Divided Florida Court Revokes Sex Offender’s Probation After Bizarre Feud With Neighbors
A peculiar dispute between two South Florida neighbors came before the Fourth District Court of Appeal on Wednesday when it found that a registered sex offender’s three-year “campaign of harassment” against the couple next door violated his probation and warranted a prison sentence.
The case drew conflicting opinions from the appellate panel as two judges found the defendant Scott Johnstone’s behavior fell under Florida’s stalking statute but a dissenting judge said the “antics” were nothing more than “petty annoying behavior.”
The feud began after Johnstone disclosed that he’d been convicted of 10 counts of possession of child pornography and his new neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Shockley, said they didn’t want anything to do with him.
Johnstone then allegedly did an array of things to annoy them, including painting a ”clown-like character” on an adjoining fence with the words,” STUPID PEOPLE BEYOND THIS POINT” and an arrow pointing to their house.
If you have neighbors that won’t associate with you, that’s their choice, so please respect them by LEAVING THEM ALONE.
Especially if you are on probation or parole.
I have mixed feelings about this story. I laughed,I read the comment by Jacob ,and thought to myself, true. But am not sure if it was any other type of offender we would be having this discussion. Now I don’t think we got the full story here and how it led to this. But ,I get tired of being targeted by legislature,vigilante’s, and anyone in-between that comes across the registry to give reformed registered Citizens a hard time,whether it be a dirty look,comment, or what have you. If his neighbor’s triggered him somehow because of his P A S T,well we need to start standing up for ourselves, one good harassment deserves another.This is getting old. You know as many registered Citizens as there are we should have our own rallies and protest at all cost.
[we should have our own rallies and protest at all cost.]
I have thought of this over the years many times. I wonder though will we where masks or will we stand proud sex offenders with open faces? I can imagine the counter protesters and what their signs would say and the wanna be hero’s/vigilantes will come out of the wood work.
Women Against Registry (WAR) has the most experience with anti-registry protests. Also Once Fallen.
Such a protest could get some members of the public to start thinking about these issues. But it could also place a burden on the Media Committee, who might be scrambling to prevent misleading headlines such as “Sex Offenders Demand More Rights” that can be counterproductive to the cause. And if the protest succeeds in lending visibility to its participants, then registrants who participated may find themselves worrying about repercussions for their kids at school, their spouses at work, etc.
Sorry to sound like such a naysayer but I think these are some of the reasons we don’t see so many anti-registry public protests. It’s an issue whenever an unpopular class of people is fighting for their constitutional rights. W.A.R. is a little different, as they tend to consist primarily of family members facing collateral consequences, and they tend to garner greater public sympathy from the get-go.
Jacob
I second the motion. On the one hand we should not be expected to sit on our hands in fear and do nothing. On the other hand, protesting and causes chaos could back fire on us in so many ways it is not funny.
Exhausting as it is, as expensive as it is, as frustrating as it is, our court battles are where we must win.
Neighbors that don’t want anything to do with you and will leave you alone are the best Neighbors in my opinion. He should have been respectful and let them alone..
agreed! has enough on his plate without adding more shame on him!
People who mind their own business are the best regardless if they like you. If you want drama try working in show business; otherwise mind your business!!
He only has himself to blame. You cannot even blame the registry for this one because all the couple did (From what little I can tell from the article) was to tell him to stay away from them, which is their right.
I do not feel sorry for him and this is one case I will not get behind a fellow registrant on. Incidents like this are used to make us all out to be bad guys.
Once the realization of being on the registry sets in, it would seem prudent to maintain a low profile from there on out so as to not draw attention to oneself. That is, a little tact is in order. Set an example.
Ben
I told a story in here a while back about a guy at the registry office that almost had the girl behind the glass in tears. He was calling her a bitch and slamming the counter saying “*uck you, I ain’t singin shit”.
He was not arrested but when I checked on her to see if she was ok, she laughed and said ” He just opened a hornets nest he can’t run from”.
I assume even if he is not arrested, he will get daily compliance checks, flyers on his door, neighbors notified, followed by unmarked units etc.
He should of left his neighbors alone like they asked. Eventually who’s to say his neighbors could of seen that he’s not a boogeyman or a threat; but instead he acted like an immature clown resulting in his loss.
I have neighbors like these who are also register citizens and I am glad they don’t talk to me!!!! I had learn while in prison to stay out of people’s business they stay out of mine. That is the best neighbor to have
No listing to other’s drama, added stress and bull$hit.. and most of all…. You won’t feel obligated to buy or give a holiday gift at xmas time for them!Crap I have a neighbor’s mother who feels that her son should not be on the registry but others should be on it too
Hard lesson in life that door is close for a reason so why try to open it up? There are other doors out there some should have never been open and some well…. You wish you never had open in the first place if you get my drift
I don’t feel sorry for the guy who got violated He was provoking them.
As news stories routinely fail to get the registrant’s side of the story, I would have to withhold an opinion one way or another. To draw a clown on one’s fence suggests that a simmering feud had been developing for some time. Perhaps some false accusations or baseless complaints had been levied to give the man unwarranted grief. On probation, even the most ridiculous false accusation or insinuation can result in the probation office coming down hard on an individual. This alone could drive some over the edge.
Perhaps the registrant was trying to get some ‘justice’ by pushing the limits on their freedoms, hoping to make the couple feel a bit of the discomfort they’ve been feeling. Who knows? We never get the full story in the media because (as we know) they are not truth telling organizations but rather advertising pushing story spinners.
I sent this in an email to FAC in the hopes that something would get mentioned here about it. This does not look good for any of us. This is obviously a typical street thug with no regard for anyone regardless of his past crimes but this will be how we are all judged by society when idiots who have a sexual offense record do shit like this…..
https://www.google.com/amp/s/lawandcrime.com/crazy/suspect-in-assault-on-92-year-old-woman-identified-as-convicted-sex-offender-who-has-been-arrested-more-than-100-times/amp/
Here’s another from the attack. https://nypost.com/2020/06/17/brute-accused-of-slugging-elderly-bronx-woman-has-been-arrested-over-100-times/
Thugs like this make our cause more difficult and us that are law abiding might have more oppressive laws placed on us because of this thug; who should of spent longer time in prison with his 100 arrests. Holy shit, I need my Tylenol.
The papers emphasized his status as a sex offender, which had nothing to do with him being a thug or a brute. He had 100 arrests with only two or three being for anything sex related. Reporting like this just perpetuates the ignorance and fear regarding sex offenders. Not only is this guy disgusting, but the coverage is as well.
Here’s an example of how the registry fails to stop someone who IS dangerous.
If someone tries to bring up this assailant as evidence of the efficacy of registry laws, I may have to point out to them that they’re not thinking it through.
As MI ACLU’s Miriam Aukerman recently suggested— when we are attempting to educate public officials, we don’t have to get in a pissing match over recidivism rates, if we simply demonstrate that registries don’t work!
Jacob
In this case the criminal justice system and New York failed to protect society for a dangerous offender and not the registry. How can you have over 100 arrests and still be walking around?
Maestro,
I do not care if the old lady was black or white, if I saw someone knock and elderly person out like that, I swear on my Grannies grave it would be worth it to go back to prison for what I would have done for that person. That is a coward if I ever saw one. Knock someone out who actually has a chance of beating your *ss or who at least would give you damn run for your money.
I lost all of my grandparents but I have adopted several elderly people as foster grandparents.
Now not to sound racists, but if that had been a elderly black woman knocked out by a white person (I am Cherokee so don’t jump on me) the cities would be burning right now.
CherokeeJack,
This is not an issue of race, at least not the reason I shared the story. If the assailant had racial motives – that’s to be determined. I brought it up here because the news is making sure to mention he’s a “sex offender”.
I read the entire ruling from the District Court of Appeal. In addition to all of the harassment, this man hosed himself down “bathing” in nothing but tight cotton underwear in the clear view of a very young child, intentionally. He’s extremely lucky he wasn’t arrested for lewd and lascivious exhibition for that. I have known others who were charged with that offense for lesser conduct.
As someone who was on community control for 2 years and sex offender probation for another 8, I can tell you that this man was playing wild and loose with the rules and is a danger to the public. Ex-offenders who dedicate themselves to self-improvement and never harming another individual don’t behave this way. He only got about 2 years in prison on the violation (I looked it up on the FLDOC website). He should count himself lucky. I have no sympathy for him. His behavior puts us all and our cause one step back.
Rm
Not to stick up for the idiot but have you ever been to the beach? The beaches here in Florida I see guys walking about with basically a string covering their junk and their bush showing.
Although what the guy did was stupid, I do not think it is illegal as underwear means you are not nude.
BUT if they want you bad enough, you can be arrested for anything or whatever lie they make up. Some of my charges were for someone to this day I do not know who they are, but was able to have those thrown out when I challenged in court to have that person appear and testify under oath and threat of a polygraph test.