State v. Gallo

Under ORS 137.540(2), special conditions of probation are allowed, but cannot be more restrictive than necessary to achieve the goals of probation. A ban on the internet is reasonable for a defendant convicted of sexual abuse after posing as a teenager on the internet and luring an underage girl to a park where he sexually abused her.

Defendant challenges a special condition of his probation that bars him from using email, social networking, or the internet without prior approval of his probation officer. Defendant, who was 32 years old, was convicted of second-degree sexual abuse after he posed as a 15-year-old boy on the internet, befriended a 16-year-old autistic girl, arranged to meet the girl at a park, and sexually abused her. Special conditions of probation are allowed under ORS 137.540(2), but cannot be more restrictive than necessary to achieve the goals of probation. The Court rejects Defendant’s argument that the internet was only incidental to the crime he committed, sexual abuse. The internet ban is not absolute, it is restricted to three years and allows internet usage if Defendant demonstrates a legitimate need to his probation officer. The Court concludes that the “sentencing court permissibly determined that an internet ban was needed to serve the purposes of ‘reformation of the offender or protection of the public.’” Affirmed.