TRUE.com Sues Convicted Felon for Attempting to Access Site.

Felon Stopped Before He Could Communicate With Online Dating Site's Members; Lawmakers Support More Protection for Online Daters

DALLAS, March 29 /PRNewswire/ -- TRUE.com(R), the leading scientifically based online relationship service, announced earlier today that it filed a civil lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas against a convicted felon and registered sex offender in Florida for misrepresenting his felony status when attempting to access TRUE's members. This felon was prevented from communicating with TRUE's members due to TRUE's proactive policy that requires background and marriage screenings on all of its communicating members -- the only one of its kind among major online dating sites. TRUE is the only online dating company that has pursued civil prosecution of an individual for misrepresenting himself online. TRUE's first lawsuit was filed in November 2005.

The new lawsuit charges that Edward Alvin Hodges, Jr. of Macclenny, Florida, who was convicted in 1995 of lewd and lascivious assault on a child under 16, violated federal and state laws when he falsely represented that he was not a felon while attempting to access TRUE's membership database. Hodges was also recently convicted of various drug trafficking and firearms offenses. When registering for membership on TRUE, all users must represent that they have not been convicted of a felony or a sexual offense and that they are not married. Warnings posted on the Web site clearly state that TRUE vigorously pursues individuals who misrepresent themselves and reports violators to appropriate federal, state and local authorities, including parole boards.

"No background screenings are 100 percent foolproof, but they do provide a critical level of proactive protection that increases the safety of our members," said TRUE founder and CEO Herb Vest. "In this case, this very simple procedure that we require of everyone who applies for membership prevented a potential online predator from communicating with our members." Vest went on to say, "Our message is very clear -- if you are a felon or are married -- stay away from TRUE."

In April 2006, TRUE discovered that Hodges had a prior felony conviction when he attempted to subscribe and was immediately rejected by the company's criminal background screening process. After investigating the case, TRUE reported the incident to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Sexual Offender & Predator Unit. Hodges was later incarcerated on other criminal charges.