ALBEMARLE, N.C.
Deputies in Stanly County arrested a registered sex offender Wednesday for using Facebook.
Tavaras Lamar Harris, 20, of the 1600 block of Salisbury Avenue in Albemarle participated on Facebook on January 16, according to the Stanly County Sheriff's Office.
He was charged with two counts of Sex Offender Registry Violations.
Registered sex offenders are not allowed to be on any social networking sites.
Harris was given a $2,500 bond and has a first court appearance on February 20.
RALEIGH N.C.
A Raleigh man who is a registered sex offender is facing new charges after authorities say they found him using Facebook.
By law, sex offenders are not allowed to engage in any type of social media.
David Fields III, 24, of 1005 Mark St., Apartment B, is due in court on Friday.
Fields' original charges date back to 2005.
WENTWORTH N.C.
A convicted North Carolina sex offenderis going back to jail after deputies say he sent a facebook friend request to one of his victims.
Investigators say 36-year-old Victor Gaston of Reidsville was sentenced to at least five and a half years in prison Thursday after pleading guilty to one count of using social media as a sex offender.
Deputies say Gaston sent the request July 4, despite having been ordered to have no contact with the victim.
Officers said he had been using Facebook for about two weeks.
Gaston has been a registered sex offender since 2003. State prison records show he was released from prison in 2003 after serving nearly two years for taking indecent liberties with a child.
According to "terms of use" – you are not allowed to use facebook if you are a registered sex offender. This hasn’t stopped sex offenders from using facebook. Recently facebook has purged thousands of registered sex offenders from its site.
Law enforcement officials in North Carolina don’t check facebook for registered sex offender – they claim they don’t have the time or resources to do that. They will act if the public does all the work and collect all the evidence for them.
Charlotte- Mecklenburg police refused recently to comment to repeated emails requesting their policy on sex offenders and facebook.
Robert Tilford
Charlotte, N.C.
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