Lawmaker Mistakenly Shared Articles With Porn Tabs

Ramon Perez, who was elected to the state’s House of Representatives last year, distributed a printout of a Wikipedia article during testimony last week. However, the file was actually a screenshot that showed not only the article but also numerous browser tabs open to pages with explicit titles. Two contained the word “teen” while one had the word “young.”

The screenshot showed only the titles of the other pages that were open, not pornographic images or videos.

House spokesman Larry Berman told the Providence Journal that Perez had given the printout to the clerk of the Finance Committee, who copied and distributed it, then collected all the copies once the X-rated browser tabs were noticed.
Perez told local ABC station WLNE that he was “ashamed” and “sorry” about the incident.

“A friend sent me that picture with the information I was looking for,” he was quoted as saying. “I used that picture to make copies. I didn’t see the stuff at the top.”
He wouldn’t name the friend.
“Some people were trying to help me,” Perez told NBC10. “If somebody is to blame, it’s me. It’s my fault. I’m very sorry.”

“Everyone is watching him like a hawk. Everyone is watching every move he makes,” Democratic state Rep. Teresa Tanzi told the station. “He’s already halfway across the bridge to nowhere, in my mind.”

The bill focused on payments for motorists involved in accidents with unlicensed drivers, local CBS station WPRI reported. The page cited by Perez in support of the proposal was about a similar policy in Puerto Rico.

The committee voted to hold the bill for further study.