4 Houston sex offenders arrested in MySpace bust

Four convicted sex offenders in Houston are among seven statewide who have been arrested in the past two weeks for using MySpace in violation of their parole or probation — but it's still unclear exactly what they used the online networking service for. "That will be information that our ongoing investigation will determine," Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, whose office led the crackdown, said. "We wanted to arrest these people as quickly as possible. And we will be getting further access as the investigation proceeds."

The men — Patrick Joseph Blevins, 49; Reginald Lee Collins, 27; Ronald Daven Metoyer, 41; and Robert Shepard Walter, 23 — were caught after MySpace supplied state attorneys general with the names of its users who were registered sex offenders. It's something MySpace initially resisted doing, but Abbott subpoenaed the information last month in a move to ensure the website is doing everything it can to protect its users. Motions were filed to revoke the parole of Blevins, Collins and Metoyer, and all are being held without bond. Walter was charged last month with failing to register as a sex offender and also was ordered held without bond.

The four men arrested in Houston and the other three, from Glen Heights, Austin and Round Rock, were convicted of assaulting girls between the ages of 4 and 21. Abbott said authorities don't know yet whether the men tried to approach minors on MySpace, but the arrests seem to be a clear indication that the state won't even tolerate that possibility — if you doubt it, check out videos of Blevins', Collins' and Metoyer's arrests from Abbott's website. Wonder if they'll post those on their MySpace pages?