Marion County arresting registrants who didn’t report during Covid pandemic
Reading this article made my blood boil! Counties which were being “flexible” about IN PERSON registration during Covid-19 shut downs are arresting people who failed to register.
On March 30th, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office Sexual Predator Unit (SOPU) posted a sign outside their door telling registrants to wait in line a safe distance from one another, and when it was his or her turn to register, to approach the door and call the phone number on the sign. Registration would then be conducted through the door.
A registrant reported on both April 1st and April 2nd (his re-registration month was April), called the number, nobody answered so he left messages. Nobody called him back and he otherwise was quarantined at home.
When he showed up on May 19th to update his vehicle registration, he was arrested for failing to register!
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Comments open: Marion arrests guy for trying to register on a Wednesday:
https://www.villages-news.com/2021/04/06/summerfield-sex-offender-jailed-after-showing-up-a-day-late-to-register/
Jacob
If you didn’t know by now, we cannot win. They set so many traps for us because they do not want us to make it to the point where we can petition to get off the registry. One bogus arrest, even if thrown out, still counts as an arrest when you try and petition to be removed from the registry. The lawyers for the state tell law enforcement this (My opinion) so they do not lose their precious funding.
The registry came out in 1997 so over the next decade, people like myself are becoming eligible to be removed. To me the registry is one of the biggest shams and scams for dollars the U.S has ever seen.
CherokeeJack
I can see why you quit being a cop. I couldn’t imagine going to work and seeing people that are supposed to enforce the law be the ones to break the law. When they do wrong there’s no accountability and they get shuffled around to different departments with everything swept under the rug with nothing to see here folks. Sad state of affairs when the cops aren’t on the side of the citizen anymore. Thank you for your service though and I wish you the best in your future endeavors!!
I have a great friend who at one time was a sheriff’s deputy in Brevard County…for five years. He was assigned to the jail. He told me that after five years he had to resign because he came to realize that half the people he worked with belonged behind bars. I guess crooked cops is nothing new.
Friendly reminder: if you decide to record evidence of your registration attempt over the phone or in person, I would strongly advise making the officer aware of your recording at the very beginning of the recording. I think it’s still illegal to record a phone conversation without both parties’ consent/knowledge at the beginning of the call.
I don’t think it’s illegal but I know in Florida it can’t be used as evidence in a trial. In Florida it’s both parties’ consent is needed to be used as evidence. When you leave a message on an answering machine it’s implied you know you are being recorded and consent to it. If you call someone and to them in person and record them without their knowledge then that recording can’t be used for very much.
“ Votos agreed he should have made another attempt during the month to see if the office was open, the report said.”
If this statement is true, he should not have agreed to that. Contract law. But I’m sure they’d find another way. They get The People by having them agree.
I thought the role of law enforcement was to enforce the law. However now it seems like we make up our own rules and you must comply or get arrested!! If someone comes into register and the sheriff’s office fails to do their job why aren’t they punished for not protecting the public. Marion County should be called Moron County!!
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