Rensselaer County DA Abelove sues local judge
TROY – A registered sex offender’s failure to report signing up for Facebook led to the unusual case of Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel Abelove suing North Greenbush Town Justice Stephanie Piel.
The lawsuit in state Supreme Court in Rensselaer County is one Abelove, Piel and her attorney won’t comment on. But it is a case that court observers and attorneys say they haven’t seen happen before at the county courthouse.
North Greenbush police learned on Dec. 1 that sex offender Richard Hansen was on Facebook and one of his victims contacted officers to alert them that he “sent her a friend request on Facebook… which scared her.” The police report further states “that she didn’t accept (Hansen’s) friend request and blocked him (on) Facebook.”
Hansen, 77, of Wynantskill is a Level 3 registered sex offender, or a sexually violent offender, who is on probation, according to the state Division of Criminal Justice Services. He was convicted of felony first-degree sexual abuse in 1992 and felony second-degree course of sexual conduct in 2008, according to the state records.
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Rensselaer-County-DA-sues-local-judge-12511518.php