Facebook bars rapist's page

NORWALK — An imprisoned rapist's Facebook page was shut down on Monday after the Register reported about him using the social media platform to meet people and ask for money. Gen Lurey Ridings, a Facebook policy communications manager, confirmed the page was disabled. "We do not allow sex offenders to have a presence on our platform," Ridings wrote to the Register in response to an inquiry. As of early Monday afternoon, the Facebook page was still able to be accessed, although the content on it appeared truncated. By late afternoon, it had been removed. Ridings did not provide any other information. She was sent a series of questions about how the social media company polices itself to keep sex offenders from posting — as Durst has been doing for weeks. The Register first reported about the page on Sunday. Durst, a serial rapist who was sentenced to 33 years in prison after a trial in Huron County in 2018, was using an inmate technology service to send a friend videos of himself to post at the page, which was titled, "Wrongfully Convicted." He also sent poems to post there and photos of himself. The state prison system also was asked about Durst's page and cut off his access to it shortly after being contacted by the Register. "Mr. (McClain) Durst's JPAY access has been suspended while this matter is (being) investigated," JoEllen Smith, a spokeswoman for the state prison system told the Register late Sunday. JPay is an information technology and financial services provider that contracts with the state to provide technologies and services including money transfer, email, video visitation and parole and probation payments to inmates, including those at the Toledo Correctional Facility where Durst is incarcerated. The videos of himself he made asked for people to contact him for friendship. In one video, he flexes his forearm and asks viewers if they "See anything they like?" Before he was arrested the last time, and later convicted on rape and other sex crime charges in Huron County, Durst had been accused numerous times of committing sex crimes for more than a decade. He previously spent five years in prison and sexually assaulted numerous girls after he was released the first time, and a second time, after he was convicted again. Durst used Snapchat, another social media app, to meet underage girls before he was sent to prison the last time. Four girls testified at his 2018 trial that he raped or committed other sex crimes when they met him. A prosecutor who worked to convict Durst was astonished to learn about Durst's activity on Facebook. "I was appalled when I read the article and saw what McClain Durst is getting away with while incarcerated," said Bambi Couch, the lead prosecutor with Huron County prosecutor's office at Durst's 2018 trial. "Individuals in the criminal justice system worked so hard to get a predator like him off the street only to find out that he is continuing his conduct from behind bars and is looking for more victims." Couch said Durst's Facebook posts are perfect examples of the some of the means he used to lure young girls prior to his conviction. "Anyone who examines the evidence against Durst would have no doubt he committed the crimes he was convicted of, that the jury verdict rendered against him was correct, and he was not 'wrongfully convicted,'" she said. "Durst is simply using Facebook and those who are helping him post (are helping him) to satisfy his predatory, narcissistic needs." Durst is "exactly where he belongs," she said. "Justice would be further served if someone would please get him off of Facebook or any other social media platforms where he or the likes of him might be found." Read more at the links below