Registered sex offender removes his Facebook page

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By Don Logana - bio | email

SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) - Facebook does not allow sex offenders on it's site, but as we found out, many profiles are still up on the site. See Sex offenders still sneaking onto Facebook.

WTOC caught up with Tim Aitken outside his tattoo parlor in Savannah.

"Are you Tim?" I asked. "Can I talk to you for a second? I'm Don with WTOC. This is your Facebook?"

"Uh huh, me and my wife," Aitken told WTOC.

"You were arrested for child molestation, correct?" I asked.

"Yes, in 2002," he said.

"But you are not supposed to have a Facebook page," I responded.

This month, Kim Moss found Aitken on Facebook.

"I blamed myself for a long time for bringing him into my family's life," Moss told WTOC.

In 2002, Tim Aitken was arrested and charged with the child molestation and computer exploitation of Moss's then 13 year-old daughter. He was later convicted, put on 12 years probation and registered as a sex offender.

Flash forward to now, and Moss ran across a familiar face on Facebook, someone she thought wasn't allowed to be on social networking sites. Except, Tim Aitken, as seen and spelled on the sex offender registry, was listed as Tim Atken, minus a vowel, on Facebook.

"Anyone who knows him, knows that is not the correct name spelling," Moss said. "Why would he do that? Is he trying to trick the system."

"As you may know, all you have to do is sign up and click on a few pieces of information," Warren Blanton told WTOC. "It doesn't have to be truthful information."

Blanton is an investigator with the Chatham County Sex Offender Registration and Tracking unit. He says Georgia law does not prevent registered sex offenders from using Facebook and Myspace, but those sites have their own policy and have been kicking offenders off their sites, or at least, the ones they catch.

Blanton says a simple, incorrect spelling of a name, like we saw with Aitken's, may allow him to fly under the radar.

"Right below his picture it says report or block this person," Blanton said. "It gives them options to contact Facebook."

We reported the page to Facebook and decided to go a step further. We visited Aitken in person.

"You are not supposed to have a Facebook page," I stated.

"No, but my wife maintains it," Aitkin told WTOC. "I stay away from computers as much as I can."

We asked Aitken about the curious spelling of his last name.

"I didn't know that," he said. "I don't hardly go on there. I don't look at it. She goes on there most of the time."

He told us his probation officer was aware of the Facebook page and commended the job the county does handling and arresting sex offenders.

"Chatham County does a good job of it," Aitken said. "I was just down there. They are on top of it. They really are. They ask for passwords they ask for everything."

Aitken promised his Facebook page would be deleted.

"Yeah, I thought it was harmless with her doing it. It's mostly her anyway," he said. "I can call her and tell her to take it down. It's not a big deal."

Moss is not taking chances, so she is spreading the word around Facebook, posting warnings on friends pages.

"I have friends who have children and I want them to be aware of the possible threat," she said. "I want it to get around, because if there is one, it's like a roach, there's more."

Tim Aitken kept his word and his facebook page no longer exists.

Earlier this year, MySpace removed more than 90,000 sex offenders from its site. Facebook is even bigger than MySpace, but only removed a little over 5,000. Both sites have policies banning sex offenders from using them.

You can keep your child's internet use in check. Authorities warn parents to be aware. If you would like a free copy of the Chatham County Sheriff's Department's Computer Cop software, contact them at 912.652.7700.

The software is free to the public and for more information about the software, see Free software to protect children online.