Convicted sex offender, former Kenner police
officer arrested, accused of logging onto social networking website
By Michelle Hunter, NOLA.com |e
A former Kenner Police officer previously
convicted of child pornography charges is accused of illegally using an online
dating website.
Kenner police arrested Robert Longo, 54,
Wednesday (July 23) on a charge of unlawful use of a social networking website,
said Sgt. Brian McGregor, spokesman for the department.
A jury convicted Longo in 2007. Longo had filed
a complaint about a possible crime involving his computer. But when Kenner
investigators searched the computer, they found images of minors engaged in sex
acts.
Longo, who had been an officer with the department
for about 6 ½ years at the time of his 2005 arrest, eventually resigned. He
served three years in prison until his release in 2010. Longo also had to
register as a Tier II sex offender.
State law bars offenders convicted of certain
crimes, including possession of juvenile pornography, from using social
networking websites. The law defines those as website on which the main purpose
is to interact socially with other users.
"(Longo) was fully aware, when registered
as a sex offender, of what he can and can't do," Kenner Police Chief
Michael Glaser said.
Police received a tip on July 14 that Longo had
created a profile under the username "quarterman01" on the dating
website Plenty of Fish. Unbeknownst to him, Longo began communicating with an
undercover Kenner detective on the site, McGregor said.
The two arranged a meeting, and police arrested
Longo on July 23 when he arrived for the rendezvous. Longo admitted knowing he
wasn't supposed to use a social networking website, McGregor said.
Longo, of 3945 Alabama Ave., Kenner, was booked
at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna. No bond had been set as
of Thursday afternoon.
. . . . . . . .
Anyone with information Robert Longo or his use
of the social networking website is asked to call Sgt. Robert McGraw at
504.712.2312.