Registered sex offender John Albert Gardner III, the man charged in the death of Poway teen Chelsea King, allegedly hid a MySpace page from state prison officials while under their supervision, it was reported Thursday.
The page was opened in December 2007 when the terms of Gardner's parole forbade him from being anywhere near a computer, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. According to the newspaper, an email address links the page to an Escondido address where Gardner was living at the time.
On his page, Gardner used the screen name "Jason the Stud" and called himself the Energizer Bunny, according to the newspaper. He also reportedly used sexually charged language when describing his interests, and listed his hometown as the Playboy Mansion.
State prison officials told the newspaper they were not aware Gardner was active on any social networking site while under their supervision. Gardner was under their supervision while on parole from 2005 to 2008 after serving five years of a six-year sentence for assaulting a 13-year-old neighbor girl at his mother's home in Rancho Bernardo.
Robert Scott, a Los Angeles private investigator, stumbled upon the MySpace page while demonstrating his service to potential clients last week, the Union-Tribune reported. The page has since been taken down.
Gardner has pleaded not guilty to raping and murdering Chelsea. The 17-year-old disappeared Feb. 25 after going for an after-school run in the Lake Hodges area, near Gardner's mother's home. Though Gardner registered as a sex offender in Lake Elsinore, he was staying with his mother in Rancho Bernardo when Chelsea disappeared, authorities said.
A preliminary hearing is set for Aug. 4.
