TX- AG’s office arrests local sex offender

2-5-2009 Texas:

SEGUIN — Authorities say that accessing MySpace landed a local convicted sex offender back behind bars.

Seguin resident ____, 33, was arrested by the Texas Attorney General’s Fugitive Unit on Jan. 27 for allegedly accessing the Internet — a violation of the terms of his parole.

____ was paroled in 2008 after serving five years in prison for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old Bexar County girl.

He is being held without bond at the Guadalupe County Jail.

“Last week’s arrest reflects the Fugitive Unit’s ongoing effort to crack down on convicted sex offenders who illegally access social networking sites,” Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a press release. “Despite his release conditions, the subject in this case repeatedly used his personal computer and cellular telephone to access a MySpace.com profile.

“The case demonstrates that parents and law enforcement must work cooperatively to educate young users about the potentially dangerous individuals hiding behind a seemingly benign online profile.”

_____’s profile included his real age, name and photo.

Jerry Strickland, a spokesman at the Attorney General’s Office, said the investigation is ongoing and he could not comment on whether _____ had used his MySpace profile as a way to target or locate minors, but said Internet use itself was a violation of _____’s probation.

Strickland added that it is important for parents to follow some precautions to keep their children safe from convicted sex offenders and other dangerous people online.

He suggested that parents communicate with their children about online activities to be aware of the kinds of sites and interactions a child may encounter.

“It’s important also to access and have passwords to MySpace and other sites your child uses, really as a way to keep track of children and their online activities,” he said. “This is something parents need to do because child predators really go to great lengths to target children online.”

He said another way for parents to monitor children’s online activities is to keep the computer in a public area of the house — a move that also encourages children to keep away from sites parents wouldn’t approve of.

“Parents have the opportunity to oversee what sites their children go to and what they are viewing,” he said.

Abbott said that the dangers of online use cannot be emphasized enough.

He said a recent report found that there are over 90,000 registered sex offenders on MySpace.

“Just because someone is a registered sex offender does not mean that it is illegal for them to use MySpace,” he explained during a Wednesday press conference. “It depends upon the terms of their parole.”

Abbott added that Scott’s arrest came just weeks after a technology industry task force released a report that downplayed the dangers facing children online.

The report and task force stem from a “Joint Statement on Key Principles of Social Networking” agreement that 49 state attorneys general negotiated with social networking giant MySpace.com.

Citing inadequate safeguards for children and concerns that the agreement would give parents a false sense of security, Abbot declined to join the agreement.

--Note: Given Abbot didn't participate where is his proof that the report is invalid as he claims? Abbot's basis seems to be nothing more than, there are RSOs on the Internet and a few of them -who are on parole- violated their parole by being on the Internet, not that they actually victimized any minor. Those facts -if true- do not invalidate that report, in fact a reasonable mind would conclude, Abbots's basis confirms the report because Abbot does not say minors were victimized.

“Since our Cyber Crimes Unit first began its online predator crackdown, we have arrested more than 100 sexual predators for using the Internet to prey upon children,” Abbot said in a press release. “Although these arrests plainly illustrate the dangers that children face online, this report minimizes the dangers posed by online sexual predators. The report’s conclusions are not only erroneous, but worse, give a false sense of relief to parents who should be increasingly concerned about their children’s online activities.”

--Note: Arrested in the begining of the article referred to parole violations, not crimes, again here he doesn't say whether this -over 100- were convicted of crimes or parole violations. His "to prey on children" seems to be no more than his belief that being on the Internet automatically means they are preying on children. Remember, he fails to use the term CONVICTED which would indicate a child was vicitimized.

..News Source.. by Jessica Sanders