Visiting registrant arrested and held without bond after failing to register cell phone number
A person required to register as a sex offender from Iowa was arrested after failing to register his phone number with local authorities.
He was booked Monday without bond at the Sumter County Detention Center after he failed to report his cell phone number.
His original offense was from 2004.
Meanwhile
Hoards of mobs are rushing stores stealing merchandise and police have done nothing.
Numerous murders have gone unsolved and 911 calls go unanswered due to staffing shortages in almost all police departments.
And YET, there is no shortage of registry enforcement officers to harass registered folks for minor crap. Name one other group of people who are not on probation who have to provide anyone with their phone # when they travel somewhere?
How in the heck do the courts not see this as punishment? Call it what it is. Basic phonics. Pun-ish-ment !
@ CherokeeJack: Those other situations are scary and might involve danger, weapons, risk to one’s life! It’s so much easier and safer to abuse a mild-mannered, generally law-abiding registrant than put oneself at risk by doing the hard law enforcement work!!
Furthermore, investigating all those unsolved murders would actually take some brain work! I think you are really expecting far too much from law enforcement, CherokeeJack!
You’re probably right David. LE must have it’s share of bully types that need their fix every now and then.
What a load of bull. Failure to register a phone? Reading the comments on the article were more of the same. My favorite was the guy who assumed the registrant was a Democrat. I did have to mention that Iowa is largely Republican. I didn’t mention, because I’m not sure, that Iowa doesn’t restore any felon voting rights. And finally, thank you Capt. Munsey and Khan for your courage to speak up on the paper’s website.
I see our favorite troll has infected the comment section for this article. The irony of going by the name “StopLying” is spreading lies. I wonder if he’s trying to get a job at a far right-wing media outlet.
How do you handle dealing with the trolls? I’m resisting the urge to reach through the internet to scream at such bull. I take it that he was referring to FAC with his NAMBLA comments?
Comments are open on the article’s webpage in the source link. You may wish to post your comments there.
A little background: I have had to register in Florida since 2012. I have since moved to another state, after 9 years of Florida registry. While in Florida, I had to register two times per year. While in Florida, I also worked to assist those being released from incarceration navigate life post release. This included helping individuals understand the importance of strictly following the Florida statutes in regards to the registry requirements….and probation.
While I believe everything about the registry is ridiculous, this individual knew he had a cell phone and should have registered it. Not only do the registration officers ask line-by-line questions when you go in to register, but you are given the statutes in writing at the point of completion of your registration.
When individuals do things that violate the registration requirements, it opens up the opportunity for stories like this to hit news sites. Those actions, therefore, bring additional, unnecessary, scrutiny to those of us who have to register.
Is it ridiculous that we need to register a cell phone number? Yes! That does not change the fact that we still need to do it or face consequences we know exist if we don’t. If we chose to to circumvent the statutes, it ultimately has the potential To harm all of us.
If you know someone who may be unsure of registration requirements, walk them through understanding them. I saved several people from registry violations because they missed simple things like registering cars at their address that belonged to guests in their home.
The registry is awful. Our way to fight it is through supporting lawsuits to its constitutionality….not by purposely neglecting to report a necessary registration requirement for any reason.
@ Removing Dross: Your comments seems to suggest that registrants should “go along to get along.” This individual being held without the opportunity for bond is clearly excessive punishment. It is the Florida legislature’s fault and laziness that it has not imposed fines for minor violations of registry law.
It seems to me that the biggest question here is this:
What risk and danger does this registrant pose by having an unregistered cell phone??
Is he presenting an increased risk of committing a sexual offense because he has an unregistered cell phone??
You may be ascribing views to Removing Dross that he/she did not express.
Respectfully, I disagree.
We interact with hundreds of people on the registry each week. You would be amazed to learn how many are not aware of all the requirements. Especially those from other states where the rules are different or those who are not networked with others on the registry or part of this forum.
I consider myself to be pretty on top of the requirements but there are still occasions where I wasn’t aware of something. There are other requirements that are so vague (such as the 3 or more days requirement) that even FDLE employees are conflicted as to the requirements.
You would also be amazed at how many new people come to find FAC after being arrested for something they were unaware of.
Nobody (other than the individual arrested) knows whether he knew, didn’t know, should have known, etc., and I’m sure many reading your comment will be from Counties where they absolutely do not ask line-by-line questions at registration. Certainly at re-registration most officers just ask “has anything changed?” and certainly they (nor FDLE) are informing us if any registration requirements changed since the prior visit.
Legislators should call these requirements what they are: tripwires that are designed to make EVERYONE liable to prosecution. Why would they do this, so that when they want to target a specific person for prosecution, it would be a relatively easy task to do so. Remember that LE want to do as little work as possible, so the more tripwires there are, the easier it is to find violations.
Police do this all the time when they suspect vehicles are involved in criminal activity. They look for an innocuous violation: failure to signal, touching the yellow line, etc. so they can pull the person over, then try to manipulate the stop so they can have permission or probable cause to search for what they really want without the need to mess with Constitutional processes such as warrants.
Anonymous
As former law enforcement, I can confirm what you are saying. It goes even further than that, they can “Make up” any excuse they want for why you were pulled over. Once when I was off duty in my own car and clothes, I got pulled over by a state trooper. I handed him my license and registration without a word about me being a cop.
When he came back to the car, he handed me a ticket for doing 70 in a 50 MPH zone. I was doing the speed limit and he told me it was my word against his. I then showed him my badge and said I would be going to court in my uniform and asking the judge to show proof of such an accusation.
He then chewed me out for not telling him I was a cop. I said “Does it matter, if you are doing this to everyone you should be ashamed”. I said “Just give me the damn ticket and I will see you in court”. He tore up the ticket but the next day I got called into my supervisors office to explain why I tried to use my job to get out of a ticket?
I explained the entire story to him and stated “have him come in and let us both take a polygraph and see who was lying”. The issue was dropped but just shows some cops will lie to God Himself to save their own skins or to “Beef up” their ticket #’s. And yes, some department use to give bonuses to officers who wrote more tickets. Part of that money went to the state and the rest went to the department that wrote the tickets.
I probably wrote the least amount of tickets than anyone. I was a sucker for sob stories about not being able to buy baby formula LOL (Funny when they were driving a new Mercedes)
I based getting a ticket or not on how the person treated me. Someone who greeted me with “Hello officer, how is your day going?” almost always got a break and a gentle warning. Someone who started with “You *ucking pig, get out of my face” usually ended up having a bad day. (No I did not beat them up)
My county now defines “3 or more days” as “3 or more overnights.”
No matter if your visit is <72 hrs (check in after 3, check out by noon) or includes just two full days (Saturday just after midnight to Monday just after midnight), a “day” is defined in my county as an “overnight”, and three or more overnights requires registration in my county.
Including, travel OUT of the county, by a permanent county resident on the registry.
And as an FDLE phone rep once advised me, you have to go by your county’s interpretation, because they’re the ones with the discretion to make an arrest.
FAC, thank you for bringing up this subject. Anything special you think I should be doing about this (besides complying for now)?
How is it defined in other Florida counties?
There is no such thing as different counties defining it differently. There is one state statute that applies to everyone. It should have a universal definition and that universal definition should be clear. The fact that different counties or different people can have different definitions is a prima facie illustration of vagueness.
I registered recently and noticed something I never saw before. I thought you could cross state line, say for a day trip without registering. My thoughts were that you could go somewhere as long as it is not more than 2 days.
Well on my paperwork it says “If you cross state lines and fail to register, you will be arrested for failure to register”. Well crap, So if you lived on the state line and the closest store was just 1/4 mile across the line, you are violating every time you buy food? How freaking insane is that?
On that theory, if you drove across the U.S you would have to stop and register and un-register while going through each state? It does not specify.
My county has a line (Supposedly an FDLE rule) that if you leave the state of Florida, even for 1 second, you have to register. I have never seen that before (I could have missed it?) I live hundreds of miles from the state line so would not affect me.
Having said that, there are small towns on the border or the panhandle where most of the stores are in the bordering states. So you have to register every time you go 1/2 mile to get gas or groceries? What is next, registry state border police?
This was also displayed in the Duval office that if you cross state lines without registering you could be convinced of a federal law and state law.
Can we get some clarification on this, is this new?
Correct. If you cross state lines without following registration laws, you are subject to state or Federal prosecution.
It does NOT say that crossing state lines in itself is illegal, only that there are certain additional laws to be aware of. Depends where you’re going, how long you’re staying, etc.
State line crosser
I will let you decide for yourself. Line #20 says, and I quote:
If I fail to register after crossing state lines I may be in violation of federal law as well as state statues.
There are 22 lines of registry requirements on my registration form that is 3 sheets if paper long. Front and back makes 6 pages
We have to sign their copy and our copy stating we have read and agree to comply.
It also says on the back not to throw away or destroy our copy as it is an official document.
Surprised we don’t have to carry separate Sex offender ID cards.
To clarify my point:
If I fail to register after crossing state lines I MAY be in violation of federal law as well as state statues.
This is absolutely correct— I may be in violation, and I may not be, which is why it’s best to find out the registration laws both in Florida and at your destination.
Anonymous
Thanks, it is always to not be the only one who discovered something. Your testimony at least backs up what I was saying. Mine was not posted on the way but on the paperwork they give you once you completed your re-registration.
Heck the way things are headed, we may have to register if we enter another county.
I was going to say at least that proves I am not crazy but, yeah I am kind of crazy. Crazy from so many years on the Salem witch hunt list.
Removing Dross’ words of wisdom remind us of FAC’s dual mission: registrants should know to comply with the law while it’s being fought.
Lack of bond is understandable for a defendant that’s difficult to locate. It’s the law behind the arrest in the first place that’s the problem.
Here in Florida, a black man with a lengthy and violent criminal history stands accused of killing a white child in an unprovoked attack. Police say they haven’t identified a motive. The accused is NOT a sex offender, just a “drifter” by police standards. This case reminds me of the Adam Walsh case because there was no evidence that Adam Walsh was sexually abused before his murder. Yet, we have to comply with the Adam Walsh act decades after his death. Now I wonder whether legislation will be introduced in the name of the young victim in this case to register drifters who have violent criminal histories. See Ryan Rogers murder: Florida police identify suspect in custody after teen’s ‘deliberate’ killing
https://www.foxnews.com/us/ryan-rogers-murder-florida-suspect
So let me try to understand the LOGIC here…. The man who drove through a parade and KILLED 6 kids, wounding several others AT LEAST gets a bond, even if a high one. A man fails to put his phone number on Schindler’s List and gets NO BOND. Ok, just making sure there’s actual LOGIC in this.
Maestro
come on man, wake up. The answer is simple. It is because “Nothing” related to those with a sex offense is punishment. The list includes things”
Not being able to answer our own door during Halloween
Having marks of the beast place on our driver’s licenses
Having 2 to 4 times a year go in person to re-register even though we are not on probation.
And many more times if we so much as get a new pair of shoes we did not register (Being sarcastic with that one)
I could go on and on, but the fact remains that eventually they will be allowed to add us back onto lifetime probation. Some states or cities already require a “Forced” and “Required” registration fee.
I have a list of at least 50 things written down for when I go before a judge soon to try and get off the registry. I have been on it since it started in 1997 for charges from 1991. With, according to the Gestapo no chance of ever getting off the registry even if I die. (Maybe a family member will have to register me when I pass)
One last thing, you are mis-using the word logic. That word does not exist in the World of registries. If there was any “Logic” applied, there would be no registries. So logic goes out the window with anything related to our situations.