Facebook pest on sex offenders’ register

Published on Friday 3 February 2012 00:00

A MAN who sent obscene messages via Facebook to a woman he spotted in a hospital waiting room was placed on the sex offenders’ register yesterday.

Diego Moreno, 43, saw the woman while he was waiting in the Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert, Stirlingshire, to see a doctor about a knee injury.

After his appointment he tracked the woman down on Facebook via a post she had put up while she was waiting in the hospital. He told her that he liked her T-shirt and made a lewd comment.

Moreno, who was sentenced to 120 hours of unpaid work and placed on the sex offenders’ register for six months, was told by Sheriff Craig Caldwell that he had misused the internet to send his victim “disgusting and frightening” unsolicited messages.

Mark Keane, prosecuting, told Falkirk Sheriff Court the incident happened on 2 May last year. The depute fiscal said: “The woman was at Larbert hospital for an appointment. At the time, she updated her Facebook status to say she was at the clinic.

“The accused was also there for an appointment on an injured knee.

“About four hours later, the woman engaged in a conversation with a friend about Facebook and checked her public comments and saw a message from an unknown user, Diego Moreno.”