MINEOLA, New York – Talk about your wrong number.
An effort to provide constituents with a hotline number that helps track the location of sexual predators backfired for a group of Long Island politicians when they mistakenly listed a telephone number that connects callers to a sex chat line.
"Hey there, sexy guy," a sultry recorded female voice is heard telling callers to the wrong number. "Welcome to an exciting new way to go live, one on one, with hot horny girls waiting right now to talk to you."
That's not what Nassau County Legislator Peter J. Schmitt and seven colleagues intended when they sent out postcards to constituents announcing an initiative with the Long Island-based Parents for Megan's Law, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the prevention and treatment of sex abuse.
"Apparently there was an error in the phone number," Ed Ward, a spokesman for the lawmakers told Newsday newspaper for a story Wednesday.
Click here to read Newsday's story.
The politicians advertised a "1-800" toll free number when it should have been "1-888," Ward said, adding that the intended line would allow parents to join an e-mail alert program that lets them know if a sex offender lives in their neighborhood.
Laura Ahearn, the executive director of the child advocacy Megan's Law group, was not upset.
"It is a common mistake that is made," Ahearn said. "We just hope no one was inconvenienced."
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