This article is not so newsworthy or republished here because a police officer got off easy after sexually assaulting multiple victims. We know that’s not anything new or unusual in Florida.
The reason this article appears on the site is because of the highlighted quote below:
____________
In March 2009, soon after he was named Employee of the Year for his district and five months before multiple sexual assault charges were brought against him, openly gay Broward Sheriff’s deputy Jonathan Bleiwess told the South Florida Blade newspaper that early in his career one of his supervisors taunted him by calling him “sex offender.”
Now the label seems to fit, but Bleiweiss won’t have to wear it. Not after a bafflingly lenient plea deal reached last week.
Bleiweiss was accused of abusing his authority, betraying his badge and preying on society’s most vulnerable, with about 20 undocumented immigrants saying Bleiweiss sexually assaulted them while he worked his beat in Oakland Park.
Nearly six years later, with many victims and witnesses gone, state prosecutors cut a deal with Bleiweiss: Five years behind bars, and no sex offender designation. With seven separate cases pending, Bleiweiss pled guilty in Broward Circuit Court to multiple counts of battery, stalking and false imprisonment.
“We did the best we could under the circumstances,” assistant state attorney Neva Smith said Monday.
Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein, whose office defends the indigent but didn’t handle Bleiweiss’ case, said he “was scratching his head” when he learned Bleiweiss avoided “sex offender” status, an outcome he called “shocking and shameful to the whole county.”
The crimes seemed especially cruel and cynical, since Bleiweiss knew these men would be reluctant to go to authorities because of their immigration status.
Bleiweiss’ deal was in marked contrast to another that played out in federal court the same day. Eric Beasley, 25, a former high school teacher from Broward, was sentenced to 20 years in prison after admitting a sexual relationship with an underage student, a 14-year-old girl.
Both men abused their positions. But Bleiweiss, who had a gun and a badge, did it repeatedly, with many victims.
Bleiweiss’ attorney, Alvin Entin, said his client “vigorously denies” all allegations of sexual abuse.
“People can be set up,” Entin said Monday. “This, to me, smacks of that.”
The case raises many questions: Why was this handled by state prosecutors (who have to work with police and the Sheriff’s Office every day), and not the feds? “Luck of the draw,” said Entin. “I don’t know because that decision was made before I got involved,” said Smith, who took over the case in 2013. Federal cases generally go to trial a lot faster, Smith noted, and witnesses aren’t subjected to uncomfortable depositions.
Why the near six-year gap between arrest and resolution, a delay that let too many victims and witnesses evaporate? Bleiweiss changed attorneys twice and his last two had health issues. All told, there were 18 continuances in the case — 16 requested by the defense, one by the prosecution and one by both.
Entin said it was in his client’s interest to accept a plea in order to avert “the nuclear option,” the prospect of seven separate criminal trials and perhaps life in prison.
“He traded a plea for things he didn’t do so that he could have a rest of his life,” Entin said.
Entin said Bleiweiss wouldn’t accept any plea deal with a sex offender designation because “that’s worse than a life sentence … It stays with you forever, and you end up living under a bridge.”
Bleiweiss had been living in San Francisco while the case was pending, allowed to move there for a job after initially being allowed to live in Oregon with family.
After Bleiweiss finishes his sentence, Entin said his client will be able to move anywhere, “where nobody will have ever heard of Jonathan Bleiweiss or BSO.” Wherever that is, I hope there are no future incidents or allegations.
“Do we believe he sexually molested his victims? Absolutely,” said Smith. “But believing something and proving it in a court of law are two different things.” She noted Bleiweiss can never be a police officer again.
Finkelstein said he’s troubled by the takeaway: That undocumented immigrants count less when they are victimized, and can be more readily abused – even by those sworn to uphold the law.
So what did Bleiweiss plead guilty to? Entin said the battery charges relate to patdowns that are part of a police officer’s job. Huh? Since when do cops get charged or convicted for something that’s legitimately work-related?
Entin said Bleiweiss may have been “overzealous” but “I think he considered himself a good cop.”
When Bleiweiss first came under investigation, the Sheriff’s Office let him remain on road patrol for another three months, from April 2009 through July 2009. During that span, others claimed to have been victimized, including an underage teen.
At the time, Finkelstein said, “If this had been a teacher accused of sexually assaulting a student, all it would take is one complaint and they’d be removed from the classroom and charged…These cases show there are two sets of standards — one for police and another for the general public.”
Bleiweiss is no longer a cop, but you wonder if his treatment would have been so lenient if he didn’t start off as one.
Recent Comments