Pedophile seeks prison visits with daughter

ALBANY -- Convicted pedophile Christopher Culver is serving 12 years in state prison for sexually molesting eight young boys in a Clifton Park classroom.

But the ex-teacher did not think that's any reason to keep his young daughter from visiting him in the jailhouse -- and a state appeals court agreed.

So now, the Court of Appeals will be expected to decide whether Culver, 36, who admitted to a 49-count felony sex crime indictment in January 2008, will be allowed to visit with the 5-year-old daughter he has not seen since she was 18 months old.

The 3-2 decision from the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court in March upheld a lower-court ruling from Saratoga County Family Court Judge Courtenay Hall.

The judge not only allowed the visits, but ruled that Culver's ex-wife, Kristi Van Patten Culver, should pay for the child's counseling before each visit -- as well as telephone conversations between her daughter and the inmate.

The appellate court ruling said the father should bear those costs, but still stunned national advocates for women and children, who were well aware of the ex-teacher's crimes.

Culver was found to have fondled first-grade boys over a five-month period in 2006 and 2007.

Marcia Pappas, president of the National Organization for Women for New York State, has noted on Long Island, a Suffolk County Family Court judge permitted overnight visitation of children to a father convicted of raping a minor and possessing child pornography.

Pappas said she plans to set up an appointment with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's office and key state lawmakers to pass a law banning such visits between children and sex-offending parents.

"The thing that really is disturbing about this is in our society, I think we all agree that sex offenders not have access to children," Pappas said, noting bans on sex offenders in places such as playgrounds and school areas. "Yet we have judges who are saying, 'Well, if you are the sperm donor, if you're the father, that doesn't matter.' "