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Sex offenders still sneaking onto Facebook

By Don Logana - bio | email

SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) - Facebook, Myspace, Social networking web sites are popular for many of the younger set, and apparently, sex offenders.

The sites try to police who uses them, but there is no law prohibiting a registered sex offender from logging on.

Minors are not supposed to be on these websites either, but they find ways, whether their parents know or not.

What a parent may not know is who is becoming their child's friend on Facebook. While these sites are trying to sweep sex offenders out, one woman discovered her daughter's molester is on the popular site.

Kim Moss joined Facebook last year, and she enjoys the site.

"I have connected with a lot of folks from the past," Moss said.

Some, she wants to reconnect with. One she stumbled upon by accident, bringing back horrible memories.

"It was a family friend of mine who was charged with child molestation, who actually molested my daughter when she was 13-years-old," Moss said. "When I saw him on Facebook, it struck a nerve. I mean, good grief, what is he trying to pull here. I wonder if it is a violation of his strict probation?"

A closer look revealed a glaring mistake, and a possible loophole. The man in question is Tim Aitken. If you look at his Facebook page, his name is spelled wrong. It is spelled, "Atken,"  without an 'I'."

"This is a sex offender," Moss told WTOC. "Why is his name spelled differently? Is he trying to hide his past? Is he trying to trick the system. I wonder how many other offenders are out there, who just drop a vowel or drop anything and make them more accessible to Facebook and to children."

"Our hands are tied, there is nothing legally we can do to stop him from doing that," investigator Warren Blanton told WTOC.

You heard him right. Blanton is an investigator with Chatham County's Sex Offender Registration and Tracking unit. We showed him Tim Aitkin's Facebook profile page.

"Does he look familiar? Yes, absolutely, that would be him," Blanton said.

In 2002, Aitkin was charged with the child molestation and child computer exploitation of Moss's daughter, and later found guilty.

"He was convicted in 2004 for child molestation and that would trigger his responsibility to register under Georgia law," Blanton said.

Blanton says Facebook polices it's site for sex offenders, but most states do not make it illegal for someone, like Aitkin, to join a social networking site.

"Georgia law does not prevent those things. There is nothing in the statute for sex offenders preventing him from visiting those sites," he said.

However, Facebook policies did not stop Aitken from signing up.

"Does it bother you to see he got around the system but just leaving the letter 'I' out of his name? Yes it bothers me," Blanton told WTOC. "I think it was intentional. I know how to spell my last name. You know how to spell your last name. I doubt that's a mistake."

Blanton has a hunch Aitken is not the only local registered sex offender on Facebook.

"I would suspect there are quite a few who would create a fake account to join the site," he said. "It does concern me. Especially if they are using for the wrong purposes."

"I think they will go to any lengths to prey," Moss said.

Moss has gone as far as posting Tim Aitken's picture on friends' profiles, with warnings about his crime. She's very worried he's not the only one.

"If there are more folks out there, I think the public should be made aware of it," Moss said.

The question now, why did Tim Aitken feel the need to have a Facebook page, knowing he is a registered sex offender on a 12 year probation? Well, WTOC found Tim Aitken and asked him the question in person.

Find out what Aitken had to say about this, and the curious spelling of his last name Thursday night on THE News at 6:00  plus we will tell you how you can protect your family, and keep a closer eye on what your children are doing on the internet.

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