State Reviewing Myspace Accounts for Sex Offenders

By Chris Lynett, The Citizens’ Voice, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

Jul. 31–Attorney General Tom Corbett announced Wednesday authorities are reviewing the Myspace.com accounts of 185 Pennsylvania sex offenders to see if they violated terms of their probation or parole by using the popular socializing Web site.

Deputy Press Secretary Nils Frederiksen said the information would also be forwarded to state and local probation and parole offices for further evaluation once investigators determine where the account holders reside.

Myspace.com released the information after a June order by the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas. Investigators then sifted through 353 possible accounts and narrowed the list down to 185.

“Although we have identified these accounts, there could still be predators out there operating under aliases,” Frederiksen said.

This is the second time Myspace.com has released data to Corbett’s office. The first was a list of 110 potential sex offenders released in 2007.

Since its creation in 2005, the Attorney General’s Child Predator Unit, which investigates individuals soliciting sex from minors via the Internet, has made 153 arrests and maintains a 100 percent conviction rate.

In August 2006, the unit arrested Robert Edward Lott of Wilkes-Barre, a special eduction teacher from Luzerne Intermediate Unit 18, after he communicated with an investigator posing as a 12-year-old girl from Philadelphia.

Lott plead guilty to charges of attempted sexual and obscene contact with a minor and criminal use of a communication facility. In September 2007, he was sentenced to 30 to 60 months in prison and six years probation.

In January, Myspace.com announced it had collaborated with 49 state attorneys general to improve security and privacy features.

Internet predators can be reported to the child predator unit by calling 1-800-385-1044 or by filing an online complaint at www.attorneygeneral.gov.

clynett@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2054

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