Former New York State Parole Board Member and State Assemblyman Sentenced for Online Enticement of Minors

ALBANY, NY—Richard S. Hartunian, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York, and John Melville, Acting Superintendent, New York State Police, announced today that GEORGE C. ORTLOFF, age 62, of Plattsburgh, New York, was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy in federal court in Albany on his guilty plea to a one count Information charging him with the online enticement of minors. ORTLOFF was sentenced to 150 months and ordered to serve a lifetime term of supervised release. He also was ordered to (1) have no unsupervised contact with minors; (2) participate in a sex offender program; (3) register with the New York State Sex Offender Registry Program; and (4) pay a $50,000.00 fine.

ORTLOFF pled guilty on December 24, 2008. In connection with his plea, he admitted the following in a written plea agreement and during his plea proceeding:

At all times relevant herein, the defendant GEORGE C. ORTLOFF resided in Plattsburgh, New York and worked in and around the Albany, New York area, which are located within the Northern District of New York. On or between June of 2008, and October 13, 2008, ORTLOFF communicated with whom he thought was the mother of two minor females, ages 11 and 12 from Albany County, and said “minors” directly... However, he was actually conversing with undercover agents with the New York State Police’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. While communicating with said individuals, ORTLOFF knowingly misrepresented his identity. During their conversations, ORTLOFF was informed that the “minors” were 11 and 12 years of age. ORTLOFF discussed engaging in various sexual acts with said “minors” while conversing with them online and on the telephone. More specifically, during their conversations, he indicated that he would like to meet these minors for the purpose of engaging in, among other things, vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and masturbation. ORTLOFF eventually communicated that he was interested in meeting said “minors”, in part, for the purposes of engaging in, among other things, said sexual acts. A meeting was arranged by ORTLOFF to occur at a hotel room in Colonie, New York. On October 13, 2008, ORTLOFF drove to Colonie, New York to meet the individuals, who he thought were 11 and 12 year old girls, at a hotel room to engage in said sexual acts. He brought with him to said hotel, two vibrators—one for each of the minors—lubricant, and condoms. He was arrested at that time.

ORTLOFF was arrested by members of the New York State Police on October 13, 2008, at a hotel in Colonie, New York. At the time of his offense, ORTLOFF was a New York State Parole Board member. He previously served as a New York State Assemblyman from 1986 to 2006.

The case was investigated by the New York State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Computer Crimes Unit, with assistance from the New York State Police Special Investigations Unit, New York State Police investigators working in the Ray Brook, Plattsburgh, and Loudonville barracks, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cyber Predator Task Force.