Attorney: Horvath misled by police

PORT ORANGE, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - It happened on Facebook. Convicted sex offender Cynthia Horvath chatted it up online with 16 year old Steve Warren. But, it turns out Steve Warren is really a factious name created by a Port Orange Police officer. The officer befriended the 45 year old Horvath on Facebook.

"The way Facebook works is, if I send you a request, all that that shows up is my name and a picture if I put one up. Then, you have to go to my site and read about me. The state could not prove it, had no evidence at all, that Cynthia Horvath ever went back to that site and read it," said Aaron Delgado, Horvath's attorney.

Defense attorney Aaron Delgado believes his client was misled by police.

"She asked, 'Who are you?' the police officer played coy. He didn't say, 'Oh, I'm Steve Warren. I'm 16 years old and I want to be your friend,' he said, 'Who do you think I am?' and she said, 'Well, you must not be who I think you are, good bye.' A very innocent conversation," said Delgado.

Delgado said sites like Facebook.com and Myspace.com are rapidly becoming a key part of many of his cases. He said proving what was said, and by whom, is very difficult.

"Short of the computer company that runs the site getting your credit card to verify you are who you are, it's very easy to go on there and impersonate someone."

As for Horvath and the conversation she had with the undercover cop on Facebook, her attorney said she thought she was being contacted by her step-son.

"She has a step-son. There's an estranged family relationship, we'll leave it at that, and she thought that it might have been him trying to contact her," said Delgado.

Horvath will continue to serve her sentence of 8 years probation on house arrest. She has also been banned from using the Internet for ten years.