Parole Board Commissioner Arrested in Federal Sex Sting
A man that is responsible for granting offenders parole, may soon find himself behind bars. Chris Ortloff, a New York State parole board commissioner, was arrested on October 13, 2008, for allegedly arranging to have sex with two girls “he believed to be 11 and 12 year old minors,” according to the criminal complaint.
Ironically, Ortloff once pushed for the toughening of Megan’s Law, the law that created the New York’s sex offender registry. “Our government” Ortloff told the Plattsburgh Press-Republican in an interview in 2006, “must do more to keep dangerous, sexually violent predators away from children and women.”
Ongoing Investigation
According to federal prosecutors, Ortloff had been communicating with an undercover cop over the internet almost daily since June, believing the cop to be a parent of the girls. After months of online conversations with investigators posing as his would-be victims, Ortloff arranged to meet what he believed to be the two minors at an upstate New York hotel. After he showed up at the hotel with condoms, lubricants, sex toys and a camera police stormed the room and placed Ortloff under arrest.
Defenses Attorneys Complain of Entrapment
Ortloff’s attorney Andrew Safranko, told news reporters that he still needed to review the case but believes that a possible defense could be that his client did not know the “girls” were underage. He also suggested that this could lead to an entrapment defense pointing to comments made by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas Spina who said, “This was an undercover operation, there were no real minors.”
United States Magistrate Judge Randolph Treece ordered Ortloff detained while the government gathers evidence that it will present in a bail hearing later this week. If convicted, Ortloff faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years and up to a maximum of life in prison.