ALBANY — State Parole Board member and former Plattsburgh-area lawmaker George “Chris” Ortloff used an Internet Web camera and traveled to a Colonie motel on Monday planning to rape two young girls he believed were ages 11 and 12, federal prosecutors charged Tuesday.
Ortloff, 61, an outspoken supporter of stricter penalties for sex offenders, was thwarted when the “sisters” — who he thought would be dropped off by a parent — turned out to be undercover police, authorities said.
Ortloff was arrested Monday at a hotel near Albany International Airport, then taken to the county jail. He has been temporarily relieved of his duties as a parole board member.
Wearing an orange jail outfit, Ortloff appeared in U.S. District Court Tuesday afternoon to face a charge of trying to induce an underage victim to engage in a sexual act.The charges are federal because America Online, which he used to contact the alleged victims, is located in Virginia.
If convicted, he faces 10 years to life in prison. A conviction would also involve a fine of $250,000 and at least five years of post-release supervision.
Authorities said he tried to set up the tryst during a Sept. 10 Web chat. He promised to bring lubricant and sex toys for the rendezvous, according to a federal complaint. The complaint alleges he had condoms, sex toys and a camera when authorities confronted him at the motel.
As a Republican member of the Assembly, Ortloff pushed for the toughening of Megan’s Law, the law that created the state’s sex offender registry.
“Our government must do more to keep dangerous, sexually violent predators away from children and women,” Ortloff told the Plattsburgh Press-Republican in January 2006.
Outside court, his attorney, Andrew Safranko, told reporters that he still needed to review the case, but a possible defense could be that his client did not know the “girls” were under age. He also said an entrapment defense was possible.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Spina said Ortloff had been communicating with the “girls” since June and believed their parents would drop them off at the motel.
In 2006, Ortloff was appointed to the 19-member state Parole Board by then-Gov. George Pataki for a six-year term.
He served in the Assembly from 1986 to 2006, and was assistant minority leader. With then-Assemblyman Pete Grannis of Manhattan, he co-authored legislation that created the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial Commission.
Ortloff is member of the board of trustees of the Adirondack Museum and a former chairman of the Clinton County Republican Committee. In Plattsburgh, he works as a real estate sales associate.