April 11, 2004

Blooming Grove Sex offender arrested after ruse fails

Cops say Robert Reitman was leading two lives: one as a convicted sex offender, residing in the Town of Blooming Grove, and the other as a family man living in a quiet town in Westchester County.    The 62-year-old, Level Three sex offender was arrested yesterday by the Blooming Grove Police Department  for failure to comply with the state's registry.    Police said Reitman had rented a small, dilapidated brick and wood cottage on Pioneer Trail in Mountain Lodge Park.   But Reitman also had a home on 8 Pond St. in Westchester's Golden's Bridge, where he lived with his wife and children.    Detective Brett Weeden of the Blooming Grove Police Department said Reitman was using the home in Blooming Grove as a cover to avoid registering as a sex offender in Westchester.    "This guy spent a lot of time and money to subvert the state sex-offender registry," he said. Reitman, a former therapist, spent 15 months in an out-of-state prison on child pornography charges and sexual abuse.    Weeden said the arrest followed several months of investigation that tracked Reitman's movement between Blooming Grove and Westchester County. He was arraigned yesterday before Town Justice James Kenealy and sent to Orange County Jail on $2,000 bail

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