Former FDLE officer of the year kills self after he’s accused of child porn
The following article is being shared for two reasons:
1- Again, it goes to show that anyone, even a police officer recognized for his work rescuing children, can be a sex offender, and
2- The recognition that the quality of life as a sex offender is not worth living.
JACKSONVILLE — Authorities say a decorated Florida police detective killed himself just before he was to be arrested on charges that he possessed child pornography.
The Florida Times-Union reports that Jacksonville sheriff’s Detective Vernon Richardson killed himself Tuesday, shortly after detectives obtained a warrant for his arrest.
The neighboring St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office began an investigation in December after receiving a tip he had child porn on his computer. Detectives found an image of two adolescent boys having sex.
He was questioned Feb. 1 and denied looking at child porn. Investigators say his computer was seized and two photos of naked children were found.
Richardson was the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s local officer of the year in 2012 for his work finding missing children.
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I’m gonna go out on a limb here and assume that before he turned himself into a corpse that he wasn’t on the registry.. Isn’t the efforts of Lauren Book and her criminal father to prevent people from possessing cp by putting them on the registry? Looks like they and their registry failed again to prevent anything AGAIN!! Hopefully his suicide will be noticed by people that matter and they will see that this registry is absolutely punishment in the worst way!! So much so that this man killed himself to avoid its shame.
2 pics on a cops puter?they sure it was suicide?
Forest Gump could punch holes in that prosecution
SO laws are formulated by design, by the legislature and law enforcement, with their extreme punishment and lifelong shame and endless restrictions and requirements, for the offender to commit suicide rather than go through the extreme and endless processes and of being a pariah and outcast of society…Don’t most people know this?
Those of us that refused to comply with the expected result have to learn to live with the consequences and hope for changes in the future…
There’s an awful lot of questions around the circumstances of this situation. Who did the tip come from and how did they find it? Did the tipster actually put it there? Where on the drive was it? On his desktop or some obscure file that the average user is unaware is even there?
Another thought. This former officer knows full well, better than most, that proving innocence is impossible (Let’s be realistic here – those accused of sex offenses HAVE to prove their innocence and even if they can, odds are they’ll be convicted anyway). Could that have been a factor in his suicide? I’d say so, for whatever it’s worth.
They would find him in Colorado, believe me. Where did the tip some from? Think about that. Anyone who uses a computer or cell phone can be found. I find this very sad that he killed himself after they found 2 photos. The punishment and societal shaming for something like this, in my opionion, does not fit the crime. 2 photos and now he’s dead.
2 pictures for arrest? It’s supposed to be 5 or more.
Where is it “supposed to be 5 or more”?
I’ll have to look it up again, I was indicted for possession of 6 pictures of a known 15 year old female in “varying conditions of undress” in 2002 on a very old disk. The number 6 was important as my lawyer told me possession was 5 or more. I checked the statutes and he was correct. Facing 30 years I took a plea because I was technically breaking the law. Back in the Sheriff Nick Navaro (Broward) days I also found it to be true when he was getting warrants to search bookstores and record stores (see Two Live Crew). Unless it changed possession was 5 incidents or more.
1 or two counts should be incidental unless you were looking for it.
Trying to put this behind me, I’d have to go through the statutes again and see if it was changed.
They can go after you if you have 1 photo the reason 5 is a number your thinking of is because if you plea and only have 4 or less photo’s that may not be enough to place you on the RSO list. The Judge of course can still make the judgement to do it but on the scoring system they use the judge can use his/her judgement to put you on or keep you off if you have 4 or less photo’s