|
"Life is so wonderful and I know I am not meant to spend it alone," Bradley, 51, of Mastic Beach, wrote on his profile Web page.
His profile didn't go unnoticed for long.
Last week, Parents for Megan's Law began receiving anonymous tips that a registered sex offender was looking for love online -- a direct violation of his probation.
The Stony Brook child advocacy group created a profile of their own: Carol, a divorced mother of two young sons living in Shirley. They sent him a message, and, to their surprise, he wrote back.
Wednesday, the organization held a news conference at its headquarters highlighting the case as an example of the potential dangers online dating poses for single mothers and their children.
Laura Ahearn, the group's executive director, likened such Web sites, where women frequently post photographs of their children, as "shopping lists" for convicted sex offenders. "This could be capturing the first stage in the grooming process," she warned, referring to how sexual predators gain the trust of their victims.
Contacted Wednesday by telephone, Bradley expressed shock that an advocacy group had publicized his profile.
"I have no idea about it," Bradley said before referring comment to his attorney, who could not be reached.
The Suffolk Department of Probation has confiscated his computer and is investigating. If they find he was using the Internet for social purposes, a judge could revoke his probation and sentence him to time in prison, said John Desmond, director of the county's Department of Probation.
On his profile, Bradley says he owns a service center and gas station.
Ahearn and Bill Noble, of the Safer Online Dating Alliance, said that few online dating Web sites screen their registrants, and advised checking the name against the National Sex Offender Registry, and even paying for a criminal background check.
| 
