What a crazy past couple of months it has been for the senator for New Jersey. First, one of his interns was allegedly both an illegal immigrant and a registered sex offender (not that I have a problem with that, but the public blasted him for this. And now, he's under investigation for possible sexual solicitation with underage prostitutes offshore. Well, we will see how this plays out. Granted, he has not publicly pandered to victim industry advocates as much as some others, but he has been pro-sex offender law, including authoring a mandatory reporting law ("Caylee's Law"). We'll just have to wait and see how this plays out.
http://dailycaller.com/2013/01/25/emails-show-fbi-investigating-sen-bob-menendez-for-sleeping-with-underage-dominican-prostitutes/
Emails show FBI investigating Sen. Bob Menendez for sleeping with underage Dominican prostitutes
Posted By David Martosko On 1:52 AM 01/25/2013
Documents published online for the first time Thursday indicate that the FBI opened an inquiry into New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez on August 1, 2012, focusing on repeated trips he took to the Dominican Republic with longtime campaign contributor and Miami eye doctor Salomon Melgen. TheDC reported in November that Menendez purchased the service of prostitutes in that Caribbean nation at a series of alcohol-fueled sex parties.
The documents, which The Daily Caller had obtained hours earlier from an anonymous source, also indicate that Carrie Levine, research director at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), was alerted on April 9, 2012 to Menendez’s habit of paying for sex while outside the United States. (RELATED: Read the tipster’s dossier on Sen. Menendez)
ABC News senior investigative producer Rhonda Schwartz was aware as early as May 2, 2012, the documents show, when Levine wrote a source in the Dominican Republic to say that she had “shared your allegations, but not your identities, with a respected, trusted journalist with whom we have worked on other stories.”
In another email two days later, Levine identified that journalist as one who “works for ABC News.” By May 16, Schwartz was emailing Levine’s original source with questions.
Information made available to Schwartz and Levine at that time included allegations that some of Menendez’s prostitutes were as young as 16. The source also alleged that Sen. Menendez was taking “non-authorized trips” to the Dominican Republic, suggesting that he may have been evading Senate Ethics committee rules covering disclosures when third parties pay for a senator’s travel. (RELATED: NRSC says Menendez may have broken Senate ethics rules, federal campaign finance laws)
Those rules require senators to secure approval from the committee before allowing a private person or company to provide transportation or lodging related to official business. But the Senate’s “gift rule database,” available online, contains nothing related to a Menendez visit to the Dominican Republic.
The rules also allow senators to accept free lodging or travel as gifts from friends. Those transactions must also be documented on an annual financial disclosure report, and approved in advance by Senate Ethics committee if the value is more than $335. Menendez’s disclosures since the mid-1990s, when he was a member of the House of Representatives, include no mention of such gifts.
On Sept. 11, 2012, the documents indicate, the same source who provided information to Levine and Schwartz also sent an FBI Special Agent in Miami what he described as “the testimony of one of the girls.”
“I have in my possession the original written in her own hand,” the source wrote. “She’s 19 now, but took part in private parties with Senator Menendez being only 16.”
That testimony-style interview was published online along with the other Menendez-related documents on Thursday.
A onetime-senior state parole officer – who oversaw parole officers who supervised sex offenders – pleaded guilty on kiddie porn charges in Brooklyn federal court today, authorities said.
James Leone, 50, was arrested at his Long Island home in September after federal law enforcement agents searched his computer and found graphic photos and videos of children being abused, according to court documents.
Leone pleaded guilty to accessing child pornography with intent to view, confirmed Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn.
He faces ten years in prison.
Before he became a parole officer, Leone worked as a New York City child abuse investigator, according to court documents.
The images Leone downloaded depicted girls ten or 12 years old being sexually abused by their parents and brother, according to court documents.
Leone remains in home detention on $500,000 bond, court documents and Nardoza said.
A woman who answered the phone at Leone’s home in Bethpage said he wasn’t there and said, “I don’t think he’s going to be talking to any reporters today.”
jsaul@nypost.com
