AUGUSTA – On MySpace, there are 124 profiles that could belong to registered sex offenders in Maine, according to information collected recently by the Attorney General’s Office.

State officials made the request after the popular social networking Web site uncovered 7,000 profiles believed to belong to offenders with the help of Sentinel, an online security company.

Last week, however, the number of profiles nationwide climbed to 29,000, so the Attorney General’s Office is submitting another request for an updated list.

MySpace has removed all profiles assumed to belong to registered sex offenders.

Carlos Diaz, assistant attorney general and legal counsel for the Maine State Police, said the office is going through a verification process of the profiles already found, by cross referencing photos, personal information, e-mail addresses and IP addresses.

“We don’t want to go out and take MySpace’s word for it,” Diaz said.

From this information, officials will look for offenders violating probation by prohibited contact with minors or prohibited use of the Internet.

Diaz said MySpace’s investigation started after several civil cases were filed against it, seeking to hold it responsible for providing a forum for initial contact in sex abuse cases.

“They’re basically trying to protect their own backyard,” Diaz said.

While MySpace tells users they must be at least 14 to register, there is no age verification in place. Since profits depend on advertising revenue, MySpace has a financial interest to attract as much traffic as possible.

“On the Internet, you can pretend to be whoever you want to be,” Diaz said.

There have been several investigations in Maine involving adult men who solicited sex from young girls, initially contacting them through MySpace, Diaz said.

One involved a 20-year-old man now living in Rangeley, Chad Alexander, who is on the state’s sex offender registry after two sexual assault convictions. One, in 2006, involved a 15-year-old Vermont girl whom he had met on MySpace, Rangeley police told the Sun Journal previously.

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