“Ok cool, can we make love in the shower?” “Can we use cooking oil for lube? I heard that works too.” “What happens is up to us, we own our own destiny.”
Real messages, sent from middle aged men in Okeechobee and St. Lucie County to police officers posing as 15- year-old girls.
The two are now convicted sex offenders, but still have Facebook profiles.
This comment: "You so sexy I just really want to get to know you better,” was posted on a young girl’s picture, taken off a Fort Pierce man’s Facebook, years after he was convicted of sex battery against a victim under 15.
“The internet is a very attractive place for bad guys to go out and try to victimize people,” says Port St. Lucie Officer Justin Kerns. “The major concern is, there is no cure, for what they've done. So it's always a concern that they're going to reoffend.”
Florida law doesn’t allow sex offenders and predators on social media, unless they register those accounts, called internet identifiers with the state. Internet identifiers are anything from email addresses, to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter accounts, and even online dating profiles. The minute a new account is created, they have 48 hours to do so.
If they don’t register, “it's a third degree felony, it's punishable by up to 5 years in prison.”
FINDING SEX OFFENDERS ONLINE ILLEGALLY
A Contact 5 investigation found 31 sex offenders, even some predators, on with Facebook accounts they didn’t register. Local law enforcement has opened at least a dozen criminal investigations into some of those offenders so far.
We downloaded a list of area sex offenders from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s website, then asked FDLE for a list of all sex offenders with internet identifiers.
Of all area registered sex offenders, 61.5% have registered at least one internet identifier: 4% have registered 10 or more, one as many as 96; 38.5% have not registered any.
We looked at the offenders who had not registered any accounts, searching several social media sites for their names.
When we found a name match, we compared mug shots from the sex offender registry with their photos on the site; we also looked at listed hometowns and social media friends/relatives, matching that information we gathered through public records aggregators.
In order to make sure the possible matches we found were accurate, we shared out findings with local law enforcement agencies for confirmation.
Of the several hundred offenders we checked we found 32 possible matches. Law Enforcement confirmed more than a dozen of those we found, are under investigation. We are not naming them, so they are not tipped off.
TRACKING SEX OFFENDERS/PREDATORS
As the sex offender coordinator, Officer Kerns has arrested 6 sex offenders in 5 years for failing to register a Facebook.
“Did it surprise you to hear that I was able to find some unregistered on Facebook? No, it doesn't, because there are so many sex offenders and if they want, they can change their name at will on Facebook,” says Port St. Lucie Officer Justin Kerns.
Kerns says, “I generally try to search once a year, I go through the registry. The difficulties are, as soon I found a profile, they could have already created another one somewhere else, changed their name.”
“There's definitely no catch all for us. The system is based upon trust. We're online, we're watching, we're listening. The major concern for us is that they would be online under surreptitious names trolling for children,” says Martin County Detective Derek Brieske, who is in charge of 170 sex offenders/predators.
Martin County has made arrests in the past too, for offenders failing to register their Facebook, but like Port St. Lucie, admits it can be difficult to track because of the vast amount of internet sites out there.
“We are constantly being taught and we have to morph along with the social media sites as they emerge because that's how people communicate,” says Brieske.
“I'm finding new ones everyday I've never even heard of,” says Kerns.
“It's really a matter of. Do we need more resources? Of course. Who doesn't? But we are not going to get behind the eight ball, we track them,” says Brieske.
Detective Brieske says the legislature needs to take a fresh look at laws that govern the internet.
“I guess an analogy would be, you have somebody who gets two or three DUIs they're not allowed to be around bars, yet you're allowing somebody {who is a convicted sex offender/predator} access to social media which ultimately could lead to access to children, access to pornography.”
WHAT CAN PARENTS DO?
Both Martin County and Port St. Lucie enforcement agree:
“Parents really need to take an active role especially if their child has a cell phone.”
If your child has a Facebook, or other social media, Officer Justin Kerns recommends parents say, “I need your password, I need your user name and password so I can look at your page.”
“If they have a cell phone, take it away at bedtime,” to avoid any late night chats with people a parent may not know.
CONTACT 5 CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS
St. Lucie County tells Contact 5 they have opened 3 criminal investigations, as a result of the names we gave them.
Officer Kerns has started an investigation into one of the 3 names we gave him.
Another, Derrick White, was just arrested for failing to register a Facebook. Kerns had Facebook preserve the account for evidence, so it’s still up.
A third had just registered their Facebook name, shortly before we gave him the list, but after we had found him on Facebook. Kerns had that account removed from Facebook anyway.
He goes one step further than most, asking Facebook to remove offender profiles, whether they’re registered or not. That’s because Facebook has its own set of rules, saying sex offenders/predators cannot have an account. But Facebook does not patrol themselves, they rely on public tips.
4 illegal accounts were found in Martin County, sparking one active investigation. Martin County tells us the other 3 are dormant accounts, which means they haven’t been used in some time, but they’re being monitored by deputies. State law says all accounts must be registered.
When we asked PBSO about some of the 15 names we gave them, they would not go into specific details, because “of an open and ongoing investigation.”
Okeechobee County and Indian River County were checking into the names we handed over as well.