
Since the page he is being required to turn over is the “business” Facebook page for Tactical Firearms, it seems that this order is totally legitimate. He’s not being asked to give up his personal page, just the one titled in the business’s name.
Agreed. If this was a business facebook page, and the titling of the page was in reference to the business, not a personal site, then it should be considered a business asset.
In my worthless but perfectly valid opinion, if the FB account was registered using a personal address, it’s also personal. If a work email was used, it’s part of the business.
This is definitively a violation of the man’s First Amendment rights.
I don’t like what he had to say, but he damn well had every right to say it. His Facebook page is his, damnit! Besides, the NSA should already have a copy of everything, right? Even though they shouldn’t, either.
Is the FB page his personal page or part of the business? Did the sale of the business include all assets? It’s a pretty straightforward question.
It is not a personal page. The FB page was originally titled Tactical Firearms.
Not turning over DerpBook passwords = jail? Regardless of the stupid shit the guy said, that’s just ridiculous.
Go here. Scroll to the bottom. Click on the Facebook link http://tacticalfirearms.us/about-us/
This was a business page . It was attached to the company website.
The guy is a media whore. I think he loves all this attention. He can rot in jail for all I care. He seems to have plenty of time to beg for money, trying to make people feel sorry for him.
Jeremy Alcede is also being sued in the Harris County Civil Court also… I recommend he put aside some $$$ for what is coming his way… He seems very litigious. “A person who represents himself has a fool for a client”
Why can’t the new owner just start his own damn Facebook page?
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