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Trenton
– Three registered sex offenders were
arrested today and yesterday by New Jersey
State Police detectives for violating their
conditions of parole by accessing the social
networking sites MySpace and Facebook, Attorney
General Anne Milgram announced today.
The
offenders, all of whom had previously been
convicted of sexual offenses against children,
were charged with violating provisions of
a new law which went into effect in January
restricting Internet access by convicted
sex offenders. Each of those arrested had
signed a document for their parole officers
that explained the provisions of the new
law as it affected Megan’s Law registrants.
The
arrests followed a four-month long investigation
by the State Police Digital Technology Investigations
Unit with the assistance of the State Parole
Board, which has joined the Internet Crimes
Against Children Task Force. The investigation
was initiated by Attorney General Anne Milgram
after a separate civil investigation coordinated
by the Division of Consumer Affairs determined
there were hundreds of registered sex offenders
with accounts on social networking sites.
“Our
earlier investigations made it shockingly
clear how vigilant we must be in guarding
against the danger of sexual offenders surfing
social networking sites to search for and
contact potential victims,’’
Milgram said. “Social networking sites
cannot be playgrounds for sexual predators.”
"Social
networking sites provide a meaningful way
for people to communicate via a virtual
community,’’ added Col. Rick
Fuentes, the State Police superintendent.
“But they are potentially dangerous
by also offering sexual predators ‘one
stop shopping’ to locate and groom
victims."
-more-
Arrested yesterday were Stanton Ulmer, 32,
of Neptune Township, and Felice Black, 24,
of Paterson. Pietro Parisi, 34, of Westville
was arrested this morning. The investigation
found Ulmer had a Facebook account, and
Black and Parisi had MySpace accounts. Detectives
also seized computers, a webcam, and a cell
phone. The investigation is continuing.
Each
was charged with violating the provisions
of parole supervision and released on their
own recognizance pending court appearances.
Ulmer had been convicted in 1999 for aggravated
sexual assault; Black was convicted in 2005
for endangering the welfare of a child;
and Parisi was convicted in 1996 of endangering
the welfare of a child and in 2003 of sexual
assault.
The
investigation was coordinated by Lt. Keith
Halton, the assistant bureau chief of the
Computer Crimes and High Tech Surveillance
Bureau of the New Jersey State Police, and
Lt. Joe Furlong of the Digital Technology
Investigations Unit. It was directly supervised
by Detective Sgt. Charles Allen, and included
the participation of investigators from
the New Jersey Parole Board.
“Our
use of the Containment Approach to sex offender
supervision requires proactive intelligence
sharing with law enforcement partners,”
Parole Board Chairman Peter J. Barnes Jr.
said. “We are proud to work with the
Attorney General and the State Police to
prevent new sex crimes and new victimization.”
The
Attorney General issued civil subpoenas
to social networking sites last year to
determine whether registered sex offenders
had opened accounts after MySpace.com disclosed
that it had been able to identify thousands
of convicted sex offenders who had established
profiles on the social networking site.
New Jersey authorities determined there
were at least 268 registered New Jersey
sex offenders with MySpace accounts. In
addition, Facebook identified 23 account
holders as potential registered sex offenders
in New Jersey.
In
November, the State Parole Board drafted
new supervision conditions for all sex offenders
under the agency’s supervision, prohibiting
them from using the Internet to socialize
or use social networking websites. Violation
of this supervision condition may result
in a criminal complaint or parole warrant.
Currently, there are more than 4,600 sex
offenders under the State Parole Board’
supervision. In December, legislation was
passed tightening access to the Internet
for convicted sex offenders. The law, which
was sponsored by Senate President Richard
Codey, strengthened the Parole Board’s
Internet restriction by imposing a new criminal
penalty.
Attorney
General Milgram has focused on ways to make
the Internet safer from the dangers posed
by sexual predators and cyber bullies, and
recently entered a voluntary partnership
with Facebook to test a reporting abuse
mechanism developed by her office to make
it easier for Internet users to identify
and quickly report inappropriate, abusive
or potentially illegal activities on-line.
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