Facebook Cancels St. Mel's Sex Offender Account, Says Avella

Facebook has cancelled the account of a convicted sex offender who was let go as a volunteer at a Queens school last week after he allegedly contacted a minor on the social network, state Sen. Tony Avella, D-Bayside, said.

Joseph Denice, of Whitestone, had been volunteering for at Flushing’s Saint Mel School. But the school let him go in early January after he was alleged to have contacted children on Facebook, which is a violation of the school’s policy.

Avella, who then urged the social network to terminate Denice’s account, was notified this week by Timothy Sparapani, director of public policy for Facebook, that the profile had been cancelled.

“I am extremely pleased with the expediency in which Facebook terminated this account,” Avella said. “Less than a day after I notified them of Mr. Denice’s history, they removed his profile and their security team began investigation his past actions on the site to look for signs of inappropriate actions.”

A spokeswoman for St. Mel said Denice had never been employed by the school, but had been a volunteer.

On June 1, Denice pleaded guilty to sexual abuse and attempted forgery, a spokeswoman for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.

The defendant was sentenced to six months in jail and five years probation on June 21. Denice is a Level One registered sex offender, the spokeswoman said.

Avella got involved in the matter after parents from the Flushing school contacted his office upon finding out that Denice was a sex offender.

The DA’s office is currently reviewing the matter, Brown’s spokeswoman said.

Denice had originally been arrested following incidents in July and September 2009 during which he told a 12-year-boy that he must undress and take part in a “body scan,” according to the criminal complaint. At that time, he was volunteering in a Queens afterschool program.

During several of the incidents, Denice sexually touched the boy, according to the complaint.

Editor's Note:  Patch has heard discrepant accounts of how long Mr. Denice volunteered at St. Mel's. We will update this article again once we can confirm the length of his involvement in the school.