Homeless offenders in Brevard County struggle to find resources and shelter
Jason Kimbrough is sitting in Brevard County Jail waiting to appear before a judge on a charge of violating parole.
He’d rather be anywhere else, but the reality is he’s not wanted many other places.
A charge against him made in 1998 at 15 years old, of which he was convicted in 2000, has marked him as a sex offender. He is one of 735 registered sex offenders in Brevard County, according to statistics from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Since 2017, Kimbrough has called a Melbourne homeless camp home.
The Florida Department of Corrections registered his GPS monitor and ankle bracelet there. It was where he was required to return each night. But in early December, the camp was marked to be bulldozed by the property owner and he was charged with violating parole.
Kimbrough told FLORIDA TODAY on Dec. 8 that the Sheriff’s Office had told them the day prior that if they didn’t leave the camp between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. Dec. 8, they would face trespassing charges, as the property owner wanted it bulldozed.
Kimbrough said he planned to spend the day looking for a place to stay, then return to the camp for curfew. If he didn’t return, he would be charged with violating his parole. At least seven campers were arrested on charges of violating their probation or parole even though they had remained at the camp.
Why should a 15 year old have to be on a registry at all, much less for life?
I wonder what his charges were? They had to be fairly serious I would think.
CherokeeJack
Wait I thought the registry was supposed to protect children, so are 15 year olds adults. I need a beer… cracks open a Mug Root Beer and ponders registry issues with complexity while keeping my sanity.
Brandon
I am so proud of you. Well for keeping your sanity. I lost mine back in 1991 when all this started. I have been to several lost and founds but looks like my sanity cannot be restored unless a judge makes it so.
Good point Cherokee or why doesn’t government even follow basic standards set by the four-fathers of American Justice. Yes I was in jail with an 18 yr that was in their for killing both parents. Yes now thats not something to talk about and thats a wake up call for anyone.
Sure this registry has many downfalls and as Ben has said government should have foreseen but instead government even compounds this, just like bad compounding interest in many levels of this sex registry ordeal. Homelessness is no good I have even stayed at shelters once or twice. I use to even hitch-hike in the 60’s.
The alleged lawmakers who created the situation should have foreseen this problem and created a solution to it before implementing the law.
I suspect lawmakers foresaw it and were ok with it.
What? Do you think that Lauren Book and those of her ilk Didn’t see outcomes like this? Remember that registrants in Florida are being continually punished because Ron Book chose to outsource his child rearing duties and that went bad. So now someone must pay.
JoeM
Senator Book and her father are forces to be reckoned with and it’s a damn shame they have so much influence in Florida. Wish Florida legislators would tell the duo to kick rocks. Hopefully she’ll never become Florida’s governor. Be one ugly ride in Tallahassee with Lauren at the helm.
Brandon
I would imagine if Book were Governor, we would have to report each week with a plan of action for the week. Sort of like probation where we have to document every single place we have visited, are going to, who we had in our car, their names and ages. Anyone we talked to and what we said to them.
Sometimes things have to get worse to get better. That my friend is why some wins are happening. They keep putting more and more strict restrictions on us to the point where we really are on a watered down probation. Some place even make you pay to register. (And it ain’t cheap)
We here in Florida are inching closer and closer to a melt down with the registry. Something somewhere has to give.
What’s the point of parole when the officer violates one for something beyond your control? How come the sheriff’s office didn’t allow them to register their department’s address? Sad when resources are wasted on things that don’t work and could of been used to help these people as well as the community. Damn shame this bs continues in Florida and across the country.
this is how they get to say that sex offenders re-offend at a high rate they don’t mention that is is not a sex offense that they re-offend but a stupid probation or parole offense because of nonsense like this.
This gives the sex offender opponents fuel to say that we re-offend at 20/30/40% when in reality depending on age it is under 10%
until the registry goes away or a city is sued an loses a large amount of money because they create homeless camps and so on nothing will change. The almighty dollar is what this world listens to and unfortunately the offenders do not have it
More like under 5% according to the DOJ. The only way those numbers get any higher than that is if you count things like being arrested for other offenses or for probation or registration violations as “reoffending.“
I have possibilities for two rental homes in Indian River County, one is a 3-bedroom/2 bath home, and the other is a 2-bedroom/1 bath home. If interested, give me a call at 321-636-3958. Both homes are in a safe/approved area.
Bless you, Capt.
Whatever the Media Committee has been doing to get Gail quoted in the press and viewed by them as a reliable source, please keep doing that!
Apparently people cannot read very well or just lack reading comprehension skills. Has anyone seen the comments? They missed the part where the article says the man was only 15 yrs old at the time of his offense. I guess 15 isn’t a kid anymore.
I’ve read the comments, and it’s sickening. This isn’t the first article I’ve responded to, thd public comments are similar in tone to one’s I’ve seen and read before. I keep waiting for one particular troll to show up who has a vendetta against Mr. Logue and FAC. It’s all very depressing.
I was 17 at the time of offence. And no they don’t care. The only time your a minor is when it sways the court In the direction and favor of the prosecution.
Never understood how a minor can charged as an adult when it comes to murder; yet a teen can’t consent to having sex with a classmate.
When I was in sex offender therapy in Broward County while on probation in the late 1990s through the mid 2000s, a few 16 and 17 year-olds were in my therapy group at various points, having been convicted of sex crimes usually involving younger individuals. I found it very hard to rationalize the logic that made it a crime for me to engage in consensual sexual activity with a 17 year-old while at the same time the law deemed the 17 year-old sitting next to me fully responsible for his own actions when he committed his crime.
When I asked the head therapist (a very renowned and to be honest quite wonderful psychologist, whom I’m sure many of you reading this know) to help make some sense of this for me, she told me she didn’t have an answer. She did, however, have the 17 year-old moved out of my group when I informed her that his presence there was hindering my progress.
RM
When I went through, I got kicked out. Not for anything I did wrong. Most of the people in there would clam up and not talk. I was the opposite, I wouldn’t shut up. The therapist told the probation officer I had completed early because I was not denying anything like many of the others were doing. (Maybe they were not guilty?)
Anyway I was supposed to do a year of therapy or longer if therapist decided I needed it. I think I did 2 months and he signed me “Not a threat”. That was like 25 years ago and not even a traffic ticket. (I Did pay one of my bills late, shame on me)
** Just so everyone knows, I posted early about another support group where I did not talk at all. That one was totally different and something I went through on my own to gain more leverage to got off probation earlier.
I have been in three. One forced by probation, the other two were lawyers idea, one was group sessions and the other one on one with mental health specialist.
She didn’t HAVE to answer means she didn’t HAVE AN ANSWER. She understood the hypocrisy of it all. When people say they don’t have to answer, be suspicious of them.
This should be a legal no-brainer. Longstanding precedent, especially in criminal cases, is that when there is a conflict of laws or rules, the conflict is resolved against the government. Reason being that the government can change the laws or rules in order to prevent such conflicts; the citizen cannot.
There’s nothing logical or fair in placing citizens in positions where they have to break one law or rule in order to comply with another.
It is the parole officer’s duty to assist ALL parolees into reintegrating into society. That means helping them find suitable housing. To program a gps monitor to a homeless camp is unacceptable. I am absolutely positive that this same parole officer will assist a paroled drug dealer or murderer in finding housing instead of telling him to go live on the street.
It is even worse when a church refuses to help a registrant. If a person cannot even turn to a church for help, then where can he go for help?
We have failed as a society and for that I am ashamed.
Disgusted
I rarely attend church anymore for that reason. They love to accept your offering/donation but I have heard horror stories of being asked to leave a church because it was “Upsetting the sheep”.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say one of the requirements to enter Heaven is church attendance.
@ Cherokeejack. You’re absolutely right. Where two or more are fathered in his name the holy spirit us there, but no church. In the time of Christ, followers followers were members of (translated) The Way. People are the church. I was forced out by a daughter in laws sister/family. They were to picket with the news if I returned. Was told to stay hone for a few weeks. Churches are run by humans who all have their own ideas and convictions of how they believe god should be represented. Some adhere to gospel, others, based opinions. I trust them as much as I do the system.
Fred
One of the ways to combat that is, I occasionally go with my parents. It is a HUGE church. I never volunteer or go to Sunday school, just the service. I am polite but don’t answer too many questions. After service shake a few hands and hug a few people and then we leave.
I have asked parents not to mention me much when talking to others and have not had a problem. When you go to a smaller church where everyone knows everyone, or when you get more involved in small groups, or sign up for things in the church, that is where issue come up.
Having said that, the registry which is supposedly NOT punishment, should not be causing us to be divided even with God’s people. However, if these people were actually Godly, they would not be judging us for something that in some cases, took place decades ago and had nothing to do with them.
When the church dis-owns us, that leaves just our family and God. And for some, even their families have dis-owned them.
Fred I couldn’t of said it better. So the goal is justice for all American’s involved in all this registry. Taking away civil rights is bad enough.
Iv been attending church for 25 years. And I have never once been asked to leave a church. Not saying your wrong. Just my experience have been positive ones. And iv been in the worship team in almost every one of those churches. So im not sure what kind of churches yiur attending. But I don’t think I would want to go to church there anyway anyway. If people were even mildly familiar with The Bible this would be be easily fixed in any church.
Pariah
That is your ONE experience. I have seen at least 15 people on here over the years say they have been asked to leave the church. It just takes ONE person to go to the pastor and say “If you don’t ask that convicted sex offender to leave I will leave and stop my $500 a month offerings”.
And like I said, I have never been asked to leave either because I attend/attended larger churches and stayed in the shadows. Also every situation is different. For example, many on here have stated they just cannot find work. I never, ever, ever had a situation where I couldn’t find a job. But if you are trying to get a job as a daycare worker, it is a no brianer no. If you work in a warehouse where the public is not welcome and all the employees have to be over 18, they use to be begging for help.
I can no longer work due to age and disability. I have been trying to get food stamps for 15 years but since I live with my parents, I keep getting denied. That and other reasons I have been denied that I cannot say on here.
Cherokee, you are absolutely right about one’s own experience. I’ve never been asked to leave a church. In fact the pastor knew that I was on the registry. Never had a problem, and I shied away from anything that would have put me in a bad light. As for work, I have advanced college degrees. Use to teach at a college, but I couldn’t get hired at factory or warehouse jobs. One place asked me to leave midshift when they found out, and that was at a plastics factory compounding chemica.
If a church doesn’t practice what they preach when it comes to forgiveness of all sins, it’s not a church one should attend. We all stumble and fall, we are all capable of change, and shouldn’t be judged for being a sinner.
We should create a list of all the churches and non profit organizations that refuse to help people required to register and make sure these organizations are put on front street worldwide on the internet and community websites . This might force their hand to help or maybe it will make people not attend or support their organization until it’s help for all including registrants.
JD
Matthew 25:35-40
35 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36 I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
37 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it unto me!’
I have a church as you describe on my FAC Media Project list, and I invite more names and church leaders to be added when I start Phase 3 of the project. Anyone who knows of a church that needs to be added please let me know.
From ones growing up the three basic essentials were food shelter and clothing. Sure growing up is an essential whether one has been in a bit of trouble or not. This registry is an electronic guide that is out of balance for many in America that have gotten involved in many different ways in all this. Yes many believe in safety factors an much of this registry is over and above true values in any government justice system that bears the sword in vain.
One may say hindsight is better than foresight even in these many government ways, means, and measures’ they are a bit bent out of place. Even in a boxing match or a prize fight there is a time to concede but it seems justice has no rules. This whole registry is a form of “blanket justice” in many vain wains. Just my views from understand these views.
This is so sad. It breaks my heart to hear over and over again and again of how unfair the system is. Where are the politicians in Florida that will stand up against the unfair archaic practices that slowly destroy people’s lives. Oh… That’s right, I forgot… How can they climb the political ladder if they take a stand helping to destroy injustice against people who have done their time and have been forgiven by God. To find such a politician who would be strong and brave enough to stand up for all people equally would be the same as finding a true man/ woman of God. There was one man who once said, “He who is without sin should cast the first stone”. One day I pray there is a politician with the same honor in this state.
Ann
Thank you for your love and support in the cause. Many times it takes someone to be personally impacted by this due to family member being arrested, for them to “See the light” of injustice.
I once went to a support group for ex felons. I did not speak and did not mention my crime. But one lady was there because her son was in prison. She was talking away and said “My baby shot someone and he ain’t never gettin out, but those sex perverts keep gettin out”.
It only got worse from there and I never went back. I did not want to be the sacrificial lamb by a mob of pissed off people. The old saying of “Walk a mile in my shoes” gives new meaning to what we go through on a daily basis.
This concerns me because I moved out of state but likely I’ll be getting divorced soon. Initially I was going to live in my truck in Volusia county and save up for an apartment, if I can find one, to move into. I really don’t know what to do.
To: lost
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11
We are often tested to see if we will give up, but in those moments, we need to stand firm and give it to God. We are wandering in the desert but eventually we will find safety.