(a)        The Attorney General is prohibited from disclosing any address or telephone number of a program participant other than the substitute address designated by the Attorney General, except under the following circumstances:

(1)        The information is requested by a federal, state, or local law enforcement agency for official use only.

(2)        The information is required by direction of a court order. However, any person to whom a program participant’s address or telephone number has been disclosed shall not disclose the address or telephone number to any other person unless permitted to do so by order of the court.

(3)        Upon request by an agency to verify the participation of a specific program participant when the verification is for official use only.

(4)        Upon request by an agency, in the manner provided for by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15C-8

(5)        The program participant is required to disclose the program participant’s actual address as part of a registration required by Article 27A of Chapter 14 of the N.C. Gen. Stat..

(b)        The Attorney General shall provide immediate notification of disclosure to a program participant when disclosure is made pursuant to subdivision (2) or (4) of subsection (a) of this section.

(c)        If, at the time of application, an applicant is subject to a court order related to divorce proceedings, child support, child custody, or child visitation, the Attorney General shall notify the court that issued the order of the certification of the program participant in the Address Confidentiality Program and the substitute address designated by the Attorney General. If, at the time of application, an applicant is involved in a court action related to divorce proceedings, child support, child custody, or child visitation, the Attorney General shall notify the court having jurisdiction over the action of the certification of the applicant in the Address Confidentiality Program and the substitute address designated by the Attorney General.

(d)       No person shall knowingly and intentionally obtain a program participant’s actual address or telephone number from the Attorney General or an agency knowing that the person is not authorized to obtain the address information.

(e)        No employee of the Attorney General or an agency shall knowingly and intentionally disclose a program participant’s actual address or telephone number to a person known to the employee to be prohibited from receiving the program participant’s actual address or telephone number, unless the disclosure is permissible by law. This subsection only applies when an employee obtains a program participant’s actual address or telephone number during the course of the employee’s official duties and, at the time of disclosure, the employee has specific knowledge that the actual address or telephone number disclosed belongs to a program participant.

(f)        Any person who knowingly and intentionally obtains or discloses information in violation of this Chapter shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor and assessed a fine not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500). (2002-171, s. 1.)