Ortloff sentenced to 12.5 years in prison

Disgraced former Republican Assemblyman and "tough on crime" New York Parole Commissioner George "Chris" Ortloff received his sentence in Albany today for attempting to arrange the rape of two preteen girls at a Colonie motel through their "mother", an undercover State police investigator.

His sentencing, postponed five times while negotiations took place, has been followed intently by lawmakers and inmates alike, concerned that he may receive too lenient a judgement. Their concerns were justified, as despite describing Ortloff's actions as amongst the most heinous and disturbing crimes possible, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas J. McAvoy sentenced him to 12 years and six months in prison, far less than the sentence of between 15 years and eight months and 19 years and seven months recommended by Federal prosecutors.

Ortloff, once one of the most powerful Republican lawmakers in the North Country, was also fined $50,000 – which McAvoy said he had the resources to pay – and was ordered to have no unsupervised contact with minors, to participate in a sex offender program, and to register as a sex offender.

He will have to be supervised for the rest of his life upon his release.

In a twenty minute prepared statement, Ortloff claimed to be completely cured of his addiction to child pornography and his desire to have sex with very young girls. Assistant U.S. District Attorney Thomas Spina, who prosecuted the case, stated unequivocally that Ortloff does pose a danger to the community.

Ortloff will receive a taxpayers-funded $53,136.00 yearly pension for the rest of his life, even while in prison, guaranteed under the state Constitution.

Effectively, his $50,000 fine is being funded by New York taxpayers.

See also:
Many say Ortloff got off too easily (Adirondack Daily Enterprise, August 11 2010)
Former Plattsburgh Assemblyman Chris Ortloff receives 12 year sentence after child sex plea (North Country Public Radio News audio file, August 11 2010)
12 years for act without defense (Albany Times Union, August 10 2010)
Ortloff sentenced to 12.5 years in prison (Press Republican, August 10 2010)
Ortloff gets 12-1/2 years in prison (Adirondack Daily Enterprise, August 10 2010)
Community reacts to Ortloff sentencing (Press Republican, August 10 2010)
Ex-NY lawmaker gets 12 1/2 years in sex case (Associated Press, August 10 2010)
Some thoughts on the sentencing of former Plattsburgh Assemblyman Chris Ortloff (North Country Public Radio blog, August 10 2010)

Ortloff sentencing delayed for fifth time until August 10 2010

Former Assemblyman and New York Parole Commissioner Chris Ortloff's sentencing on child sex charges has been delayed for a fifth time.

Ortloff was due for sentencing on July 13, but according to U.S. Assistant District Attorney Thomas Spina, the proceedings have been pushed back until 2:30 p.m. August 10 in Albany.

This delay, as with the others, was granted to allow the defense more time to address issues with the pre-sentencing report, which has an impact on the terms and length of sentencing. Spina said the defense plans to submit letters asking for a lighter sentence.

Ortloff could be sentenced to a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life, plus a $250,000 fine. He will receive a taxpayers-funded $53,136.00 yearly pension for the rest of his life, even while in prison, guaranteed under the state Constitution.

Update August 4th:

"Federal prosecutors are recommending a prison sentence of between 15 years and eight months and 19 years and seven months for former North Country Assemblyman Chris Ortloff.

The time range is based on federal sentencing guidelines for his sex crime with credit for his cooperation with authorities.

Ortloff's defense wants him sentenced to the 10-year minimum, arguing that his cooperation, history of public service, continued support from people who knew him and other factors mean the guidelines would result in too severe of a sentence in his case."

Full story by the Adirondack Daily Enterprise.

See also:
Ortloff sentencing tomorrow (North Country Public Radio News, August 9 2010)
Ortloff gives names in hopes of reducing prison time (Press Republican, August 5 2010)
Ortloff prison debate: Feds want 15-20 years; defense seeks 10 (Adirondack Daily Enterprise, August 4 2010)
Ex-Assemblyman's computer files aided in sex probe (Times Union, August 4 2010)
Sentencing for Ortloff still on for Aug. 10 (Adirondack Daily Enterprise, July 29 2010)
Ortloff sentencing delayed yet again (Times Union Blog, July 12 2010)
Another delay in Ortloff sentencing (Press Republican, July 10 2010)
Both sides want Ortloff’s sentencing delayed a month (Adirondack Daily Enterprise, June 25 2010)

Ortloff sentencing delayed for fourth time until July 13 2010

Former Assemblyman and New York Parole Commissioner Chris Ortloff's sentencing on child sex charges has been delayed for a fourth time.

Ortloff's sentencing, scheduled this time for March 8, has been pushed back until 11 a.m. on July 13 in Albany, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Spina said Monday. Ortloff remains in jail, however.

"The defense filed a memorandum requesting the adjournment, citing the need for additional time to respond to issues in the pre-sentencing investigation report and to provide the court with additional materials relevant to sentencing," Spina said.

The defense sent the letter to Judge Thomas J. McAvoy on Monday, Feb. 22, and he granted the four-month delay a day or two later. Spina said the number of delays is unusual, and he thinks this will be the last one.

"I don't think the judge is going to entertain any more requests," Spina said.

Full story:
Ortloff sentencing delayed 4th time (Adirondack Daily Enterprise, March 2 2010)
Ortloff sentencing pushed back again (Times Union Blog, March 1 2010) has the full text of the request for the delay in sentencing.
Ortloff sentencing delayed again (Press Republican, February 27 2010)

Ortloff sentencing delayed again until March 8th 2010

The sentencing of former Assemblyman and NY Parole Commissioner George “Chris” Ortloff has been delayed yet again, this time for a further four months.

His sentencing was originally adjourned from April 23rd until August 11th, then was delayed and was due to take place on November 9th 2009 at 2 p.m.

Now according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Spina, Ortloff's sentencing has once again been delayed and will now take place on March 8th 2010 at 11.30 a.m. at the federal district court in Albany.

"The parties need some additional time to address some sentencing issues," Spina said in a telephone message.

See also:
Ortloff sentencing delayed again (Albany Times Union, November 9 2009).
Ortloff sentencing delayed again (Press Republican, November 5 2009).
Ortloff’s sentencing delayed a third time — now to March (Adirondack Daily Enterprise, November 5 2009).
Ortloff sentencing delayed again (WCAX.com, November 5 2009).

Ortloff sentencing delayed yet again

The sentencing of former Assemblyman and NY Parole Commissioner George “Chris” Ortloff has been delayed yet again.

Ortloff, 61, a former Republican Assemblyman from Plattsburgh, is awaiting sentencing on his guilty plea to a felony count of enticement of minors, after he was caught last fall in a sting operation trying to set up sexual liaisons with two pre-teen sisters.

Ortloff surrendered himself to federal authorities in April to begin serving his prison term for enticement of minors, although he has not yet been formally sentenced.

His sentencing was adjourned from April 23rd until August 11th, and has now been delayed yet again until November 9th at 2 p.m. at the federal district court in Albany.

U.S. Assistant District Attorney Thomas Spina stated that the latest delay was due to a scheduling conflict.

Ortloff faces a mandatory minimum of ten years in federal prison and maximum penalty of life.

See also:
Ortloff sentencing remains in holding pattern (Albany Times Union, August 11 2009).
Ortloff sentencing delayed (Press Republican, August 9 2009).
Ortloff sentencing delayed until Nov. 9 (Adirondack Daily Enterprise, August 5 2009).
Ortloff sentencing delayed for second time (WPTZ.com, August 4 2009).

Ortloff sentencing delayed until August 11th 2009

Former NYS Parole Board Commissioner Chris Ortloff's sentencing has been delayed and is now scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on August 11th at the federal courthouse in Albany. In the meantime, the former assemblyman's bail will be revoked and he will begin serving time pending his sentencing. Ortloff has been free on conditions and a $100,000 bond since late December last year, when he pleaded guilty to a single count of online enticement of a minor.

See Jail time for Ortloff to begin Thursday: sentencing delayed from this week until August (Adirondack Daily Enterprise, April 22 2009) for the full story.

From the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, quoting Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Spina:

"The minimum sentence for Ortloff's charges is 10 years' imprisonment with a maximum of life, plus a $250,000 fine. Spina said federal prisoners are "typically eligible for 50 days of good time a year if they comply with all the programs."

Additionally, Spina said, they are sometimes released to a halfway house four months before the end of their sentence to help their reintegration into the community. Following this, if Ortloff is sentenced to the 10-year minimum, he would have to serve more than eight years before he could be released."

The authors of the article note that Chris Ortloff was paid $101,600 a year on the Parole Board and will continue to be paid $53,136 a year for the rest of his life, even in prison. This pension is guaranteed by New York State's Constitution.

See also:
Ortloff sentencing delayed to August (Press Republican, April 21 2009)
Ortloff starts sentence for trying to seduce children (Albany Times Union, April 23 2009)
Ortloff is in custody to await sentencing later this year (Times Union Capitol Confidential Blog, April 23 2009)

The Monster Among Them, by Billy Doane

Thought-provoking article which raises questions about the parole system in NYS:

The Monster Among Them – by Billy Doane

On October 15, 2008, New York Parole Board commissioner Chris Ortloff was arrested in an Albany motel for soliciting sex from minors on the Internet. Ortloff, a Board member for two years, was apprehended in consequence of a four-month sting operation by the New York State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (Albany Times Union, 10/15/08). According to the official complaint, Ortloff believed he was arranging a sexual liaison with two children aged eleven and twelve. Instead, he was arrested in his motel room, naked, and in possession of sex toys and lubricants. Since his arrest, he has admitted to having sex with nine and twelve year olds and having an indecent fondness for toddlers (New York Daily News, 10/15/08). When Ortloff was not preying on children, he was functioning as a no-nonsense Parole Board member known for his tough on crime approach to parole consideration. The blatant hypocrisy, absence of moral conscience, and violation of the public trust exhibited by Ortloff's criminal conduct exposed a Jekyll and Hyde persona that turns an accusing finger back on the parole system as it currently exists in New York State.

As anyone who has been before a parole board knows, these hearings are conspicuously devoid of any substantive method by which an inmate can be judged by total strangers in a fifteen-minute appearance. Even the federal courts have noted the "nebulousness" of New York State's "extremely vague statutory standards", and that the "statute's language does not provide a workable decision-making scheme and the broad grant of discretion has not been structured for exercise in a fair, rational and non-discriminatory fashion" (U.S. ex. rel. Johnson v. Chairman, 500 F2d, 925). The absence of objective criteria is substituted with the "unfettered discretion" of Parole Board members. One would think the Board's discretionary authority would be tethered to concrete data concerning proficiency, conduct, performance of prison duties, completion of DOCS mandated programs and other positive accomplishments directed toward rehabilitation. However, parole consideration under NYS Executive Law § 259 (i) specifically states that parole is not a reward for these factors. There is no other objective criterion that provides an empirical measure of individual self-improvement in a given period of incarceration. Since the parole statute excludes reliance on prison accomplishments, lacks objective criteria, and a statutory mandated decision-making scheme, how does the Parole Board determine who does and does not present a continued public risk? Given the vagueness of the statute, the provision of wide discretionary powers infers a dependence on an intuitive element in the decision-making process.

This intuitive theory is substantiated by the statutory requirement of physical appearance before a panel of Parole Board members. What are they looking for? What does rehabilitation look or sound like when detached from the unrewardable data of prison conduct and achievement? American Idol judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson are held to a higher standard of objective measure than New York State parole commissioners. For two years, the New York Division of Parole has had a monster in its midst, an admitted predatory child-molester who exerted a great deal of energy in pursuing his degeneracy while protecting his upstanding public image. How many parole commissioners were duped by this sociopath? All of them apparently; yet these same commissioners, who could not detect Chris Ortloff’s diabolical character even while working closely with him, are expected to determine in a fifteen-minute hearing whether if placed on parole, an individual will remain at liberty without violating the law. This is not an indictment of parole commissioners who failed to recognize the demon lurking beneath the public face of Chris Ortloff. After all, they are only human, and human beings are simply not capable of penetrating the hidden self in others. That’s the point. Even well-meaning Parole Board appointees are subjected to a flawed statute that reduces parole from a rational system of practical evaluation to a penological exercise in clairvoyance. Not only is the system of subjective prognostication unfair to the individuals who have spent years – decades even – in the sincere commitment to rehabilitation, but clearly, a hit-or-miss, spin-the-wheel guessing game is a violation of public trust. At the very least, the state could replace the political pretence that parole is a rational process with the public virtue of government transparency; discontinue the political patronage of Parole Board appointments. This will save the state more than 1.5 million dollars in annual six-figure salaries. At considerable savings, contract Ms. Cleo and the Psychic Hotline, which will transfer the nebulousness of parole from the uncertain speculation of rank amateurs, and place it in the mystical minds of professional soothsayers. In the meantime, Ortloff’s arrest should give pause to Commissioner Alexander and all of the remaining Parole Board members. Evaluating individual character, integrity, and potential, requires more than the superficial observation and cursory examination indicative of current parole practice that merely satisfies a minimum statutory requirement. Parole consideration must be tied to individualized criteria that provide parole commissioners with evidence of positive change, personal growth, and civic consciousness. Undoubtedly, when Ortloff goes before a Parole Board panel many years from now, he will not want to be judged by the same subjective vagaries he used while pretending to be the self-righteous arbiter of the public good.

Questions remain concerning the potential legal ramifications that stem from the arrest of Chris Ortloff. Ortloff, 61, has not been convicted of a crime, but various media outlets have reported his voluntary admissions of indecent and illegal conduct. His voluntary resignation from his six-figure Parole Board appointment also suggests an admission of culpability. One would also expect that after a four-month sting operation, the investigative agency would have accumulated a trove of incriminating evidence. Admissions are not confessions and evidence is not fact. Criminal culpability aside, Ortloff’s voluntary admissions clearly violate the New York State Code of Ethics (Public Officers Law § 74). More importantly, the mental imbalance evident from Ortloff’s tough on crime public persona and the moral degeneracy of his private life clearly invalidates any defense argument that he was capable of making rational or moral judgments concerning the rehabilitation of others. Ortloff once stated, “Our government must do more to keep dangerous, sexually violent predators away from children and women” (Albany Times Union, 10/15/08). I agree – appointing them to the Parole Board, however, is not the solution.

How much of Ortloff’s tough on crime rhetoric and actual parole denials were calculated, deceptive tactics affected to assuage his own personal guilt? Was being tough on others a form of psychological transference wherein his own self-loathing was redirected to others? Freud would have had a field day with this guy. It would be advisable for those who had Ortloff conducting or participating in their parole hearing to include arguments attacking his competence by juxtaposing his admissions against the State Code of Ethics. It would be interesting to know if Commissioner Alexander was aware of the ongoing investigation, and continued to permit Ortloff to participate in parole hearings.


– Postscript –

On December 24, 2008, Ortloff pled guilty to using the Internet to prey on children for sex. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 23, 2009 in Albany and is currently free on $100,000.00 bail. Under a plea agreement, Ortloff will receive 10 years rather than face the possibility of a life sentence had he been found guilty at trial. Under federal guidelines, Ortloff will serve a determinate sentence with a specified release date. Consequently, this former “tough on crime” parole commissioner with a reputation for summarily denying parole applications, will never have to face a parole hearing himself. When released, he’ll also be half a million dollars richer, thanks to his taxpayers-funded $53,000.00 a year for life pension guaranteed under New York State’s Constitution (New York Post, 12/27/08).

New York’s Board of Parole suffered further embarrassment when Parole Chairman George B. Alexander was forced to resign because at a criminal investigation, Alexander was found to be in possession of a $1,700.00 laptop that was missing from the Erie County Probation Office where Alexander worked prior to his appointment to the Parole Board. Alexander previously denied any knowledge of the missing laptop, but a GPS security device led investigation to his home. Alexander is expected to plead guilty to official misconduct, a misdemeanor (Albany Times Union, 12/19/08).

Criminal allegations against two members of the NYS Parole Board

Astounding criminal allegations against two members of the NYS Parole Board:

State Parole Division Chairman George B. Alexander resigned on December 18th amid allegations that he stole a laptop computer from his previous job in Buffalo. Former Parole Board Chairman George B. Alexander is being prosecuted on felony charges by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Until an acting or new chairman is designated, executive director Felix Rosa been asked to manage the day-to-day affairs of the Division.

State Parole Board Commissioner Chris Ortloff resigned from the Parole Board after his arrest on October 13th on federal charges of attempting to solicit sex with minors. Update on December 26th: "Former state Assemblyman George C. ''Chris'' Ortloff pleaded guilty in federal court on Wednesday morning to a felony charge in connection with his attempt to have sex with what he believed were two sisters, ages 11 and 12. Ortloff, a former member of the state Parole Board, pleaded guilty to a single count of online enticement of minors. The conviction carries a minimum 10-year prison sentence and a maximum of life in prison. By signing the plea agreement with federal prosecutors, Ortloff avoided indictment and accepted responsibility for his crimes. The government, in turn, agreed to recommend a reduced sentence..." (full story...)

See also:
The Ortloff Affidavit: includes the Motion for Pretrial Detention. (wcax.com, Plattsburgh, New York, October 16 2008.)
Ortloff's release shocks one's conscience: commentary by June Maxam. (North Country Gazette, December 25th 2008.)
Sexual predator Ortloff will get pension: Constitution shields former lawmaker, admitted sex criminal, by Denise A. Raymo. (Press-Republican, Plattsburgh, December 31 2008.)