VAN DREW & ALBANO ANNOUNCE PACKAGE OF LEGISLATION TO TARGET ONLINE SEXUAL PREDATORS

VAN DREW & ALBANO ANNOUNCE PACKAGE OF LEGISLATION TO TARGET ONLINE SEXUAL PREDATORS

Predators are subject to continuous 24-hour per day monitoring by global positioning system (GPS) devices

New bill called “One Strike, You’re Ours” 

            (MILLVILLE, NJ)—Today Assemblymen Jeff Van Drew and Nelson Albano announced legislation they are introducing to target online sexual predators. This new bill provides that persons who have been convicted of a sex offense under Megan’s Law, where the victim of the offense was under 18 years of age and the person used the Internet in the commission of the sex offense, would be monitored for life under the “Sex Offender Monitoring Act.”  Under the act, sex offenders are subject to continuous 24-hour per day monitoring by global positioning system (GPS) devices.

            The bill also adds as an aggravating factor whether the defendant used the Internet in committing a sex offense against a person under the age of 18.   This provision would be used to enhance penalties against child predators.

               Under this “One Strike, You’re Ours” approach, predators who use the Internet in committing crimes against children would receive enhanced penalties and, once they leave prison, be monitored for life by GPS technology. Both luring the minor & performing the sex offense fall under this bill. Luring is a crime of the 2nd degree & the offense is a 1st degree crime.

               The trend of luring minors through the internet is unfortunately becoming increasingly popular. Some of the increase can be contributed to online groups such as MySpace.

               The New Jersey Attorney General's Office announced 141 sex offenders convicted in the Garden State had active profiles on the networking site MySpace. The New Jersey group was part of 7,000 registered sex offenders whose names were deleted and handed over by the owner of MySpace, to law enforcement all across the country.

               In July Dateline NBC's two-part series “To Catch A Predator,” which followed an Ocean County sting operation that resulted in the arrests of 28 men on charges of soliciting sex from children over the Internet aired. This operation entailed actors posing as minor in online chat rooms, the actors were then approached by an adult and the conversation quickly became inappropriate. They would arrange to meet. When the predator arrived the actor would greet them and then Dateline NBC would enter the room. The actors would always make it clear that they were a minor mostly posing as a 13 year old boy or girl. When the predator would try to deny their actions the host from the show would then pull out the transcript of their online conversation. The arrests included Little Egg Harbor Township resident Sean C. Lee, 33, and Ocean View resident John P. Donnelly, 21.

               “When you watch these shows you always think that this type of thing is happening somewhere else. The reality is its happening in our neighborhoods and it is scary. We have a responsibility to keep our child safe and at the very least make sure that people who commit these awful crimes are punished to the fullest extent. Parents and children need to be made aware that these types of people are all around us. As a father this really hit home for me. My children are adults now but it’s still scary to think that these types of predators are living on your street,” said Van Drew.

               Other legislation the Assemblymen have sponsored include: “The Sex Offender Monitoring Act” (now law), A2909 which increases the penalties for repeat offenders, and the “Jessica Lunsford Act” which increases the sentences for sex offenders and persons who harbor them. Additionally they will be prime sponsors of legislation that restricts certain sex offenders from access to the internet.

               Van Drew and Albano also sponsored a bill that requires the Attorney General, on or before March 30th of each year, to conduct a review of all persons who were released from incarceration or involuntary commitment in the previous calendar year and who are required to register as a sex offender.  The review is to determine whether such persons actually did register and whether they were tiered by the county prosecutors. This legislation was the result of a young girl in Millville who was attacked by a convicted sex offender who was released from prison. He did not register and was never properly tiered.