Highlands County Rounds up Dozens for Mobile/Manufactured Home FTRs
Highlands County Detective and Sergent are at it again. This time, dozens of registrants were arrested within the past couple of weeks for registration violations relating to mobile homes and manufactured homes. Many registrants live in trailer parks because of affordability and because they are generally located in rural areas which are farther from schools. They live in mobile homes or manufactured homes that have been in the same spot for years. They properly registered the homes as their permanent address, but not as “vehicles owned”.
One member who was violated wrote, “I do not think of the place I live as a trailer it has been in the same place for at least 35 years . It has no tongue for a vin. It has no wheels can’t be pulled down the road no lights no tag.”. One would think that such a structure would not be considered registrable under “vehicles owned” and instead registered the home as their permanent residence. Common sense would dictate that if this is where you reside, where the permanent structure has been affixed for decades, this would satisfy the requirement.
The Highlands County Sheriffs Office and prosecutors don’t think so. Even though dozens of people have been registering for years and this is the first time it comes up, the past couple of weeks it became an issue for the Sheriffs office and they did a mass round up.
Although many of you have reached out to FAC for guidance, since this is a criminal matter, the only person you should be taking guidance from is your criminal defense attorney. The violation is a felony and registrants are being charged with a separate count for each time they went in to re-register and didn’t register the mobile home as a “vehicle”, some of our members are facing serious prison time for an unknowing violation of the law.
Discover more from Florida Action Committee (FAC)
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Ponder this:
If there were no public registration list, then PFRs would not be so targeted by the public nor the law makers. The list creates a big bullseye.
Jim
We ought to get F.A.C to have us bring back the lists we all made together before stating all the things the registry does to us, our families, our workplace, and so many everyday incidents. How the registries impact our lives and our loved ones.
Back when we did this, FAC had each of us write down one or two things that negatively affected our daily lives as well of our families, friends and more. I bring it up because it has been so long since we did that, 100s of new laws, restrictions, rules and more have come out since then.
This should be used as a further example of how, not only is the registry punitive, but the state is using it as a weapon against people forced to be on the registry. Likely, LE didn’t even consider this until one day someone thought, “You know what, we can use this against registrants. ” I’m sure that not even the originators of the law nor any of those that have have created modification legislation since ever had this in mind. But even so, they are probably clapping their hands about this application of the law.
And since no law enforcement agency in the state has even considered this before, I don’t see how the registrants can be held liable. This is plain and simple, an attack on registrants simply because they are registrants (which is what all of these other requirements are as well). This is a prime example of what the registration laws were actually made to be used for and should be included in any ongoing and future litigation.
Who would think, “I’ve registered my residence but i need to make sure i register my ‘RESIDENCE’.”?
Lastly, when they registered their residence, couldn’t it be argued that the structure was inclusive? Hopefully the court see it this way and dismisses these absurd charges. If the court does indeed rule this is the case, these registrants should file a class action law suit for the loss of their ability to petition for registry removal, the mental anguish of being in jail, the anguish of not knowing your future, loss of jobs while they’re incarcerated, loss of any property/ possessions that happen when they lose their residence and are not there to remove or save their personal property, and all of the suffering and anguish they will need to get through to get housing and become stable again. Maybe some clever attorney can find a way, in the course of this class- action suit, to somehow have registrants in general be legally recognized as a class.
A mobile home does not mean you can drive it, it has no license plate. The mobility part means it “Could” be moved to another property if need be. But just because it could be moved doesn’t mean it ever will be. I have seen trailer park trailers that have wheels near where I live that have not moved since the 1950s. The only reason they moved because they kicked everyone out, sold the property and now there is an industrial park there. And the trailers did not move, they were demolished.
BTW, many registered folks lived in that trailer park.
Whether you can drive it or not is immaterial. People have broken down cars without engines that have been sitting in their backyards buried under weeds for decades. If it requires registration, it requires registration and readers of our forum need to be aware of what the statute says, not what common sense would otherwise dictate.
Under F.S. 943.0435(2)(b)(1), “If the sexual offender’s place of residence is a motor vehicle, trailer, mobile home, or manufactured home, as those terms are defined in chapter 320, the sexual offender shall also provide to the department through the sheriff’s office written notice of the vehicle identification number (VIN); the license tag number; the registration number; and a description, including color scheme, of the motor vehicle, trailer, mobile home, or manufactured home.”
Chapter 320, defines a mobile home and manufactured home as follows: “Mobile home” means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which is 8 body feet or more in width and which is built on an integral chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling when connected to the required utilities and includes the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, and electrical systems contained therein. For tax purposes, the length of a mobile home is the distance from the exterior of the wall nearest to the drawbar and coupling mechanism to the exterior of the wall at the opposite end of the home where such walls enclose living or other interior space. Such distance includes expandable rooms, but excludes bay windows, porches, drawbars, couplings, hitches, wall and roof extensions, or other attachments that do not enclose interior space. In the event that the mobile home owner has no proof of the length of the drawbar, coupling, or hitch, then the tax collector may in his or her discretion either inspect the home to determine the actual length or may assume 4 feet to be the length of the drawbar, coupling, or hitch. “Manufactured home” means a mobile home fabricated on or after June 15, 1976, in an offsite manufacturing facility for installation or assembly at the building site, with each section bearing a seal certifying that it is built in compliance with the federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standard Act.
I a bought a brand new manufactured home 4 years ago and placed it on a piece of land. I don’t have a VIN number or tag. It’s considered “real property”
County by county over reach and novel interpretation of already poorly written FDLE state statutes is beginning to make me feel leery about traveling anywhere in the state for any reason. I realize Highlands is a relatively isolated example but this “go get’em boys” harassment culture is spreading and getting more petty and irrational by the week.
It is only going to get worse before it gets better.
Sadly the more harder and the more they interpret the laws this way and push and push for us to be punished all the time will help bring the system down.
More and more are we seeing the corruption in the system. Like this new Protect children task force they have created from FDLE that was just posted in Tallahassee the other day.
Just a bunch of good ole boys hitting the easy to pick fruit instead of actually solving any crediable crimes.
Been hearing ‘It is only going to get worse before it gets better’ since 2000.
.
When does it start to get better?
@Jim
so true.
This feels germane to the topic:
It has become basically illegal (even if you are not on the registry) to be homeless. As people are getting evicted due to layoffs. Has anyone heard of any layoffs or reduction in budget to LE? Anywhere, in any state??
Just food for thought: ICE at the moment has a 10billion$ budget and is projected to triple (that’s 30Billion$) in 2026.
I heard that in Utah, if you are homeless you can go to jail or go to a “work camp”. It feels like from all angles the goal is mass incarceration.
This is exactly why my Deputy who comes to my house states so many people in our county, live in the woods. He told me it takes the team longer to find them because they are often run off and move to another location as there are no real addresses for woods.
When there is no place to live, is the only place to live is in the jail? I guess humanity has been thrown out the window. About 10 years ago during a hurricane, deputies stopped by before it got bad to tell all registrants they could go to the jail for safety. I told them I appreciated the offer, but I would die from the storm before going back to jail, even if for an overnight.
“…charged with a separate count for each time they went in to re-register and didn’t register the mobile home as a “vehicle”.
Wow I can’t imagine the myriads of felony charges they are facing. At what point would a double-jeopardy clause apply?? I mean this is ridiculous. Stacking felony on top of felony over arbitrary garbage paperwork.
“Arbitrary garbage paperwork”
Well said!!!