Boston Herald
April 27, 2005

It has been 17 years since that terrible day when Edmund LaChance offered his first rape victim a ride home, then raped her while holding a gun to her head.

But when the victim, now 37, saw his picture in the Herald yesterday as part of a story on dating Web sites dedicated to convicts in Massachusetts prisons, memories of the crime that destroyed her life came flooding back.

"When I saw his face, I nearly threw up. I can't believe he is allowed to look for love on the Internet. He ruined my entire life," said the woman, now a single mom raising a son in Revere.

Yesterday the victim voiced her complaint to the Department of Correction Victims Advocates Office. Meanwhile, a growing number of people claim they have been harassed by people behind bars, and another Massachusetts convict, killer Kevin Jackmon, is under investigation for allegedly terrorizing a woman who responded to his ad on www.friendsbehindthewall.com.

A DOC spokeswoman, Diane Wiffin, insists prisoners do not have access to the Web. But there are a growing number of sites that include personal notes and photographs - often taken in the prisons.

LaChance's ad on www.inmateconnections.com was full of lies, right down to his age and his crimes, claiming he was in for manslaughter. In fact, LaChance is a two-time rapist, convicted of attacking the Revere woman in 1989 when she was 20. Within months of his release, he raped another woman with a boxcutter, stalking her outside the Everett store where she worked.

"Something has to be done," the Revere woman said. "These guys could find new victims with these ads."