N.I. official in morals rap

By Susan Falvella Gerraty

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A government official from Northern Ireland remains jailed in Chicago for attempting to lure a 14-year-old girl into having sex with him while visiting the United States for the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.

John Stan Mallon, 62, was arrested on March 8. He is a consultant to the

Ulster Scots Agency — a Good Friday accord mandated and funded government office meant to promote the Ulster Scot language and culture. It was demanded by Unionists in an effort to balance the nationalists request for recognition of the Irish language in the Stormont agreement.

Mallon was on a website earlier this month and arranged to meet a girl named “Marny” for sex at a Chicago hotel. Marny turned out to be officers from the Cook County Sheriffs Department with help from the FBI.

Officials from the British Consulate in Chicago have made efforts to have Mallon released to his wife and family members, who have traveled to Chicago.

So far, Judge Bobrick, in charge of the case, has refused bail.

Mallon was videotaped at a discount store purchasing condoms and chocolates. When officers arrived at the time Mallon arranged with the undercover officer over the phone posing as the young girl, he was arrested. He reportedly had a necklace with a cross wrapped in pink tissue along with the candy. He had also purchased blank video tapes and had a video camera charging up, according to investigators.

Law enforcement is now looking into the possibility that he may have planned, possibly for weeks or months, further attempts to engage and coerce sex from children in Florida and possibly Washington, DC. Mallon was on his way to

Washington via Chicago when he was arrested.

In one of his e-mails obtained by investigators, Mallon admitted having sex

with a 15-year-old girl in Sarasota, Fla.