House arrest bracelet
WHITEHALL, Pa. - A former Northampton County police officer who sent sexually explicit messages and a nude photograph of himself to a 15-year-old girl online, will serve his prison sentence of 6-23 months under house arrest at his parent's home.
The case of Robert Proetto has set an apparent precedent in Pennsylvania, because state wiretap law doesn't apply to Internet communication, according to the ruling by Lehigh County Common Pleas Judge Kenneth Biehn.
Defense attorney Tommaso Lonardo had asked for a block on the prosecution's use of Proetto's Net messages, saying police broke the wiretap law when it gathered them. Under Pennsylvania law, police, news reporters, and others must have both parties' consent or a court order to record conversations in person or on the telephone.
But Biehn ruled the law didn't apply here because police didn't intercept the Proetto messages - and because Web users have no presumption of privacy. The Philadelphia Inquirer said Bristol Borough police collected the messages only after they were sent. Lonardo plans to appeal to Pennsylvania's Supreme Court.
Proetto was convicted in Biehn's court earlier this month of criminal solicitation, dissemination of obscene materials, and corruption of a minor. Trial testimony shows he'd also asked the girl - who reportedly has ambitions of becoming a police officer herself - to send him a video of herself performing a sex act.
Proetto has been suspended from the Colonial Police Department without pay since he was arraigned last November. Chief Daniel A. Spang told the Inquirer Proetto will not be allowed to work as a police officer again.
The girl submitted an impact statement to the court which said that "no matter how big and tough you are, you are not above the law and somebody out there, maybe a girl like me, will not hesitate to bring it to the attention of the police."
