Sex Offender @ my school update
He got banned from the school.
CSI bars sex offender as student
by Staten Island Advance
Monday August 27, 2007, 9:48 PM
The College of Staten Island has yanked the welcome mat out from under a high-risk sex offender who'd enrolled for the semester.
Dr. Tomas Morales, the college's new president, issued the ban yesterday -- the first day of school -- in concert with other administrators who reviewed the case of Thomas Austin, 41, of Annadale.
'Dr. Morales reflected on the matter and felt it was best to prohibit this individual from attending classes here,' said Bob Huber, CSI spokesman.
The legal ramifications of the ruling were unclear last night, but Huber said the college didn't anticipate a lawsuit. He said any money Austin had paid toward tuition would be refunded.
Huber said CSI personnel had interviewed Austin, a disgraced former state trooper, late last week and told him to have no contact with the college's Children's Center or with teenagers enrolled in the college's high school programs.
Huber said he was unaware of what classes Austin had intended to take.
But a general revolt quickly emerged within the CSI community.
'My daughter is a junior at CSI. She got an e-mail from them informing her that, in compliance with [state law] requirements, they have to notify the students that a Level 3 sex offender will be attending classes,' a woman using the name GottaLoveSI posted on the Our Schools Forum of silive.com early Sunday morning.
In May 2004, Austin -- a former state trooper -- admitted he'd used a computer to try to induce a 14-year-old girl to take lewd photos of herself.
On June 16 of that year, State Supreme Court Justice Leonard P. Rienzi sentenced Austin to prison time and he was paroled in February, according to the state's Department of Correctional Services database.
Austin -- who stands 6 feet tall, weighs just over 200 pounds and has brown hair and blue eyes -- had previously been behind bars for taking pornographic photos of a 7-year-old girl.
The state Division of Criminal Justice Services lists Austin as a Level 3 sex offender, which means he is considered high-risk and must register for life. He is also required to verify his address every 90 days in person with the precinct having jurisdiction over his residence.
The law enforcement agency's Web site, www.criminaljustice.state.ny.us, which is available to the public, also notes that Austin is enrolled at CSI.
In his first sex offender trial in 1997, Austin was convicted of using a 7-year-old girl in a sexual performance.
He had been arrested in January 1996 in upstate Roundtop, just outside Albany, after police found pornographic photos of children he had taken. He had also downloaded child pornography from a computer, authorities said.
At the time of that arrest, Austin was assigned to a state police barracks in Catskill.
Austin was designated a Level 3 sex offender and sentenced to three and a half to five years in prison.
He was conditionally released in June 2000 after serving two-thirds of the maximum sentence.
In November 2000, Staten Island education officials informed parents that Austin had moved into the Annadale area.
It marked the first time since the state Sex Offender Registration Act went into effect in 1996 that police notified borough schools that a high-risk convicted sex offender had moved to the borough.
The act, more commonly known as Megan's Law, is named for Megan Kanka, a New Jersey girl slain in 1994 by a convicted pedophile who lived near her.
In his second sex offender case, in 2004, Austin admitted that he sent sexually explicit e-mails to a 14-year-old girl in February 2003 but did not plan to go beyond the online chats.
Rienzi sentenced Austin to a minimum two and a half years in jail and he was paroled in February.
Some of the special conditions Austin must follow as a level 3 sex offender, according to the Division of Criminal Justice Services, are: No alcohol; no contact with victim; no contact with children younger than 18 unless in the company of an adult who is at least 21 years of age and with permission of supervisor; curfew; no pornographic material and no sexual-enhancing medications.
CSI bars sex offender as student
by Staten Island Advance
Monday August 27, 2007, 9:48 PM
The College of Staten Island has yanked the welcome mat out from under a high-risk sex offender who'd enrolled for the semester.
Dr. Tomas Morales, the college's new president, issued the ban yesterday -- the first day of school -- in concert with other administrators who reviewed the case of Thomas Austin, 41, of Annadale.
'Dr. Morales reflected on the matter and felt it was best to prohibit this individual from attending classes here,' said Bob Huber, CSI spokesman.
The legal ramifications of the ruling were unclear last night, but Huber said the college didn't anticipate a lawsuit. He said any money Austin had paid toward tuition would be refunded.
Huber said CSI personnel had interviewed Austin, a disgraced former state trooper, late last week and told him to have no contact with the college's Children's Center or with teenagers enrolled in the college's high school programs.
Huber said he was unaware of what classes Austin had intended to take.
But a general revolt quickly emerged within the CSI community.
'My daughter is a junior at CSI. She got an e-mail from them informing her that, in compliance with [state law] requirements, they have to notify the students that a Level 3 sex offender will be attending classes,' a woman using the name GottaLoveSI posted on the Our Schools Forum of silive.com early Sunday morning.
In May 2004, Austin -- a former state trooper -- admitted he'd used a computer to try to induce a 14-year-old girl to take lewd photos of herself.
On June 16 of that year, State Supreme Court Justice Leonard P. Rienzi sentenced Austin to prison time and he was paroled in February, according to the state's Department of Correctional Services database.
Austin -- who stands 6 feet tall, weighs just over 200 pounds and has brown hair and blue eyes -- had previously been behind bars for taking pornographic photos of a 7-year-old girl.
The state Division of Criminal Justice Services lists Austin as a Level 3 sex offender, which means he is considered high-risk and must register for life. He is also required to verify his address every 90 days in person with the precinct having jurisdiction over his residence.
The law enforcement agency's Web site, www.criminaljustice.state.ny.us, which is available to the public, also notes that Austin is enrolled at CSI.
In his first sex offender trial in 1997, Austin was convicted of using a 7-year-old girl in a sexual performance.
He had been arrested in January 1996 in upstate Roundtop, just outside Albany, after police found pornographic photos of children he had taken. He had also downloaded child pornography from a computer, authorities said.
At the time of that arrest, Austin was assigned to a state police barracks in Catskill.
Austin was designated a Level 3 sex offender and sentenced to three and a half to five years in prison.
He was conditionally released in June 2000 after serving two-thirds of the maximum sentence.
In November 2000, Staten Island education officials informed parents that Austin had moved into the Annadale area.
It marked the first time since the state Sex Offender Registration Act went into effect in 1996 that police notified borough schools that a high-risk convicted sex offender had moved to the borough.
The act, more commonly known as Megan's Law, is named for Megan Kanka, a New Jersey girl slain in 1994 by a convicted pedophile who lived near her.
In his second sex offender case, in 2004, Austin admitted that he sent sexually explicit e-mails to a 14-year-old girl in February 2003 but did not plan to go beyond the online chats.
Rienzi sentenced Austin to a minimum two and a half years in jail and he was paroled in February.
Some of the special conditions Austin must follow as a level 3 sex offender, according to the Division of Criminal Justice Services, are: No alcohol; no contact with victim; no contact with children younger than 18 unless in the company of an adult who is at least 21 years of age and with permission of supervisor; curfew; no pornographic material and no sexual-enhancing medications.
