Convicted pedophile, ex-pimp among NYC inmates looking for online love
“Looking for love. Must like stripes.”
New York City felons — including a convicted child rapist and a former pimp — are among a recent slew of prisoners trolling online for mates, postings show.
Ex-Bronx teacher Anthony Criscuolo, 46, who is behind bars for raping a 10-year-old female special-ed student in 2013, and Manhattan career criminal Alfonso Rizzuto, a 58-year-old convicted burglar and ex-head of a prostitution ring, apparently hope sappy personal ads tug at someone’s heartstrings.
“Imprisonment has meant years without a sunrise, sunset or moonlight sky, locked in a cell 18 hours a day. Be my moonlight, sunrise, and sunset,” Criscuolo writes in one cheesy blurb on friendsbeyondthewall.com, according to the posting.
Criscuolo pleaded guilty to raping a fifth-grader in his car but has since recanted, despite his DNA being found on the child’s underwear and damning emails he sent her.
He is doing 14 years at the Green Haven Correctional Facility in upstate Stormville in Dutchess County.
Rizzuto — who once boasted about his call-girl ring on TV’s “Sally Jesse Raphael Show” while dressed in flashy attire — is behind bars for burglary at the Eastern Correctional Facility in upstate Napanoch in Ulster County. He has at least two more years to go on his maximum seven-year sentence.
Rizzuto admits he still likes the high life, according to the friendsbeyondthewall ad featuring his photos and other personal information.
“I am GQ type. I like nice clothes, good friends, dining out, boating, beaches, South Beach, Florida, clubs, dance, traveling,” the posting says.
Cheyenne Wright, 32, who fatally shot her best friend, a Brooklyn dad, during a heated dispute two years ago, is featured in a writeaprisoner.com ad, hoping to link up with a new pal.
“I am looking for friends to write to me. I have chosen WriteAPrisoner.com because I have heard nothing but good things about your company,’’ says the lonely-hearts posting for the female inmate, who is serving 19 years to life behind bars at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County.
“My hobbies are traveling, driving, camping etc.”
The state Department of Correction said the inmates, as with all its prisoners, have no internet access, so these ads are likely being set up by family or friends at the prisoner’s behest. Inmates can send private messages to people, and vice versa, through a paid service.
Friendsbeyondthewall did not respond to a request for comment, but Adam Lovell, founder of writeaprisoner.com, said in an email to The Post, “When the information is available to us online, we verify the inmate’s photo, reason for incarceration, birthdate, etc. before placing them on our website.
“If an inmate attempts to place false information on our website, that profile is removed and the inmate blocked from utilizing any of our services again.”
For many prisoners, online sites are their only connection to the outside world — and a potential love match.
Criscuolo is pictured on friendsbeyondthewall showing off his muscled body in a tight sleeveless T-shirt and shorts while clutching a football.
The four other smiling photos of him reveal nothing about his incarceration.
A woman who dated Criscuolo had a few choice words for her ex-beau and his personal ad.
“I just hope he rots in jail. I don’t care about him or what he does anymore,” Melanie Duncan fumed. “He did me wrong.
“You can’t fix dumb women who want to contact him,” she said.
Rizzuto is featured on the site flashing a toothy grin, with the top button of his shirt open.
The convict is nearly 60 years old but “look[s] younger” and has “perfect teeth, dimples, full head of black hair pushed back’’ — not to mention a house, car and limo, according to the post.
Karen Rizzuto, who was married to Alfonso’s now-deceased brother, praised the online sites.
“There really isn’t too many people around for him anymore, so this is good for him,” she said of Alfonso.
She said he deserves another shot at romance.
“He is very kind-hearted,’’ Karen Rizzuto said. “If he got the help he needed when he was 12, he wouldn’t be where he is today.”
Neither man nor Wright was able to be reached for comment. The Post’s emails and calls to Criscuolo’s lawyer and relatives were not returned, nor were calls to Wright’s kin.
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