MySpace Profiles Lead to Sex-Offender Arrests: 4 Houstonians Among Those Held, Abbott Says

Jun 15, 05:19 AM

Current Headlines: By Peggy O'Hare, Houston Chronicle

Jun. 15--Seven convicted sex offenders -- including four in Houston -- have been arrested after their profiles were found on the My Space.com social networking Web site in violation of their parole or probation, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said Thursday.

But Abbott could not say whether any of the men had actually approached, or tried to have a dialogue with, children on the Internet.

"That will be information that our ongoing investigation will determine," Abbott said. "We wanted to arrest these people as quickly as possible."

Some suspects' computers were seized for further scrutiny, Abbott said.

The development comes less than a month after MySpace agreed to supply attorneys general nationwide with the names of sex offenders who had profiles on its Web site. It also agreed to provide those users' Internet protocol addresses, e-mail addresses and personal profile information.

The Web site teamed up with Miami-based Sentinel Tech to build a database of registered sex offenders known as Sentinel Safe, compiled from state records, to determine which customers had criminal histories.

MySpace officials initially resisted handing over that information, but Abbott issued a subpoena last month forcing the network to release the data pertinent to Texas.

Arrested in Houston in Patrick Joseph Blevins, 49 the past 10 days were, of the 10400 block of Wild Hollow; Reginald Lee Collins, 27, of the 9000 block of Deer Trail; Ronald Daven Metoyer, 41, of the 4800 block of Kashmere; and Robert Shepard Walter, 23, of the 11500 block of South Marianne.

Blevins, Collins and Metoyer admitted violating parole by having and using a MySpace account, Abbott's office said. All are held without bail.

Walter admitted having a personal MySpace account in violation of his probation, attorney general's officials said. He also was charged last month with failing to register as a sex offender and ordered held without bail, court records show.

Also arrested were Scott Peter Hansen, 44, in Glenn Heights, south of Dallas; Jason Labronte Carr, 31, in Austin; and Jeremy Bryan Polak, 28, in Round Rock.

Polak was arrested at a Dell office after the attorney general's office learned he was working there. He was arrested on charges of failing to register as a sex offender.

Sex offenders are told not to use the Internet while on parole, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said.

Abbott and others expressed concern last year about whether MySpace did enough to protect young users. But the company said Thursday that it supports Abbott's two-week operation.

MySpace said it built the Sentinel Safe database to ensure law officers could arrest registered sex offenders violating their probation or parole.

"We're pleased that the information provided by Sentinel Safe aided Attorney General Abbott and local law enforcement in these arrests. We thank the attorney general for his commitment to online safety," said MySpace chief security officer Hemanshu Nigam in a prepared statement Thursday.

peggy.ohare@chron.com

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