Barbara Ochoa
Barbara W. Ochoa (stage name Petra Luna) is a struggling American vocal artist, known mainly for basing her musical career around a pious, self-declared "war on [sexual] abuse". Most of Ochoa's public-relations activity is conducted through the social networking website, MySpace - where thanks to a zealous and insistent fan base, her material and anti-abuse campaigns are given some recognition and respect. Within this on-line world, Ochoa uses image manipulation to construct herself as a fantastical, winged, cult-figure; an empowerer and warrior against child abuse. She sometimes publishes videos on YouTube, injecting herself in to a graphically-enhanced, newsroom-type setting, and making emotional pronouncements on familiar, sexual-abuse related subjects.
Other failures of note
Attempt to shut down Puellula
In April, 2007, Ochoa embarked on a brief and unsuccessful campaign (Operationshutdownpuellula.com) to "ban" Puellula, a legitimate website belonging to a self-identifying pedophile. Ochoa and the site's creator, AP were even interviewed on the KTRH Radio station, the former arguing that the latter was violating the first amendment - effectively a "constitutional" argument against freedom of expression. After discovering that there was no mechanism by which a website could simply be "banned", with Puellula going voluntarily offline, Ochoa retired her campaign. Operationshutdownpuellula.com was modified to suit Ochoa's publicity needs, adding to existing suspicions as to her true motives for starting such a campaign.
KTRH Interviews on banning Puellula
- AP: Media:AP.mp3
- Ochoa: Media:Petraluna.mp3
Jan Kruska dispute and lawsuit
Ochoa has been involved in a long-running online campaign of harassment against Jan Kruska, a woman, who when in her twenties, had a consensual sexual relationship with a boy in his mid-teens, who recalled his encounters positively, after the media organ, ABC sought comment. Using the sites jankruska.com and jankruska.net for this purpose, Ochoa was on January 10, 2008, named in the lawsuit Kruska v. Perverted Justice Foundation Incorporated.org et al alongside a host of her allies.
As with her earlier exertions, Ochoa agreed to a media head-to-head with her chosen enemy, this time on National Television. In her interview, Ochoa asserted that sex offender registration for the older parties in consensual encounters such as Kruska's was a "necessary evil", and that Kruska deserved to be "harassed" by her. March 14, 2008 Ochoa's performance on 20/20 is likely to alienate her from any producer who is sympathetic to her stated aims. It is perhaps likely, that the producers of 20/20 selected her case because they were aware - from her performances on-line - of her poor judgement and general incompetence in front of a camera.