Sexually Explicit Chat With Undercover Nassau County Detective Gets Upstate Man 6 Months in Jail

Nuclear power plant inspector sent sexually explicit text and video messages to undercover detective

MINEOLA, NY – Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that Mark Gettleman has been sentenced to 6 months in jail after pleading guilty to engaging in sexually explicit conversations on the Internet with an undercover Nassau County detective posing as a 13-year-old girl.

At the time of his arrest Gettleman, 59, of Highland Falls, N.Y., was a Nuclear Power Plant Quality Control Inspector at the Indian Point Nuclear facility. He pleaded guilty to Attempted Disseminating Indecent Material to Minors in the First Degree on September 16, 2008. As a condition of the conviction, he must also register as a Level 1 sex offender.

Rice said that during a NY Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force training course in Buffalo in November 2007, a Nassau County Police Department detective posing as a 13-year-old girl began a sexually explicit chat with Gettleman. The detective continued chatting with Gettleman after the training course ended and he had returned to Nassau County. Gettleman also sent the detective explicit videos of himself before being arrested at his Orange County home March 4, 2008.

Rice said the conviction came after her office’s refusal to plea bargain the case.

“When we have the evidence, there’s no reason these cases should ever be plea bargained,” said Rice.  “These defendants are lurking on the Internet and it’s up to parents and law enforcement to protect and educate our children before it’s too late.  It’s crucial that detectives get to these predators before our children do.”

ADA Stephen Treglia, chief of the DA’s Technology Crime Unit, is handling the case for the District Attorney’s office. Gettleman is represented by Marvin Hirsch, Esq.