Cops, Facebook: Sex offenders shouldn’t be near the social network
A new Indiana law is putting social networking site Facebook under the microscope. So should registered sex offenders be allowed on Facebook?
On Monday, a federal judge upheld an Indiana ruling banning anyone on the sex offender registry from accessing the social network and others like it.
So, what about a similar law in Idaho?
There is currently no law banning Idaho sex offenders from using it, but law enforcement still wants anyone who’s on the sex offender registry list to get off Facebook.
On Tuesday, Bonneville County Sheriff Sgt. Jeff Edwards said his department frequently checks for registered sex offenders on the social network.
“This gentlemen, for example, public record that he’s a sex offender,” Edwards said as he pointed to the Facebook page of 38-year-old Ricky Doyle Allen.
Edwards once worked in the county’s sex crimes unit. He said it doesn’t take long to find an offender like Allen right where he shouldn’t be.
“I can go to Facebook and find ‘Ricky Yeti Allen’ and a photo of the same person,” said Edwards.
Edwards said Allen was convicted of statutory rape for having sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 26.
It’s not illegal in Idaho for registered sex offenders like Allen to have a page, but cops still don’t want them anywhere near Facebook.
“I don’t think that anyone who is a registered sex offender should have a Facebook page, period,” said Edwards.
Facebook agrees.
In the site’s “Terms” page, it reads, “You will not use Facebook if you are a convicted sex offender.”
Our station wanted to inform Allen of the policy and used the registry to visit him at home in Idaho Falls at a transitional housing program. He didn’t want to talk.
Edwards contacted Allen and reported him to Facebook. He said that is what the sheriff’s office does whenever an officer finds an offender on Facebook.
The ACLU plans to appeal the Indiana ruling banning sex offenders from the site.
If you know about an offender on Facebook, there are instructions on how to report them. They can be found, here:
