Parole Board Commissioner Arrested for Setting Up Sex with Children

Chris Ortloff, state parole board commissioner, was arrested for allegedly arranging to have sex with 11- and 12-year-old girls. The U.S. Attorney's office said Ortloff had been chatting with the girls' "mother" (an undercover state police investigator) online since June and arranged to meet the girls at an Albany hotel on Monday. According to the Times-Union, when the police went to to the hotel room, the 61-year-old father of two was "buck naked" and had "condoms, lubricants, sex toys and a camera." His lawyer suggested his defense may include entrapment and that his client didn't know the girls were underage. And when he was Plattsburgh's assemblyman, Ortloff supported Megan's Law, "Our government must do more to keep dangerous, sexually violent predators away from children and women."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on October 15, 2008 8:09 AM

Comments [rss]

Spirit of 76

"Didn't know the girls were underage"? Does his lawyer not know that even online chats and emails are semi-permanently logged?

FrankMartin

I don't care if he was sent an invitation. He, apparently, made the choice. He got his gear and made the trip and took of his clothes. If you can be entrapped or enticed to do this sort of thing then you have a problem. At 61 I wonder if this is the first time.

So of to court and a trial and we see what happens.

Sadly he was probably the victim once, it is often the case. But if entrapment helps break the cycle, I'm not sure that bothers me enough to risk more victims.

ed_Extinct

Sex offenders must be executed. There is no other solution.

ed_Extinct

Sex offenders must be executed. There is no other solution.

Steven

Disgusting. At least find someone who is the legal age.

Wickedson

He didn't do anything.

Why is he under arrest?

Felix Hoenikker

5

Someone stick a pencil in my mind's eye.

Quidnam

I know "sex offenders" are about the only class of people with a popularity rating below terrorists and cat killers, but does anyone else find it more than a little problematic that the government created the imaginary illegal scenario and spent months egging this guy on before charging him with "setting up sex with children"?

I'm all about catching actual predators, but I hope that authorities are not running roughshod over ethical boundaries and devoting valuable resources to creating "perpetrators" that might not otherwise exist. The fact that such easy publicity is no doubt boosting some DA's political career makes it all the more important to ask a question or two.

FrankMartin

I wonder if this was his first time. He sure went prepared like he has been there before.

sinisterteashop

Arresting pedophiles for online fantasies and online fantasies of murdering and raping pedophiles in prison. Absurd.

JRod5417

"when the police went to to the hotel room, the 61-year-old father of two was "buck naked" and had "condoms, lubricants, sex toys and a camera."

All together now...EEWWWWWWWWW.

Guest

Why is it always the holier-than-thou Republicans that get caught doing the worst things?

Dirk

He's going to have a great time behind bars... a child molester and the parole board commissioner. Wait until his fellow inmates find out.

Jen Chung

It's a pretty icky case. I wonder whether any of the prisoners up for parole will try to appeal their decisions. One of the prisoners was Mark David Chapman!

ides_of_march

"Our government must do more to keep dangerous, sexually violent predators away from children and women."

A bullet behind the ear will do the trick. Recidivism rate: zero.