FAC sends letters to FDLE re: scams and COVID-19
FAC sent letters to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) to address two issues of significant concern for our population.
The first is the scam. This scam has been allowed to perpetuate for more than 2 years now. In February 2018 the FDLE sent an email warning of the scam, but that did not stop the perpetrators, and to our knowledge nothing has been done since. Many registrants do not have access to email or were added since. Emails are very easy to overlook. We ask the FDLE to send letters to everybody on the registry or fund postage so that we can do it ourselves. Ideally, the FDLE should not allow the registry to be downloaded in batch or google-indexed in a way that someone can access thousands of records at a time.
The second is the coronavirus. This is another situation that repeats itself over and over. It’s a pandemic this time, it was a hurricane last time. in both cases there are absolutely no provisions in the registration statutes that provide for exemption of certain registration requirements during times of emergency or natural disaster. There are also no provisions for the elderly or sick. The registration statutes are strict liability, meaning you will be convicted for violating them even if you did not intend to. People should not be required to risk their health or risk a felony to comply with an “administrative” law. The elderly or ill should not unnecessarily expose themselves or others to infection and those who cannot care for their own affairs should not expose their caregivers.
Our amazing volunteers never fail to astound me.
The fact that you can catch a felony due to virus or weather conditions is plain fucking ludicrous!
I have no more words. The state of FL needs to be sued to every corner of the earth. I’m speechless.
Has anyone else had their identity stolen? I give my SS number to sheriff when I register and bought 1 auto I financed and my account now my identity is stolen. Polk
Thank you so much for your continued efforts to try and explain to FDLE the impossible situation those of us on the registry face in the numerous emergency situations that frequent florida.
It seems they have been informed before every hurricane and new preposterous registration requirement that make it impossible for us to comply with, to no avail, or instruction on how to comply.
I don’t expect a reply this time or a solution forthcoming from them. They will simply state they are bound to enforce the statutes written by the legislature, impossible or not, and needless of any logic or reasonableness, but thanks again for trying.
I guess that is all we can do is keep hammering them over the head with reason until the do something.
If anything, it documents the issue. If they continue to do nothing and a registrant falls victim to the scam and is lured to a location where they are beaten or killed, the blood is on their hands.
First, I applaud your effort and concern for us as a whole and on a personal level.
Secondly, good luck getting the FDLE to do anything that benefits us. As I discussed before, I won a lawsuit against the FDLE for having made up charges added to my registry. When they removed the wrong information by court order, they changed me from 2 times a year to 4 times a year registration as retribution. I could file another lawsuit but at what cost?
Not being negative, just being realistic. The good thing is, by sending that, they cannot say they were not warned / informed of the situation and concerns you / we have.
We all appreciate everything you and your staff do on a daily basis. Doing something is better than doing nothing.
Well said FAC and thank you for your efforts and hard work. As you said it has been told to them there is proof of it so I would think if something was to happen to one of us because they took no action I would think they could be sued since the constitution says EQUAL protection of the law . They’re in action shouldn’t make them liable wouldn’t you agree ?
I mean I can think of several situations where they could violate a person for not registering during this whole pandemic. For example what if a relative comes over your house and gets stuck there for 2 weeks because your house has been quarantined? How I’m I supposed to register his car if I can’t leave my home and it’s supposed to be an in-person registration?
What if a person becomes seriously ill on a ventilator and they can’t let them know they’re in the hospital because they are incapacitated on a ventilator and unconscious with a tube down their throat? I believe if at least in an emergency situation they allowed information to be phoned in then that would help a lot. I mean if they want to see your face to be sure you are the one calling there is something called facetime where anyone can do video chat. We have the technology. They want to take our money when we come in in person so if they are that money-hungry then maybe they can take an online payment. Once again we have the technology.
You are the third person to say this so will ask you as well. Where are you living that you have to pay to register??? So far they have not done that where I live but they say it could be on the horizon.
I live in St. Lucie County in Florida. They have a 20 dollar registration fee when you go in for your 3 or 6-month update depending on what your status is and 10 dollars for every time you want to come in and change something like updating your address or employment status.
JD,
I had to chuckle when you said “When you want to come in”.
I know what you meant but NONE of us ever wants to go in, they force us to under threat of arrest.
And that is insane that it is not punishment but are forced to pay a fee to register for something you never agreed to and most of us had long since been sentenced over. Same as probation so what is the difference?
And not a single judge in Florida has the balls or guts to do the legal and right thing and rule in our favor. Not because we are whiny, but because it is constitutionally correct. Not because we say we deserve it but because when the law is correctly applied, we would not be on their punishment list in the first place.
That is why I am shocked each session they come up with more and more impossible add ons that give us another opportunity to mess up and fall into their trap of a new sentence longer than our original sentences.
Retroactively forcing people out of their homes they have owned for years because of new laws. One good bit of news my lawyer showed me in the law. If you live somewhere where they try and form an HOA, if you bought before it was formed, they cannot make you join and you are not subject to any of their new neighborhood rules. That happened to me and I got a cease and desist order many years ago letting them know , as MC Hammer once said “Can’t touch this” .
So if you go to update but cant afford it do they not update it? So they WANT to arrest you For not complying…..
Clay County now has registrants paying every time you walk in the door. The Clay County Commissioner that pushed the new Clay County “Sex Offender” Ordinance through last November is now running for the U. S. Congress. Nothing happened in Clay County to warrant the new ordinance, but the commissioner can now say that he has “made Clay County safer”.
In Missouri several yrs. ago they tried to pass a bill along with other things to force registrants to pay. It was soon struck down and deemed unconstitutional. They still ask for $5.00 whenever you make a change in your paperwork but they can’t force you to pay it. So basically it’s voluntary.
Sounds like a segue into a future violation. Debtors prison abounds.
Jacksonville F $25.00 & my friend that lives in Middleburg Fl told me they started last week. Last time I paid, I paid in penny’s ! Boy that got mad and refused to take them, so I called the Sheriff and he told them to take them because they are legal tender !! He He !!
What pisses me off the most is the media and Trump are telling people to “remain calm” about the Corona Virus because it’s just a temporary threat.to our Nation and community However, the exact opposite narrative about us is being told year-round! “These people can’t control their behaviors and compulsions, so we to be vigilant in not letting them live in the shadows or fly under the radar – they represent an imminent threat to ‘our children’.”
Here’s another thing I cringe at, when they say “our streets” and “our children” in a self-aggrandizing statement. They really are taking ill-earned and undue credit for promoting public safety with all these community notification schemes.
I’m sick and tired of them overselling the threats that sex offenders pose and over-hyping the false “high & frightening” recidivism claim. When you deny people hope and give them nothing to look forwards to, you’re indirectly CREATING indocile behaviors and dysfunctional outcomes that foster perfect storm, powder keg individuals with nothing to lose.
Thank you all for drafting and sending these letters.
Ron Book was at the State House when they discovered someone there had been exposed to the Coronavirus.
Not giving any thoughts here, just stating something in the news…
like to the link please if you don’t mind
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THESE LETTERS…
Very Professional and well written with the best intentions for all!
‘Their’ response will probably be OBTUSE!…but we all should hope for the best!
thank you again!
Another point also is In Broward County the courts are now closed. What if it’s your time to register and you can’t? What do you do? Who do you inform? Will you be considered out of compliance and subject to a felony arrest? These are all questions FDLE should be answering and updating everyone on.
Do you not register at the sheriff’s office? I have never heard of registering at the court house. Sheriff’s office is different. I did however just hear Sheriff Chitwood say deputies will not respond for minor incidents to protect their deputies so you can fill out an online report. He did not mention registration issues.
Best bet is to call your sheriff’s office and they can tell you how they are handling registrations during this time. I know where I go the person is behind glass. Although they come out to do your fingerprints.
@ Cherokeejack, I live in Maricopa county,AZ We have a sheriff office located in the Courthouse that does S.O. registry and fingerprints It is more easy for them because you get sentence to probation you walk over there from 5th ave Jail and register. However, they had a DMV in the courthouse. but that became overwhelm so the DMV there is by appointment only
OH NOOOOO. Isn’t that the famous Maricopa Sheriff who made all the male inmates wear pink jumpsuits?
Yes! sheriff Joe arpio he out now but he did say he going to run again. They closed down tent city too. He (joe) had people living in tents with high heat…. I mean 114 but it dry heat unlike Florida which is wet heat. You can fry an egg on a dashbroad and it be cooked or spit on the ground it will be vaporized before it begins to bubble
I was in town today and upon my return my niece tells me that they got a call on there house phone from the Sheriff. My niece and nephew do not live with me, they live in a different house trailer. I have my own house phone number and I have never given the Sheriff’s Office their house number.
So, not giving it much thought at that moment I called the number…. A woman answers the phone, and didn’t say what I was expecting. She said Hello..and I said , I got a message to call this number. She asks who I am…I tell her my name, and she said, I have to transfer you to a lieutenant.
A male answers and asks me to verify that it’s me who he speaking to. All he can tell me is my name and my date of birth and where I live and when I last registered. Then he tells me I need to come down there and take a swab test. And he said actually you should have been there today you missed your appointment. That’s when I go on to tell him that I’ve already been informed about a scam very similar to this conversation him and I are having and that I would be glad to come down there tomorrow in the morning or he can come out here tonight. he didn’t like that he said well if you want to take your chances and believe something is a scam he said then that’s on you and I said sir I’m gets what I’m going to have to do. So we hung up I with the impression that he left me that him and two other police officers were coming out to get me. But my point is I believe that I just had a conversation with those people who are scamming people. and I mean it was almost word-for-word the way I was warned about the conversation the way the conversation was going to go. but because of fac I knew that was a scam and just calmly said yes or I’m going to have err on the side of caution because I have heard that this was a scam.
SCAM!!!! This is a classic scam. Report it to your local police. Look for a message from us tomorrow with an update on this.