TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Three New Jersey convicted sex offenders have been charged with surfing MySpace and Facebook, the state Attorney General's Office announced Friday.
New Jersey State Police believe it's the first time anyone has been charged under a state law adopted in January that made it illegal for some registered sex offenders to use the Internet. Violators can face up to 18 months in prison.
Authorities and the operators of the popular Web sites have been trying to scour them of predators. At least two other states -- Nevada and Florida -- have similar laws that make the sites off-limits to some sex offenders, and more states have considered following suit.
In Florida, sex offenders are required to register their e-mail and instant messaging names with the state, which turns the information over to MySpace, Facebook and other social networking sites so they can block their access to those sites.
In the New Jersey case, State Police Lt. Joseph Furlong said the suspects -- Pietro Parisi, 24, of Westville; Felice Black, 24, of Paterson; and Stanton Ulmer, 32, of Neptune -- did not seem to be behaving improperly online. ``But they are not allowed to be on there doing anything,'' Furlong said.
Furlong said state troopers set up accounts as teenagers to monitor the sex offenders, but he wouldn't elaborate on how they did that.
Authorities seized computers, a web camera and a cell phone -- and are still seeing what evidence might be on those devices.
The state law restricts Internet use for anyone who used a computer to help commit his original sex crime, such as trying to lure a potential victim with electronic correspondence. The law also may be applied to paroled sex offenders under lifetime supervision, but exempts computer work done as part of a job or search for employment.
The state Parole Board last year also adopted a rule prohibiting sex offenders under supervision them from using the Internet to socialize or use social networking sites.
All three of the men charged in New Jersey had underage victims in their original crimes and all are listed as moderate-risk sex offenders. Of the three, a judge had required only Parisi to be listed on the publicly available database of sex offenders.
None of the men could be reached for comment Friday. No working phone listing could be found for Parisi or Black; a call to a listing believed to be Ulmer's rang unanswered.
Furlong said each has admitted to maintaining an account on one of the sites even after being told by a parole officer that doing so was against the law and signing a paper to acknowledge that he understood.
The law and the investigation have roots in a civil investigation led by the state Division of Consumer Affairs, which found last year that nearly 300 registered sex offenders in the state had accounts -- under their own names -- on the sites.
Investigators set up their own accounts so they could monitor those users. Over a few months, they saw many of their accounts be canceled or go dormant. But a few, Furlong said, were still actively used.
A site that appeared to be Ulmer's Facebook page was still online Friday afternoon. It showed a picture of him wearing an baseball cap and a flannel shirt; the page was marked private and could only be viewed by those who Ulmer gave permission to view it.
Ulmer served nearly four years of a 10-year sentence for a 1999 sexual assault of a girl. He's been out of prison since 2003.
What appeared to be Parisi's site on MySpace said he last logged in on May 7.
He was released from prison last year after serving more than four years in prison for endangering the welfare for a child and sexual assault. According to the state's registry of offenders, the sex acts with the girls were consensual.
Black's MySpace page could not be found Friday. He was released from prison last year after serving nearly three years for a litany of charges, including drug possession, shoplifting and endangering the welfare of a child.
The men were all released from custody on their own recognizance.
None, Furlong said, are considered to be flight risks.
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