97% Compliant in Levy County, FL Sex Offender Compliance Check!
Ninety-Seven percent of persons forced to register as sex offenders in Levy County, Florida were determined to be compliant after a “month’s long” investigation! Those we were arrested were not committing new sex offenses, but were arrested for technical violations of registration laws.
That’s the news. But of course, that’s not what the story promoted. This article is titled, “7 arrested in Levy County sex offender compliance crackdown”. Sure sounds ominous! A “crackdown”! A “month-long enforcement initiative”.
So just to confirm, after law enforcement spent a month “cracking down” on registrants, they discovered that 202 of 209 FORMER sex offenders were compliant and those who were not, were not committing an offense for anything that would be considered a crime, but for the fact that they are registered.
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Lapse in judgement, wrong choices were made.
@Raymond
Meanwhile, you (We, all of us) have ex murders, gang members, drug dealers, on our streets and no one seems to care about that. Where are the protest over those people living on our streets? Where are their registries to inform the public.
And (If I remember F.A.C’s numbers correctly) less than 1% of Ex-Sexoffenders re-offend. (FAC correct me on the % if I am wrong but it is extremely low for re-offense)
@CherokeeJack
Agreed, I saw a disturbing video the other day about a man waiting in line behind a mother and her child. The man got close the child (I’d say about 5yrs old) without warning or any provocation; he picked him up and slammed him on the ground. This cracked the child’s skull he ended up on a coma. Nearly killing him.
The man faced battery on a minor and had his sentenced reduced because he is “mentally unstable”. No mention of putting that man on the registry.
What is one to infer from this? Nearly murdering a child cracking his skull and landing him in the hospital with a coma is not worthy of being on the registry, but public urination needs to be punished in perpetuity for the rest of your life. *smh
The registry isn’t protecting anyone. It has never been used to prevent a single crime since its inception. So yes your tax dollars are being wasted.
@Anonymous
But on the flip side, what the registry has been used for is for people to look us up and hunt us down. Neighbors finding out after the fact when they moved into our neighborhood, to later find out about us because they did not do a search. Then, even though we were here first, they demand we move or all Hell will break loose. I never ever fall for their scare tactics. A few broken windows suck but they eventually give up or move or I call the police on them.
So in closing, the registry seems to help vigilantes more than people who just want to be informed.
cher
The Registry has been used to track Sex offenders, not neighbors to hunt you down. Yore being paranoid. Usually conscious parents check location for sex offenders’ before they move in. When I moved in, there was no sex offender in my area. Only about few years later one moved in…so who was there First?
A
There have been documented instances where someone has hunted registrants based off of the information gleaned online. A case recently in Texas. A couple of years ago a registrant was murdered in Nebraska . There are others.
@a
Dont think the registry is used to track people down? There was an article on F.A.C just last month about someone who tracked down someone on the registry and killed them. We are living the registry so I think we know way more than you about the registry requirements than an arm chair troll.
And, I have lived on my street for 18 years. Only two families have been here longer than me. Not paranoid. Since I have lived in my house I have had over 40 incidents of vandalism because I am on the registry. So, YES, the registry IS used for illegal reasons. And there have been numerous around the U.S, tracked down and killed. Just happened recently on a story on F.A.C
You are the one who is paranoid, or you wouldn’t be coming on here to harass us. I have not seen you say one positive thing since you have been commenting. And you seem to always know more about the registry requirements that those who register. Love people who stand on a soap box and preach dis-information.
Bye now, you are blocked.
Cherokee
Let us not forget the phone scams threatening us with jail if we don’t pay. I have been a target for that. On one occasion they called my wife.
BWJ
I got two different ones. Neither did I fall for. The first one was a letter from an attorney in another state saying he was able to practice in all 50 states and for $10,000 he could guarantee you removal from the registry. Several on F.A.C fell for that until the founder off F.A.C came on and posted it was a scam.
The second one was I got a call on my phone saying I did not register (I had just left the registry office 20 minutes prior) and said I needed to meet him and pay a fine to make the violation go away. I hung up on him and 10 minutes later my Father called me saying a deputy was going to arrest me if I didn’t pay. I told my Dad (Who is elderly) to ignore it as it was a scam.
I reported the fake deputy scam with a police report even though I know they wouldn’t do anything about. The fake lawyer scam was in another state but was sending them to every state but the sheriff’s office in Florida told me that was a national crime so would have to report it to the FBI.
I hope you did not pay them? 🙁
Cherokee
I got the letter as well. My lawyer said that it was a scam. I trusted him enough to ask. FAC later verified that it was a scam. One phone call went to my wife. Brought her to tears. I still don’t know how they got her number. But the scam was almost word for word what you went through.
I haven’t received a scam letter. I’ve received maybe three phone calls: one used a sheriff’s office number (not mine), claimed that I should’ve received a letter telling me that I needed to come in to update my DNA profile. I told him that I’d recently updated my registry stuff and was told nothing about that. He threatened arrest, but I called his bluff after I confirmed my hunch with the real sheriff’s office. A second one spoke to my dad and got his bluff called. The last one started to use something similar as the first, but I paused, laughed, and told him that I wasn’t putting up with his “bullsh**.” He started to say something, but I’d hung up; he called back, but I sent it to voicemail.
…No idea where he’s from, how he got my phone number (my state’s SOR doesn’t require us to provide a phone number nor does it share that information), or if he ever got caught. I mean: he probably tried scamming elders and college kids, too, so he’s a genuine piece of s**t.
….My only hope is: someone traced him, found him, beat the ever living f*** out of him, drug out of the house, beat him unconscious, and there he lay in the hot a** sun or cold hard ground for a couple hours; and just when he thought that his day couldn’t get worse, law enforcement arrives at his house with an arrest warrant and think he’s too intoxicated when he rambles about someone beating him. …Ah, I smile imagining that.
@mbgodof war
I spoke last night to one of my friends who is an ex FBI agent. He said that almost everyone’s information is out there and many employee’s of companies illegally sell customer info on the side. He further stated that 90% of people’s Social Security numbers are on those lists, along with your home and cell phone #’s, your address, often a list of your passwords, where you were born, and even some of your security questions.
Then someone buys the info and then find vulnerable people such as those on the registry, elderly etc, people who are easy targets. Then they come up with a scam using a person who knows what he/she is doing and sounds legit and professional. Even if they only have a 1% chance of success, they have won. And like many on here have said (Including me) most of the time law enforcement tells us “There is nothing we can do”.
These scammers must have a script. I knew that the phone calls were fake the moment they asked for money. The sheriff’s office, especially VCSO will show up unannounced with a news crew in tow. Chitwood likes the publicity.
A, with all due respect there have been countless assaults, vandalism, and murder of people on the registry because they are publicly listed with their address of both home and
Work as well identifying information about their (and their spouses and children’s) vehicles. It’s not paranoia it’s just a fact.
This is to a
The sex offender registries available to the public make it easier to locate where a registered sex offender lives. However, the increased visibility on registries, can and will lead to vigilante attacks against sex offenders.
So, yea, I am paranoid. You would not know anything about it unless you or a loved one was on the registry.
It’s not the just the people on the registry you need to be worried about, Sex offenders were normal law-abiding citizens before their offense. The registry is not going to STOP anyone from commiting a crime. Do not depend on the registry to keep you safe.
Connie
If they were normal how did they end up on registry
People do make mistakes. People suffer from mental illness.
Then that’s not normal. It’s not normal to be on a sex offender registry as a predator. The registry protects. I don’t care if you don’t think it does and say the same thing 935626474838108345 times a day about it. It’s there for a reason. It serves a purpose.
Serves no purpose but false comfort. Besides while Florida doesn’t have a tier system per se, it does differentiate between offender and predator.
The high cost of maintaining sex offender registries are driven by the potential for states to receive more federal funding by having larger registries.The Florida fiscal year 2025-2026 budget includes $446,220 to assist local law enforcement with sex offender registration and compliance requirements. Updates to registration forms, training materials, and online communication systems are estimated to cost an additional $12,350, which FDLE will absorb within existing resources.In Fiscal Year 2018, Florida received approximately $399,000 through a U.S. Department of Justice grant program related to sex offender registry upgrades under the Adam Walsh Act. The state has received about $2.4 million in these grants since 2008. Florida received an additional $378,143 in reallocated funds from SORNA-noncompliant states in FY 2020.
BWJ
Sadly, they use that money for new officers for the registry, but none for street cops. I have called 9-11 numerous times lately, once for a bad wreck and neither law enforcement nor the fire department ever showed up. This has happened numerous times. And if you think it was because they knew I was a registered person, my neighbor called as well. Plus why would they not come for someone else even though I called.
Numerous departments are short staffed, yet the registry officer I go to is standing room only. I will say they have a high turnover though as each time I register, there is almost always a new person doing the registrations. Probably because that is not what they signed up for when going into law enforcement.
cher
LE must conduct more visits to offender homes, make sure everything is properly reported . Do not let anything fall thru the cracks.👌
LE address verifications are only to confirm the registrant resides at the home. They are not supposed to make sure everything is properly reported.
@a
Law enforcement is NOT allowed in our homes unless they have a search warrant. They can come to the door but, we are not obligated to be home at the time they come. The officers that come to my door do so randomly without an appointment that results in them having to keep coming back sometimes for months before finding me home.
I always ask them to let me know they are coming and I will gladly be home to meet them and comply. But they state it has to be random, which results in officers / Deputies having to spend days or weeks trying to track down one person on the registry. Waste of time and resources. Remember that when you call 9-11 and no one comes because half of them are driving around trying to verify addresses of people who have been off of probation for decades.
It was the same when I was on probation. The probation officer would get mad if I wasn’t home, but I told her numerous times, I had a job (at that time) and if you want to find me at home, come when I am not at work and not a random surprise visit that leads to a wasted trip.
‘A’
unless they have an arrest warrant with probable cause they cannot enter
and there are many SCOTUS rulings on this; mostly Writ of Certiorari
The PFR only has to sign the ‘toilet paper’ when their registration occurs per their Statutory Obligation Under Law
@a
I get a check twice a year and they knock on the door to see if I really live there. Then they ask if I am having any issues and then are on their way. Not allowed in the house without a search warrant. 2 times a year out of 365 days. They do not ask many questions other than do I have any questions and then remind me to not miss my registration months.
Registration sucks but coming to our homes seems a bit of overcompensation. But what you are wishing for, would probably violate privacy laws. Even ex felons still maintain those rights once they are off probation. When I was on probation, they were allowed to come in without a warrant.
So your hopes and dreams will be squashed because no, at least where I live, they do not harass us. And they can barely get to all the houses to find people home as it is so they would have to hire 100s of more officers to do what you are suggesting and pretty sure that is not going to happen.
How much taxpayer dollars were wasted on this terrible misuse of resources. How much in man-hours, overtime, fuel, and inattention to actual crime did this cost the community?
It doesn’t matter how much. We pay taxes for purposes like these. To be assured that the places we live are protected.
It’s a dangerous illusion to think that more punishment and more jail time leads to more security,
@Boticelli,
@nancy,
@ Raymond Lee Maloy
There is absolutely NO evidence whatsoever that the registry protects anyone-none!!
There has been NO decrease in sex offenses since the registry started either!!
Less than 5% of registrants ever re-offend.
Over 95% of all sex offenses are being committed by people NOT on the registry such as family members, doctors, teachers, gym coaches, clergy, and now even law enforcement and they are doing it right under your nose while you are ignorantly and blindly relying on the registtry to keep your communitiies safe.
Over 95% of all offenders are NOT on the registry!!
You are barking up the wrong tree!!
Wake up!!
@DVC
Ironically, those of us on the registry (Those who own a house) are paying into the registry compliance fund as well so we are triple punished. #1 going to jail/probation/house arrest. #2 Having to be on the registry And #3 having to pay taxes for the same registry compliance that is AIMED at us. It is like having to pay for your own funeral.
I’m betting that you can file #3 on your income tax refund. No doubt that anyone with (old?) probation fees and any voodoo polygraph ones can count them as losses, too.
annon
We will spend as many tax dollars as it takes to keep offenders, predators in Tact.
Thank you Florida LE.
There are many more people we must keep under observation to “keep us safe”; anyone who has ever violated any law and regulation or who might be thinking about it. You’re absolutely right…A police state is the only way to go.
@Raymond
I wish those on the registry would not come on here and use their real names. Your choice but you are taking a gamble that could also effect your families safety as well. Just a thought my friend.
Stay safe,