The following was sent to us via the "Tell Us Your Story" form and posted with the users permission.
By Mike: Megan's law is a sickening display of American law. After finding myself "tricked" by the state of Florida into becoming a registered sex offender; now I find myself being raped by the justice system because of a label. First off I took a plea agreement in 1992, when i took my plea, no judge told me about SO registration, nor was it in my plea agreement. They needed faces on the website when it was launched in 1997, so they worded the law so that people still on probation were to register, even though it was not part of their plea agreement. They achieved this by wording it the following way: "convicted on or after Oct 1, 1997, or still currently serving sanctions". The "still serving sanctions" part is the part that did me in, and it is the ONLY law in FL that is worded that way...all other laws say "convicted on or after a certain date". That has been found to be unconstitutional in several states...the last being MD last yr in 2014, when MD was forced to remove people who were convicted before Megan's law became active. Fast forward 22 years, and a lot of suffering and humiliation, and I move to Illinois in 2011. The ISP said I was not required to register in IL., and even faxed me a letter saying I had completed registration requirements. In 2014 I had contact with a rogue cop who decided he wanted to turn my life upside down. I had an apartment, a job, and a girlfriend. When I failed to register timely, he arrested me and seized all my computer equipment while I was in jail. Even though the law states I do not have to register, the DA is sitting on this case for over a year now and doesn't appear to want to let it go. The ISP refused now to talk to me when I called and asked why they aren't backing me up on the letter...after all, THEY have the final say on who registers in their state..not a cop. They want my blood on their hands, even though they are in the wrong....just because of the SO label. U have fewer rights than a murderer, and it shows this country at its most vicious and corrupt. I can only pray.
This is Once Fallen's video and commentary on the Rally In Tally, a collaborative effort between various organizations within the Anti-Registry Movement (ARM).
The purpose of the rally was to bring a bold message to one of the strongholds of the war on Registered Citizens-- The state of Florida. In the past year or so, Florida pushed a "scorched earth" policy against Registered Citizens, a policy endorsed by Ron Book and his daughter, Lauren.
Lauren Book is using the charity "Lauren's Kids" as a front for a pending political campaign. She collected millions from various companies, including GEO Group, the private prison industry.
A dozen brave souls challenged the Books and the Florida Legislature at the finish line of a high-profile march across the state. Lauren Book challenged her critics to meet her face-to-face and when her critics arrived, she ran away like a coward.
A couple in Florida is facing fifteen years in prison after they were caught having sex on a public beach. The incident happened at Bradenton Beach and apparently there was a number of witnesses including children. Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks discuss. Do you think the couple should get jail time and be forced to be registered sex offenders?
Advocates of sex offender registry reform will gather in a peaceful protest at the Florida State House in Tallahassee FL on April 22, 2015 during the annual Lauren Book's 'Walk In My Shoes' event. The Rally in Tally is a joint collaboration among civil rights activists; we seek to raise awareness of the sex offender law reform movement, provide educational material, and garner attention to our plights at a high-profile event that brings politicians, celebrity advocates, and the news media together.
The intent of the Rally in Tally is not to attack, dispute, or criticize the efforts of Lauren's Kids as it relates to raising awareness and the prevention of sexual abuse in America. However, we are taking a stand against the policies of the Lauren's Kids foundation in its efforts to promote and lobby for Florida's "scorched Earth" policies. Lauren Book and her powerful lobbyist father, Ron Book, have pushed a number of harmful policies under the Lauren's Kids banner, including tough residency restrictions that forced registered citizens in Miami-Dade County to sleep under bridges, in abandoned parking lots, and even along train tracks and warehouses. In the past year Lauren's Kids supported a law marking the state-issued ID cards of some registrants with a scarlet letter, creating "pocket parks" to expand exclusion zones against registrants, and is currently supporting a lifetime GPS bill for all registered persons. In addition, Lauren Book has referred to all registered citizens as "monsters," "incurable," a "clear and imminent danger," and "ticking time bombs."
We cannot make the Rally in Tally a success without you, our fellow activists. We need people willing to travel to Tallahassee to present the Book family, Florida Legislature and ill-informed public with a visual representation of the unconsidered consequences of hastily-devised legislation. Registered citizens, civil rights activist and registrant families are strongly encouraged to attend. Our hope is that anyone reading this will realize each person is needed at this rally to stand publicly for our rights. If you cannot attend the event, then we encourage you to support the rally movement by making a donation to assist in paying for supplies or sponsor someone who otherwise would not be able to participate.
Please send us an email at contact@womenagainstregistry.com for more information and to receive periodic updates about this exciting event!
A former Florida cop who forced undocumented immigrants to have sex with him will not be required to register with the state as a sex offender, thanks to a plea deal that one attorney called “shocking and shameful to the whole county.”
Months after he was named “Officer of the Year” in 2008, former Broward Sheriff's deputy Jonathan Bleiweisswas charged with multiple sex crimes. About 20 male undocumented immigrants accused Bleiweiss of sexually assaulting them.
The men alleged that Bleiweiss molested them during pat-downs and threatened them with deportation if they refused to perform sex acts.
Last week, Bleiweiss and prosecutors reached a bafflingly lenient plea agreement that would bring a conclusion to all seven of the cases pending against him.
So the former deputy pleaded guilty to multiple counts of battery, stalking and false imprisonment. He will serve five years in prison, but will not be classified as a sex offender.
Before he was ever suspected of committing any crimes, the openly gay Bleiweiss told a local newspaper that early in his career, one of his supervisors taunted him by calling him "sex offender."
Now, with that label never having been more appropriate, Bleiwiss will not have to wear it.
Police posed as underage teens online to lure men into breaking the law as part of an apparent revenue scheme by Florida law enforcement agencies, according to an investigation of newly released public records.
Emails and other online communications analyzed by WTSP-TV revealed that many of the men who were eventually arrested were not interested in meeting children but were instead seeking adult sex partners – until they encountered undercover officers.
Law enforcement agencies fought open-records requests by the TV station, which eventually gained access to investigation reports from cases that resulted in arrest – but not from those that did not.
Police fought the requests by claiming the investigations remained open, but one agency claimed it had already destroyed records from one sting just one month after it was conducted.
Clearwater police seized 19 cars in January 2014, the station reported, when a joint sting with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office arrested 35 men in one weekend.
The two departments arrested at least 20 other men three months later and 11 more in September in similar stings that netted 12 more seized vehicles, the station reported.
One of the men arrested in the first sting paid $10,000 to get his 2014 Lexus returned, and the 24-year-old won’t get any of that money back even though all felony charges were eventually dropped in his case.
The station found that many of the men arrested in the stings had posted or responded to personal ads seeking adults, but police often steered the conversation to underage children or posed as adults with younger siblings who were interested in meeting.
Former Army JAG tells 10 Investigates the Air Force is breaking the law by participating in local sex stings where no military members are involved.
PINELLAS COUNTY - Not only have Central Florida law enforcement officers violated federal rules in conducting "To Catch a Predator"-inspired sex stings, but 10 Investigates has learned they may also violate longstanding federal law that prohibits the use of military resources to enforce state laws.
In a recent deposition, the agent indicated his goal was to try and trap service members who might be willing to break the law. But he also admitted to targeting -- and helping arrest -- civilians as well. According to an operation plan from a recent Pinellas County sting, the agent, William Glidewell, acted as a "chatter," communicating with potential investigative targets online. He was put up in a Clearwater Beach hotel for four days and reported to the sting's lead agencies, the Clearwater Police Department and Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.
"It's odd that you would have a military (investigator) being so treated like civilian law enforcement," said Charles Rose, a Stetson Law professor and retired Army JAG Corps member. "You cannot assign military personnel -- on orders -- to a (local law enforcement) organization."
10 Investigates previously showed how the sex stings were taking valuable resources away from other areas of law enforcement and frequently targeted young men who were merely looking for women their own age.
This is the first of a two-part series examining how law enforcement is blurring the lines on due process.
POLK COUNTY - In the decade since Chris Hansen and "To Catch a Predator" popularized Internet sex stings, more than 1,200 men in Florida alone have been arrested, accused of preying on underage teens and children for sex.
But as the stings put more and more men behind bars, detectives are working harder and harder to keep up their arrest numbers. And the tactics they're using to put alleged sexual offenders in jail are sweeping up large numbers of law-abiding men, too.
A yearlong investigation by 10 Investigates reveals many of the men whose mugshots have been paraded out by local sheriffs in made-for-TV press conferences were not seeking to meet children online. Instead, they were minding their own business, looking for other adults, when detectives started to groom and convince them to break the law.
While detectives used to post ads suggesting an underage teen or child was available for sex, they now routinely post more innocuous personal ads of adults on traditional dating sites. When men – many of them under 25 with no criminal history - respond, officers switch the bait and typically indicate their age is really 14 or 15 years old. However, sometimes the storyline isn't switched until the men, who were looking for legal love, already start falling for the undercover agent.
According to arrest affidavits inspected by 10 Investigates, law enforcement is also now routinely making first contact with men who have done nothing wrong, responding to their ads on dating sites like PlentyOfFish.com. After men start conversing with what they think are adults, officers change the age they claim to be, but try to convince the men to continue the conversation anyway.
Other examples include undercover officers showing interest in a man, then later introducing the idea of having sex with the undercover's "child." If the men indicate they weren't interested, they were still often arrested for just talking to the adult.
Critics of the stings, including a number of prominent Tampa Bay law enforcement leaders, tell 10 News the operations make for better press conferences than they do crime fighting. Many of the men who are arrested for sexual predator crimes see little jail time.
But Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, when asked about over-aggressive detectives, instead went on the offensive: "The concern (I have) is that you inflate your investigative reporting to make it glitzy."
Parents, remember this the next time you let your child out of the house alone.
You could be treated like a criminal for it!
This is what we get when we continue to let the idiots in congress trample on others rights! We get a police state where Big Brother is the kids parents, not you!
PORT ST. LUCIE - UPDATE: DCF says that the investigation is "very much open" and they are not planning on dropping the case as of right now.
A mother faces a charge of child neglect after she allowed her son to go to a local park alone. She says he's old enough but Port St. Lucie Police disagree. Now she's fighting back.
"I'm totally dumbfounded by this whole situation," said the mother, Nicole Gainey.
It began last Saturday afternoon when Gainey gave her son Dominic permission to walk from their house to Sportsman's Park .
"Honestly didn't think I was doing anything wrong," says Gainey, "I was letting him go play."
It's a half mile from their Port St. Lucie home. Dominic says it only takes him about 10 to 15 minutes to get there. During the walk, the 7-year-old passed a public pool. Someone there asked him where his mom was.
"They asked me a couple questions and I got scared so I ran off to the park and they called the cops," says Dominic Guerrisi.
Dominic was playing at the park when an officer pulled up.
"They said 'where does your mom live,' " says Dominic.
Police took him home. That's when his mom was arrested and charged with child neglect. Gainey says she was shocked.
"My own bondsman said my parents would have been in jail every day," says Gainey who paid nearly $4,000 to bond out.
The officer wrote in the report that Dominic was unsupervised at the park and that "numerous sex offenders reside in the vicinity."
"He just basically kept going over that there's pedophiles and this and that and basically the park wasn't safe and he shouldn't be there alone," says Gainey.
She believes Dominic is mature enough to go to the park alone during the day. Gainey adds her son always has a cell phone which she calls to check on him.
"That I'm here and safe," says Dominic.
Gainey plans to fight the felony charge. But after this she won't let Dominic go to the park alone. She's afraid she'll be arrested again.
The St. Lucie County State's Attorney's office says there is no law that specifies how old a child has to be before he or she can go somewhere unsupervised. It's done on a case-by-case basis.
A Seminole County deputy was arrested Thursday after investigators accused him of soliciting sex from a 17-year-old girl through a series of Facebook messages.
David Rodriguez, a 28-year-old patrol deputy, recently received recognition from Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger for saving a man after a boating accident earlier this year.
Rodriguez now accused of using a computer to solicit sex from a child.
He and the girl both participated in martial arts tournaments. When they met, she was 6 and he was about 17. The two kept in touch over the years, his arrest report stated.
The girl told deputies that she and Rodriguez, who is married and has a newborn, started out with friendly text messages.
Eventually the two became Facebook friends and would send private messages back and forth.
After the girl's 17th birthday, the conversations became sexual, the report stated.
Rodriguez admitted to soliciting sex from the girl but said the two never actually met for sex.
"Rodriguez stated that he was going to keep trying to put off meeting with [the girl] for sex until she was 18 years old," the report stated. The detective "confronted Rodriguez that on several occasions that they arranged to meet for sex, it was [the girl] who had to cancel and Rodriguez did not respond."
The Facebook exchange was discovered because the girl's father saw the messages when she left her social-media profile open on a home computer.
The father did not confront his daughter because he was concerned she would not be cooperative.
When she was interviewed, the girl told officials she had a crush on Rodriguez for years and said when his child was born on July 9, she realized that Rodriguez was trying to take advantage of her.
She said she wanted the sexual conversations to stop but didn't know how to end the relationship.
The Seminole County Sheriff's Office is in the process of firing Rodriguez. He had been a patrol deputy since February 2010.
Rodriguez received a Life Saving Award in May from Eslinger. According to the Sheriff's Office, Rodriguez helped save a man who capsized his kayak.
According to investigators, Rodriguez admitted to the crime and turned himself into the Seminole County jail.
PALM BEACH COUNTY - There are close to one thousand sex offenders living in Palm Beach County alone.
A major vote Tuesday, could allow registered sex offenders to live closer to schools and parks. Later tonight, Palm Beach County Commissioners will debate the heated issue.
According to State law, sexual offenders and predators cannot live within one thousand feet from specified locations where children gather.
In Palm Beach County, the law is 2500 feet, but the county wants to change it to be the same as the state.
The following was sent to us via the "Tell Us Your Story" form and posted with the users permission.
By Sloan44: It is my wife that is the innocent victim in this case. I was arrested in 2000 for downloading six photos of a minor. My time has been completed,service rendered. I moved from Florida after time completed and met the most wonderful women ever,we married that year. The property we were to share our lives on was set in a small town in Ohio. I followed rules and registered at the local sheriffs office,only to find the property to be 86 feet shy of the 1000 foot rule. I had to find another place,pack and leave. These unjust laws just separated two newlyweds. I located a trailer park two miles away, I then registered it with local police. My wife,when we met,suffered from heart disease with three stints in her heart.She could not tend to chores on the five acre property so I was there to run the tractor and household repairs. I did visit her daily (Ohio law,at the time,could not prevent me from visiting) and she would visit at my place.One day after mowing the lawn the local deputies came to the door asking for me. That is when I was arrested for failing to register my address.The law claimed I was not living at the trailer park I registered under. I got out on bail and then presented proof to the police. I presented them with my rent receipt given to me,and dated,the day prior to my arrest.They would not believe me and would not drop charges. I hired an attorney, we went to the courthouse, and in while speaking with the attorney he would exit a couple times to speak with the prosecuting attorney prior to trial. He returned saying he got the charges down to "Attempted to fail registration" which was a misdemeanor. I said "NO I am innocent". That is when my wife looked at me with tears running and said to me: "Honey,I know your right but..my heart, I cant take much more of this". That is when, for the sake of her health, I bit the bullet and took the offer. I paid my fines and community service in that county of Ohio. There are many eyes and ears in that small town/county and we found it was ones down the road that made the charge. My wife and I spoke,I would leave first and she would follow. I notified the law, then relocated to Florida. My wife's family, property, is in this small town and,from time to time, she must travel there to handle matters. This recent time is when she had health problems. It was found that three arteries were blocked, one was 85%,one 90%. A cardiologist ordered a angioplasty. It was rough but after four hours, and extra attempts, they were cleared. Since we met she had other heart stints placed but this surgery made heart stint #14 and #15. And I could not be there. I could not stay on our property nor do I have the money for a hotel/motel. My wife fears that I may be arrested by the same county sheriff (Whom was out for blood the first time) will cause trouble again. She was released but the next day she was back in for severe pain radiating from shoulder to chest, and she remains there at this time. But again, the fear of being there and problems with the sheriff,( mainly her being in fear of my welfare ) I am unable to be at her side. I am in tears daily as she is as well. I would not doubt that some heart stints,needed to be inserted, were based on the pressure she went through regarding the registry. When we married the words of Matthew 19:6 were spoken. But that does not mean anything to the ones that make these unjust laws that hurt innocent family members of registrants. This sex offender registry must be abolished!
The colony of homeless sex offenders in Miami-Dade County is once again being moved… 100 yards to the east!
After several months of complaining that over 100 registrants were sent to live in his parking lot, the owner of Adolfo’s House Beauty Supply received the concession from local police, who evicted the approximately 133 registrants living transient at the corner of NW 71st Street and 36th Court on Wednesday night.
Registrants were told that they would no longer be able to stay there at night and would be subject to arrest for trespassing if they were found there the following night.
Yesterday morning, registrants began making frantic calls to their probation officers asking what to do. Most are on GPS monitoring devices and if they are not at that street corner, they would similarly be subject to arrest.
The Miami-Dade probation office’s solution was to move them one block over. 100 yards to the east, which is the street corner where they spent their night last night. Within the next 48 hours 133 registrants will be scrambling to get their drivers licenses updated, as required by law, to “transient at 71st and 35th” instead of “71st and 36th”, paying the $25 fee for the address change and jeopardizing their employment to get it done.
… until the Miami-Dade Sex Offender Shuffle moves them elsewhere.
A Florida activist has said that he discovered that he was framed for public masturbation by one officer who did not like the idea of police being recorded on video.
In a video posted to his YouTube channel late last week (Below), Cop Block Central Florida activist Michael Burns explains that he was watching Lakeland police officer Javier Perez as he worked an off-duty shift at Hookah Palace in January.
During the filming, an on-duty police officer arrives, and tells him that he has been reported for doing something in his vehicle that he “should be doing in private.” That officer releases Burns after quickly concluding that he was only recording police.
Burns later obtained an audio recording of the person who reported him, who tells the dispatcher that he thinks a “suspicious person” is “masturbating.” He also obtains the telephone number of the caller. An Internet search determined that the number belonged to officer Perez.
Perez’s sergeant also confirmed to Burns on camera that an officer was being investigated for making false reports, but he refused to give the officer’s name.
Photography Is Not A Crime’s Carlos Miller, however, doubted that an internal investigation would result in justice.
“But we already know that when cops investigate cops, it usually leads to cops protecting cops,” he wrote. “But since it’s already been confirmed the calls were made to the department’s non-emergency line, we can already see where they are going with this; essentially preparing to sweep this under the carpet by informing Burns that no law or policy was broken because the calls were not made to 911.”
Burns pointed out that Florida Statute 817.49 does not limit false reports to the 911 emergency line.
Burns was scheduled to meet with the sergeant who was conducting the internal investigation on Tuesday night, and he planned to record the meeting.
We knew this would happen. Any time the fire gets hot the police, politicians and others scramble to move the offenders out of site again. You can mark our words, another homeless camp will pop up. Florida has been playing the sex offender shuffle for years now.
FORT MYERS - A homeless camp full of sex offenders was found on private property in a Fort Myers neighborhood. Now, they are being told to leave.
The sex offenders were found living in the woods off Veronica S. Shoemaker.
Police say at least six people were living in the woods. Their tents are still up, but authorities say they can't stay.
The property is private. Therefore, the owner asked police to give them trespass notices.
Authorities did just that on Wednesday – giving them until Tuesday to leave.
In the meantime, Animal Services was called to take in two dogs they say were malnourished and in distress.
We were told they have been living there for months. Some of them are registered sex offenders in an area close to parks and homes.
"The sense of having a sex offender there creates a higher level of awareness and a high level of concern for the residents," said Captain Jim Mulligan with the Fort Myers Police Department.
The Homeless Coalition is working with police to try and find somewhere else for these people to go.
Police say if the group is not off the property by Tuesday, they could be arrested.
A camp hidden off Veronica Shoemaker Boulevard is the only place in area some sex offenders have to go
_____ unzipped his pup tent, his abode in a patch of wilderness off Veronica Shoemaker Boulevard in Fort Myers.
He grabbed a flashlight and his ID and stowed them in a book bag hitched over his shoulders.
He was a Boy Scout, he said, but that did not prepare him for this.
“It’s survival of the fittest,” said _____. He is 46, but looks older.
A hammock stretched between melaleuca trees is the most comfy spot for his 250-pound frame. His kitchen is an upside-down grocery cart fashioned into a grill for coffee and soup. A wooden palette is his coffee table.
On this afternoon last month, _____ was in pursuit of a hot meal. He stepped onto a worn path hemmed by slash pine trees. He passed the camps of his neighbors, who reside under makeshift hovels of tarps and tents in this small colony of homeless people.
But this camp is unique: its inhabitants include sex offenders, who said the Lee County Sheriff’s Office directed them to this hidden spot about a quarter mile east into woods that run along a trail. The woods sit across from the city’s Trailhead Neighborhood Park and abut the Sienna at Vista Lake complex of one- and two-bedroom apartments, where on this afternoon young men played football in the parking lot.
_____ had lived there since October. He had struggled to find someone to hire him after five years in federal prison for possessing child pornography. And it was difficult for him to retain jobs because of mental illness.
He said the sheriff’s office showed him the camp location.
“They’re trying to give us a safe haven,” _____ said. “They keep a close eye on us.”
The sheriff’s office refused to comment on the assertions.
Sheriff Mike Scott has directed his personnel not to answer questions from this newspaper. “As you know, we don’t entertain interviews or answer questions with The News-Press,” spokeswoman Tiffany Wood wrote in an email. - Except if it suits them! Police are always having press conferences, etc. But this makes them look bad, so of course they aren't going to speak with the news media.
But Fort Myers police and social service providers said they’ve also been told it was the sheriff’s office that sent them there.
This much is for sure: Law enforcement knows about the camp. Last year, the sheriff’s office tallied about 120 routine calls checking on sex offenders near the intersection where the camp is located, mostly occurring after another camp of sex offenders off Ortiz Avenue was disbanded by city police at the property owner’s request. Since May, at least 10 transient sex offenders and one sexual predator have registered to the camp, records show. Six are currently registered there with convictions that range from sexual battery to lewd behavior toward children, according to a check Friday of Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s sex offender public registry. - So I guess Florida is still playing the sex offender shuffle (Here & Here)?
Offenders can register as homeless without a precise address. The camp meets state requirements, which say that sex offenders can’t live within 1,000 feet from a park, playground, child care facility or school, though last week Fort Myers police said they found a few people living too close to the trail, which qualifies as a park. The sheriff’s office told the police they would move them, police said. - Come on, a trail is not a park!
Over the past years, residency restrictions for sex offenders have grown increasingly harsh across the nation. But the question of where they can live is less easily answered. Yet, it’s one that more Florida cities will have to confront as some experts expect the number of homeless sex offenders to multiply.
“It’s in their best interest to escape scrutiny and go to a place where they have less probability of being identified,” said Duane Dobbert, an FGCU professor in the department of justice studies and author of “Halting the Sexual Predators among Us: Preventing Attack, Rape, and Lust Homicide.” “You can live outside here and you can avoid and evade public scrutiny because we’re a warm climate.”
A 2013 study by four university researchers, “Transient Sex Offenders and Residence Restrictions in Florida,” called for reconsideration of such restrictions. They cited them as a factor in contributing to higher rates of homelessness in sex offenders. It pointed to housing instability as a risk factor for recidivism, which is lower for sex offenses than other types of crimes.
Hop on the Merry-go-round
“When someone has stable housing and a good relationship where they’re with family and supported by the community, recidivism drops dramatically,” said Gail Colletta, president of Florida Action Committee, a nonprofit that advocates for reform of sex offender laws. “We make it difficult for them to get a job and find a place to live. We do everything we can to keep them from being productive citizens.” - Well they need ex-offenders in the merry-go-round prison system so they can continue to rake in the money to keep the prison injustice system alive, and so politicians / organizations can exploit the issue for their own gain as well.
In Lee County, no homeless shelters will accept sex offenders because of children on their properties. But who wants a homeless sex offender in the woods near their home or the park where their kids play? Where can they go and who decides where to put them? - Apparently the sheriff departments decide where to start homeless camps?
“There’s always a solution,” said Dennis Fahey, a criminal justice professor at Edison State College. “But the question is is anybody interested in finding a solution.” - Sure there is, eliminate the residency restrictions, and no, they don't want a solution!
Must report
By law, sex offenders must report to their local sheriff’s office either twice or four times a year. If they don’t have a place to stay, they must report within 48 hours. The Lee sheriff’s six-person sexual offender and predator unit regularly checks to make sure offenders are living where they register. In Lee County, there are about 625 sex offenders compared to 74 sexual predators. Sexual predators have been convicted of a sexually violent offense. There are more than 200 sex offenders in Collier and 25 predators.
The city doesn’t have a specific sex offender ordinance, so Fort Myers Police Lt. Randy Jelks said the police enforce the 1,000-foot restriction.
The camp origins are a mystery to police, who discovered it in the city late last year. - We doubt this, but when you are in the spotlight, play dumb.
“It did raise our concern given the proximity to a park and the proximity to an apartment building,” said Capt. Jim Mulligan of the Fort Myers Police, who has been monitoring it. - So now, just wait and see, since the media has done this report, the Gestapo will come out in force to shut down the camp, and thus the shuffling will continue! Another homeless camp will pop up elsewhere, until the fire gets hot again. Florida has been doing this for years now.
Sgt. Tracey Booth, who is in charge of the sheriff’s sex offender and predator unit, told city police no one in her office has directed the homeless sex offenders to the location, city records show. - We also doubt this. Some ex-offender needs to get this on audio recording to show they know all about this, but we are not sure about the laws on recording someone without their knowledge in this state, but like we said, play dumb when the fire gets hot!
Florida Department of Corrections spokeswoman Misty Cash said her agency played no role. She declined to facilitate interviews on the matter but responded to written questions.
“We don’t know how these offenders came to know about this camp. They reported to us their address, which did not violate any local ordinances, Florida Statutes or the conditions of their court ordered supervision,” she wrote. - Didn't you know that ex-offenders are all knowing? They know everything, especially where homeless camps are. Come on, you expect us to believe this? We are not sheeple!
A review of Booth’s emails shows she did wish to keep the location quiet from the city. - You just got burned!
On May 28, Sgt. Booth wrote Sgt. Roger Valdivia of the Fort Myers Police about a Fort Myers lieutenant ordering sex offenders off Ortiz to relocate.
“Its (sic) incidents like this that is the reason I want to work together,” Valdivia responded.
The next day, Booth sent an email to a detective in her unit, Stuart Foreman, asking if everyone had been relocated. - Yep they are still shufflin'!
“City will be having Code Enforcement, enforcing a ‘no camping within the city limits’ ordinance. So we will have to see what happens to the new location,” she wrote. “I will not be advising the city of the new location.”
Her email included a list of four offenders at the camp with this description: “living in the wooded area approximately ¼ East of the Trailhead fire station on Veronica Shoemaker.”
Foreman replied: “I’d hate to move these guys again, it’s a real pain in the $%^.”
In a later email, she instructed her unit to “show” a soon-to-be transient offender to his new address in the woods, which later appears as the camp off Veronica Shoemaker.
Fort Myers Mayor Randy Henderson called on law enforcement agencies and city and county leaders to cooperate on a better resolution than using a specific area as a “dumping ground.”
“That’s a bigger issue we need to come together and solve,” he said. “It’s impossible to overdo oversight on this.” - It's real easy to solve.... Get rid of residency restrictions!
“What’s not an option is moving them around like a checkerboard.”
Prison release
_____ emerged from the camp onto a trail frequented by bikers and walkers. He crossed the street toward the park he steers clear of because it’s against the law for him to enter and headed south to catch the bus to the Salvation Army for a meal.
After his April prison release, _____ stayed at Char Ann-Juanita apartments in south Fort Myers, one of the few places that accepts sex offenders, according to social service providers. But he could no longer pay the rent. One October morning, he remembers visiting the Lee County Sheriff’s Office to inform the sex offender unit he was going to be homeless. He was ready with a tent, tarp and few bags of clothes.
They told him he could go to the camp off Veronica Shoemaker, he said, and escorted him to an opening in the brush.
“Probation office isn’t really thrilled about this but that’s where the sheriff’s office put me so it legally allows me to be here,” _____ said.
No matter how people feel about sex offenders, he pointed out that they still need housing and services to help them rebuild productive lives after their convictions. - Then like we said, exterminate the residency restrictions!
“How strenuous do you have to make something before a person just wants to climb in a box and put the nails in themselves?”
(Earlier this week, _____ was arrested for violating his probation, which called for him to find work, a stable home and show up to regular appointments.) - How can you find work when you are homeless and do not have transportation? This just shows how the merry-go-round system works, they need people in and out of prison to keep the money flow going!
There’s no extra state requirements for homeless sex offenders, according to FDLE. The sheriff’s office does have homeless sex offenders sign a letter saying Lee County has no designated land for them and that sex offenders and predators living on undeveloped private property have 45 days to obtain a certified letter stating that they have permission to be there. But some guys have been on the spot longer.
Trespassing signs
Around December, Fort Myers police began contacting property owners of the wooded area about erecting no-trespassing signs, which they need before they can permanently oust the offenders. The bulk of the land belongs to a land-holding company, Serena Park LLC, which was contacted by the city. Mike Kerver, the company’s vice president, expected to have the signs up soon.
Once the signs are up, police plan to give the offenders a few days to pack and will work in tandem with an advocate for the homeless to try to help them. - So the police put them there, fires get hot, now they are going to kick them out? Stay tuned for encampment #2 coming soon....
“We’re trying to balance everybody in this,” said Mulligan. “I know people don’t like sex offenders in their neighborhoods. They’re not anybody’s favorite.” - You are just trying to put out the fire. If the media never said anything about this, then this homeless camp would still be there, but that's just our opinion of course.
But, then what happens? There are scant places for sex offenders to legally live apart from the woods, the south Fort Myers apartments that accept sex offenders and pockets of Lehigh Acres, the local administrator for the Department of Corrections told The News-Press in 2012. The department declined a recent interview request. Mapping of sex offenders’ locations show they reside in pockets throughout Lee County. - They live in the woods and in clusters due to the residency restrictions! Eliminate that and the problem will surely vanish, or a huge dent put into it! But hey, we can't look "soft" on sex offenders now can we?
Local social service providers could not offer housing options for homeless sex offenders and neither could the state’s homelessness director.
“It’s hard to get people to come forward to help that group of people and want to establish housing, but it is a public safety concern,” said Janet Bartos, executive director of the Lee County Homeless Coalition.
Nonprofit organizations do provide food, counseling and outreach to homeless sex offenders.
“There’s not an easy answer because of the background that they have,” said Ann Arnall, director of Lee County human services. - So why don't you hire a night guard to watch the place while everybody sleeps?
“There’s not a high level of sympathy either. If somebody is going to start a program, who is going to support it?”
This week, on an afternoon of welcome sunshine, Priscilla Morley flipped through a magazine at a Trailhead Park picnic shelter. Morley was unaware of the camp just a walk away.
“It’s a concern because this is a park for kids,” said Morley, 40, a nurse. “As long as they don’t come into the park, I’m OK. You just have to watch your kids from anybody.” - You should do that in the first place!
Patty Wetterling, whose son Jacob was kidnapped and never found, posted the following statement on the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center website: “Because residency restrictions have been shown to be ineffective at preventing harm to children, and may indeed actually increase the risks to kids, the JWRC does not support residency restriction laws.”
In 2009, the Broward County Florida Board of County Commissioners Sexual Offender and Sexual Predator Residence Task Force reported they had reviewed available research about the effectiveness of residence restrictions and “found no empirical evidence to indicate that these laws achieve their intended goals of preventing abuse, protecting children or reducing reoffending.”
The Minnesota DOC analyzed 224 sex offenders released from Minnesota prisons between 1990 and 2002 who were re-incarcerated for a sex offense prior to January 1, 2006. There were only two where the offender contacted a juvenile victim at a park, and both offenders lived more than 10 miles away. They concluded that not one of the offenses would have been affected by any residency restriction.
In 2007, the Kansas Sex Offender Policy Board reported to the legislature: “Although resident restrictions appear to have strong public support, the Board found no evidence to support its efficacy.” Kansas Department of Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz stated: “Residence restrictions don’t contribute to public safety. In fact, the consensus of experts in the field of sex offender management supported by available research and experience indicates they do just the opposite. Right now, it appears that the best alternatives are in the form of community wide education and training regarding steps that can be taken to educate parents . . .”
The California Sex Offender Management Board reported that 90% of people convicted of a sex crime have not been convicted of any sex crime before. The University at Albany [New York] School of Criminal Justice reviewed sex crime arrest records from the period 1984 through 2004 and found that more than 95% of those arrested had no prior convictions for any sex crime. More than 9 of every 10 who will harm a child cannot be on any registry or regulated by your law. They feel safer though and likely won’t be as vigilant.
I know you are concerned for the welfare of Milton’s citizens, but your ignorance of the realities and facts about sex offenders and residency restrictions threatens to place them at greater risk.
PORT ORANGE - Concerned parents confronted a Volusia County school district administrator Thursday about why they were never told a sexual offender lived across the street from a Port Orange elementary school.
Sugar Mill Elementary School parents were upset with the answer they were given during a PTA meeting -- that it’s their responsibility to find out about these things, not the school district's responsibility to tell them.
That sex offender, who just last week lived a stone's throw away from the school.
He was living there legally because he was convicted before any laws governing where sex offenders can live were passed. However, parent pressure forced him to move out.
“I want the school just to put out a courtesy call that lets the parents know when there is an offender that moves in newly," said Cheryl Fidler, whose children attend the school. "The school knew for a week before we did.” - The mindless zombies also want Gubment to tell them when to go to sleep, what to eat, etc!
School district administrator Greg Akin told parents they need to find out who lives in their neighborhood using tools like the FDLE sex offender website.
”But from a school district’s standpoint, it’s not a requirement," Akin said. "It’s not one of our requirements, there are rules, laws and regulations that we have to notify any parent on any offender or predator.”
He said that’s the job of law enforcement to release that information and the responsibility of parents to find out.
Where's my food?
The meeting comes after Port Orange city council members decided to move forward on a proposed ordinance that would require public notification signs outside the homes of sexual predators living in the city. - Heil Hitler! He loved signs and badges as well.
Tuesday night they agreed to place the ordinance on the council’s meeting agenda next month for further consideration.
The signs would also include the predator’s name.
Last week council members unanimously passed an ordinance that places tighter restrictions on where sex offenders can live inside Port Orange city limits.
CLAY COUNTY - According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's website, a registered sex offender is living just feet away from Clay Hill Elementary School.
The sex offender, who First Coast News has decided not to name, moved to the area at the beginning of January. According to the Clay County Sheriff's Office, he was arrested in September of 2004 for possessing and distributing child pornography. He served time in federal prison and according to the CCSO, he got off probation at the beginning of the month.
Under Florida law, sex offenders are not allowed to move within 1,000 feet of a school or park. CCSO said this sex offender lives 1,056 feet away from the elementary school. Detective Ryan Ellis said this man isn't doing anything wrong according to the law.
"He's not doing anything wrong," said Ellis. "He is currently within all of his guidelines of state statute, and he's in full compliance under Florida State Department of Law Enforcement regulations with sexual offender requirements and he's under full compliance with the sheriff's office."
However, parents are still concerned and angered by the recent move. One mother said, if he doesn't move, she might move her kids.
"I am considering pulling them out and putting them in home-school. That has crossed my mind. And, depending on how this turns out, that might be the right option for me."
PINELLAS COUNTY - A document obtained by 10 News indicates law enforcement may have crossed the line when trying to round up alleged sexual predators over the weekend -- and defense attorneys say entrapment cases could be built around the evidence.
The multi-agency sting, led by the Pinellas Co. Sheriff's Office and Clearwater Police Department, netted 35 arrests in "Operation Home Alone." The effort was coordinated by the region's Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force.
ICAC guidelines instruct undercover officers to "allow the investigative target to set the tone, pace, and subject matter of the online conversation."
But a Florida man, who says he responded to the officers' Craigslist ad, sent 10 News an alleged e-mail chain that indicates law enforcement is willing to bend, or break, their own ICAC guidelines to get "targets" to talk about sex with children.
In the exchange, an officer posing as a 12-year-old girl repeatedly engaged the man, who indicated she was too young to be on Craigslist. The topic of sex was also first introduced by the officer, an apparent violation of ICAC guidelines.
"There's no question they blur the lines," said defense attorney Jeffrey Brown of law enforcement officers. "But I think they can blur the lines because the ultimate resolution for a defense attorney is to go to trial."
And Brown said juries seldom have sympathy for accused predators, no matter what means were used to obtain evidence. He also said bending ICAC rules isn't necessarily breaking the law.
Brown added that the officers gave defense attorneys another possible entrapment argument by posting "casual encounters" ads on adult websites and only later suggesting they were 14 or younger.
Pinellas Co. Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, who was at the forefront of the Monday press conference announcing the 35 arrests, didn't make himself available to 10 Investigates for this story. But an agency spokesperson said they were reviewing the document provided by 10 Investigates.
"We are confident it was done within the process of the law and within all legal boundaries," said Pinellas Co. Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Cecilia Barreda.
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