Are We Expected to Be Clairvoyant? When Compliance Depends on What You Can’t Possibly Know
Another headline out of Alachua County paints a familiar picture: a registrant arrested for failing to comply with Florida’s registration law. On paper, it sounds simple — rules weren’t followed. But when you look closer, the facts tell a different story: one where compliance hinges not just on effort, but on knowing things a person may have no realistic way of knowing.
In this case, part of the allegation involved a vehicle associated with the registrant’s residence, one that did not even belong to him, but to his mother. The issue? The license plate information on file did not match what law enforcement later observed. In Florida, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles periodically replaces license plates (typically every 10 years) as part of its standard reissuance cycle. But for someone on the registry, that change can quietly become a felony. The law requires registrants to report vehicle tags regularly parked at their residence — even if they don’t own them. That means a family member’s car, a roommate’s vehicle, or even a visitor’s car can fall within the reporting requirement. Now consider the practical reality: if a mother receives a replacement tag from the state and doesn’t think to notify her adult child – because why would she? How is that registrant supposed to update information they were never aware had changed? This is not a question of willful noncompliance.
Then there’s the ambiguous residency rules — where time spent renovating a home can be interpreted as “living” there — that’s where the system begins to resemble a legal minefield. Every gray area becomes a risk. Every assumption becomes a potential violation. And every oversight, no matter how understandable, carries the weight of a felony charge.
Here’s the excerpt from the arrest affidavits:
“Post Miranda, Gary informed me he purchased the house in High Springs on March 31, 2026 and he is there every day renovating the house. Gary said he has never slept overnight at the residence because of his sexual offender probation status and he has a curfew at [10:00 p.m.]. Pursuant to FSS 943.0435, Gary is required to list his High Springs residence because of his future plans to move in the house. I discussed the Nissan Versa with Gary and he said he was unaware his mother changed the licensed plate.
Really? Are you supposed to register a place “because of future plans to move there?” Is there anything in the statute that says that? What happens when they show up at the house and discover hes not residing there and hasn’t vacated his mom’s house? Wouldn’t they arrest him for reporting a false residence?
The law actually says: “Permanent residence” means a place where the person abides, lodges, or resides for 3 or more consecutive days that is the person’s home or other place where the person primarily lives. “Temporary residence” means a place where the person abides, lodges, or resides, including, but not limited to, vacation, business, or personal travel destinations in or out of this state, for 3 or more days in the aggregate during any calendar year that is not the person’s permanent or transient residence. If the guy hasn’t stayed there one single night how is that a temporary, or permanent residence? And if he’s residing at this new place and not his mom’s why arrest him for someone’s license plate change on a car he doesn’t own at a place he’s not residing? You can’t be in two places at once.
These are technical violations based on information a person did not reasonably obtain or one County’s interpretation of the law – not what the law says. And when the law punishes people for failing to know what they did not know or guess that what the law says isn’t actually what it means, it stops being a tool for safety and starts becoming a trap. And in that kind of system, compliance isn’t about responsibility, it’s about being clairvoyant.
And here’s the kicker. The article concludes: “If convicted, Gary faces over ten years in prison.”
Discover more from Florida Action Committee (FAC)
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
This is somewhat off-topic, but related to the story. The reason the DMV issues motorists a new tag/plate every 8 to 10 years is because of the damage that incurs over time from the sunlight. The weathering – due to oxidation and exosure to the elements – renders the numbers and letters less visible and not easily legible. The reflective coating for night also degrades. Then factor in the damage from boat hitches over time smashing into them marring a letter or number out.
So, it’s not because they WANT to just give you , it’s to ensure motorist identification at a glace without having to squint. This is standard practice in all states BTW.
Oh and I’ll close with the not-so-sweet irony that the bulk of America’s license plates are manufactured by incarcerated indivduals on work detail. o.O
The word in the statute that has always gotten to me is “abides”. I have searched and cannot find a legal definition of the word.
It doesn’t matter what the dictionary says the meaning is, but rather what the statute says it means.
That word in and of itself is a trap. If we regularly go to the same place for lunch we technically are abiding there. If we go to a gym daily are we abiding there?
How can a law be followed if it isn’t defined? There have been many cases dismissed over the legal definition being ambiguous however this trap is not even being considered.
Abide can often mean compliance when it comes to the registry. For example, “I am abiding (or obeying) the law”. This can be laws, ordinances, rules and statutes.
I hope that his attorney is smart enough, and cares enough, to realize that this probable cause affidavit, if accurately quoted, appears to fail to allege a crime.
First, according to F.S. 943.0435(14)(c) — I think I got the subsection right — registrants are required to notify the sheriff, during reregistration, of “dates of any current or known future temporary residence within this state or out of state.” So, unless this rehab project was going to be a “temporary residence” as defined in the statute, it did not need to be registered under that subsection. If it was going to become a “permanent residence,” then this particular subsection does not require that it be registered as a known future temporary residence. Since the probable cause affidavit does not specify that the house would be a “temporary residence,” it fails to allege an offense under this subsection.
Second, if the alleged offense is that the registrant provided false registration information by omission, subsection (9)(a) of the aforementioned statute requires that the false information have been provided “knowingly.” The probable cause affidavit does not allege that the registrant knew that the license plate had been changed. Since “knowingly” is part of that statutory language, it would appear to be an element that must be alleged in the probable cause affidavit.
In my learned (albeit non-lawyer) opinion, the excerpt of the probable cause affidavit quoted in this post fails to allege any offense under Florida law. The attorney should file a motion to dismiss for failure to allege a crime.
I will tell you what is SCARY For me and others like me. I Have NO ONE, ABSOLUTELY NO ONE! to help me or that i can count on! as i age i m having major memory issues and I’m scared! and these laws are cruel because especially as i age and memory gets worse i know sooner or later i’ll forget something and go to prison 🙁 i will lose home and everything! but the only saving hope is that my memory goes and doesn’t come back because right now it comes and goes and that is scary LET ALONE THESE LAWS! IF THIS IS NOT CRUEL I DON’T KNOW WHAT THE F IS ALTHOUGH I MAY DIE OF HEART FAILURE I I NEVER HAD A CHOLESTEROL ISSUE BUT ALMOST DIED AND ALL ME BLOOD WORK WAS FINE. THE STRESS OF ALL THESE BS LAWS THEY CALL CIVIL! so if i don’t forget something the continued stress will kill me anyway so these laws are already a death sentence!!! F!!! THEM ALL!!!
@ Screwed+Over
I am praying for you brother. Stay strong, don’t give up and ask for help if you are able to. I know there are limited options for us. And it seems like the chances of getting removed from the registry are like the odds of winning the lottery, far and few between.
They want us to fail so we can be sent back to prison for life. And very few lawmakers care if we rot in a jail cell. We have been fighting this since 1997 in Florida, and yet here we still are on an ever-expanding registry that never ends. But that is not all, it has bonuses, like proximity restrictions, and many other menus of ways we can be violated. I really did not have these many issues while on probation, way back when.
And the traps are set. This is all on purpose. Remember that old saying “The registry is NOT punishment”? Well, they can keep telling themselves that, but we know otherwise, because we are living it each and every day.
We have to tip toe through the daisies and hope we don’t step on one. The daisies are a metaphor for the registry, lest we unknowingly break a rule that we had no idea existed. Look at all your registration papers. They do not mention most of those requirements that can get us arrested, but how are we to know when they are hiding in some law makers file cabinet.
Truth be told, they probably only made this an issue because he’s on probation. If anything he could use that to his advantage in court,especially when it’s been shown that he doesn’t actively reside at that house. Just a thought anyways