Member Contribution: Diligence when reporting information
Recently, I had an acquaintance of mine that was caught up in “Operation Neptune” in Volusia County. I am writing this so you may warn others that are on the registry what happened to this guy, could easily happen to them if they are not vigilant.
When they came to his house, they checked his tag number against what they had in the paperwork from the Sheriffs office. One of the digits was put into the system wrong at the Sheriff Dept. when he did his quarterly registration. It had been this way for quite some time and he never noticed the error. For this reason, he wound up pleading guilty to a 3rd degree Felony and was given 2 Years Probation with the ankle monitor. He is only allowed to go to work and then home.
This is not all that happened to him. He lives in a House that has 2 additional small apartments within it. They charged him for not providing his landlady’s and the other tenants tag numbers and VIN numbers as well. When they asked him about the other vehicle, which belonged to the other tenant, he said it belonged to his room mate. He definitely used the wrong terminology to describe the other tenant. So he had a total of 3 felonys staring him in the face. His attorney (who I had thought was a very good attorney) at first was going to have him plead guilty and take a 7 year prison sentence! The night before he was going to plead guilty, we had a dinner for him at a Restaurant in Deland. We began talking about his case and he mentioned that he had told the Officer that the other car belonged to his room mate. I asked if the guy rents a room off him or what? His response was: No, he has his own apartment. I could not believe he had put himself at such risk by simply calling the other tenant a room mate. We told him there should be no way he should be responsible for his landlady or the other tenants car tags and VIN Numbers. The next day we all met with his attorney and he told him he was going to fight it all the way. Had it not been for us having dinner that night, he would now be in the DOC for 7 years. When he went to court, the Judge threw out the other 2 cases involving the landlady and the other tenant (because the Judge said the statute was vague), but would not throw out the clerical error charge. Even now, I do not agree with him being on probation or pleading guilty. But unfortunately, that is the way this system works.
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You are right…it isn’t always the sheriff’s office with clerical errors. I recently bought a place and went through the hoops–one of which was DMV. Well, a week or so later, my probation officer called me, upset as hell. I was removed from the computer system that cops use to look you up when they run your tag. I was completely gone–as if I didn’t exist. Long story short, DMV had done that, but it was up to me to get it corrected. Even though my p.o. was rather upset at me, it soon turned to irritation/anger at DMV’s incompetence. It took several hours to correct, but now all is well. Needless to say, now I make it a point to check EVERYTHING when I leave a location.
This is exactly what I’ve been saying is happening. In my county they are making all kinds of clerical errors then fighting with you about the errors they make. I honestly don’t believe the mistakes they make are mistakes. I believe they are making mistakes on purpose and after you leave.
They re enter all ur info manually and can easily make errors. Then they blame you for the error. Who remembers tag numbers and vin numbers? They miss spelled my email once then got mad at me for them trying to frame me. I was placed on the registry in 2002 and never would have pled if I known I was agreeing to all kinds of traps and even total dishonest clerks.
Smart a$$ jerks say…. O just be careful. How are you gonna be careful when you notice changes after three days to report laws and it’s a clerical error someone is doing on purpose?
They already know the guys license plate and tag # and his vin #. Nothing more than traps set to ruin ur life.
As we continue on in a society that I am finding it difficult to relate to, I am concerned about the responses that some people in authority have made to psychotherapists trying to help their patients.
These people are quoted in this article as saying that children depicted in child pornography are re-victimized every time the content is accessed. What about the abundance of pictures and videos that law enforcement puts out on the internet everyday? Are these not also re-victimizing these same children?
If “the compelling state interest in protecting children from the harm caused by sexual exploitation over the internet will almost certainly outweigh the alleged privacy invasion” once the case is fully aired, will someone also bring up the harm caused to children by “sting” operations every time law enforcement puts out an inappropriate picture of a child?
Hadar Avirma, a law professor at UC Hastings in San Francisco, stated: “There is a difference between making a big show of protecting vulnerable children and actually protecting vulnerable children”, and the authorities fighting the therapists’ rights to treat their patients with the right to privacy are an example of the former, not the latter.
All this time and money put out by the people of California to fight this court case, while the real problem of child pornography production is basically ignored.
If this individual has to report in four times a year (once per quarter) what had he originally been convicted of? I’ve been told that most of the people on the registry are there for non-violent/non-contact offenses. It seems hardly logical, let alone constitutional to find that where prosecution leaves, persecution begins. It’s bad enough that ANY sort of offense labeled a sexual one should leave the offender in the position of Dred Scott in 1857 before the SCOTUS of that era, but more and more I am finding out that indeed is the case, especially when one is caught up in the sex offender “treatment” racket. Eric Hoffer, the longshoreman philosopher famous for the calibre of people seeking him out for advice opined that “Every great cause first becomes a movement, then a business, then degenerates into a “racket”. He was right. A captive clientele is drained of every dime they have. Between one hour and a half hour interrogation “Group” sessions once a week, at $30 a pop-in CASH by the way, and also for a number of them being forced to drive a 70 mile round trip to attend them-and pay for the gas, not to mention accumulating other wise useless miles on what is often an old car prone to breakdowns, one is also from time to time forced to undergo polygraphic exams at $360 or more every time it’s scheduled. If you pass, all well and good, but it doesn’t release you from the further obligation to keep taking them at the same price for “maintenance”. And of course, always paid for in advance in CASH. a dozen or more in groups adds up very fast for an enterprising polygrapher who shows up with his machine can give up to four sessions a day or more, Makes for a very nice payday for this “milkman’s” maintenance.
Falling afoul of this system, or seeing the nonsense, humiliation and pain of the “naming and shaming” methodology of it and getting oneself kicked out of “group” for causing trouble means that one is “non-compliant” and liable to be sent back for more incarceration. One must genuflect to the little tin gods that supervise and run these sessions, no doubt sharing this cash bonanza with Parole officers, Supervisors and the like who function like the overseers of what many feel to be the “good ol’ days” of the antebellum south. If you’re in one of these groups, you better be quick with a “Yassuh Boss!” and call him a “good Massa” in front of anyone else in the group.
I went from no registration to one time a year, then two and after making a complaint against the FDLE WITH an attorney and winning, I was placed on 4 times a year with lifetime registration. That was ruled illegal but so far has never been changed. A lawyer wants $10,000 to get it fixed. Why in God’s name should I have to pay $10,000 to get a retribution against me by the FDLE changed?
I was hoping we would get a win with F.A.C help but once they said on here these cases can take years if not decades, many of us will be in our 70s by then so my life will be pretty much over by then due to mounting medical conditions. I was hoping to one day be free since my arrests was in 1991, completed sentence a few years later then the 1997 rule came out and retroactively put many of us on this crap.
CherokeeJack. If you were free from all sanctions relating to your offense prior to 1997 you should not be required to register. Were you required to register in another state?
The language states, “…Has been released on or after October 1, 1997, from the sanction imposed for any conviction of an offense described in sub-sub-subparagraph (I). For purposes of sub-sub-subparagraph (I), a sanction imposed in this state or in any other jurisdiction includes, but is not limited to, a fine, probation, community control, parole, conditional release, control release, or incarceration in a state prison, federal prison, private correctional facility, or local detention facility;
If your sanctions were completed by October 1, 1997, I’m not clear why you have to register.
No I had just gone to court to get my probation ended when this law came out and was about 6 months later my entire sentence was ruled illegal and thrown out.
I have to register for life with a chance of hearing after 25 years of not being on paper.
However, the fact remains this was done to all of us retroactively. The law DID not exist when I sentenced and my lawyer says, as per the law, they are not suppose to impose new sanctions on anyone after the fact. That is the whole idea of the ex post facto. The reason we keep losing those cases all over the country is, the judges keep ruling it is a civil matter and not a criminal matter. B to the S . These judges should retroactively be put on a “Bad judges” registry to see how they like having their families harassed by people who do not even live on your street.
I appreciate your help but I have spent almost $500,000 since 1991 fighting all this. I had rebuilt my life after my sentence was done but they just adding more and more and more to the registry requirements. I quit my job, sold my house and moved in with my parents to try and get off of this Nazi list. All that money and I got NOTHING.
I am now broke, on public assistance, medicare and failing health. My Parents are in their 80s and once they are gone not sure what I will do.
I’m confused…
If your sentence was thrown out and you have no conviction (or adjudication withheld), there is (based on what you are telling us) no obligation to register under 943.0435, it seems.
The rest of your comment is not relevant to my question.
My sentence was ruled by an appeals court to be done out of malice and was thrown out but the charges were not. Was an appeal of the sentence. Basically what the did was give me time served and shaved off 75% of the remaining sentence.
I missed the 1997 deadline but heard now they are going back on people all the way back even before that?
Even if I get off the registry, the charges will remain forever. I have been off probation for a long long time but after 1997. I still have a few years left to try the 25 years time requirement.
I
When were you off probation?
I will have to find the ruling, ( I have the paper somewhere ) but know for a fact it was after 1997. But my incident was from 1991. I was added to the registry as soon as it came into effect in 1997, so retroactively as were many thousands of people.
This gives me anxiety so bad. On to of issues from my service I have to deal with this. I’m in Volusia, so now I’m terrified. I can’t sleep tonight. I have worked hard to build as little bit of a life and it can just be taken away. My family needs me here for support. They can’t do this without money I help provide. This is where crazy thoughts come in about they would be better without me all together. I’m not a risk to anyone but myself. Why can’t they just let us live?
Cases like yours are why we are raising money for the Non-Registrant Collateral Consequences Challenge lawsuit. Don’t give up. There are many court challenges throughout the country that could eventually help your family. It all takes time, though.
I, too, live in fear of what could happen to my soon-to-be-released husband. Because of some dementia, his attorney has told me that my husband is not capable of following all of the sex offender probation rules. I know that he is not, and it will be up to me to make sure that there are no missteps for him, which is going to be a daunting task.
For you and all who either register or HELP someone register, here is a tip I came up with that is SIMPLE but has helped me not just with registration but all aspects of life.
I buy a 2 foot wide by 1.5 foot tall wall calendar. I keep one in my bedroom and another on the back of the front door so i HAVE to look at it. Each day has things I need to do like REGISTER, renew vehicle registration or even pay certain bills. As I complete each task I scratch them off with a marker. Each month I spend about 20 minutes PRE filling out what I need to do for that month so I do not forget anything.
Additionally, the calendar on my phone also is filled in, in advance and it lets me know the things I have to do by day, week month etc. It sucks to have to plan your life out that way but I have actually been doing that since I was 10 when my Dad forgot I was the defending champion of the Pinewood derby for the scout and he totally forgot to bring me to defend my title. He blamed me, a 10 year old, for forgetting.
From that day forward I became the most organized person you have ever met with notes reminding me to check my notes.
You can also sign up for the registration reminder text service.
Get reminded to register on your months via SMS text messages. Just text “START” to 727-233-4785 to begin.
No warranty or liability implied. It is always YOUR responsibility to register. Intended as a backup reminder. Service provided free as a courtesy. Standard text message rates may apply.
Thanks for that additional help. I was just saying mine also helps with ALL aspects of memory issues as you have to basically look at it as you leave the house. I have to remind myself to take my medications and do use an alert for that as well.
In some cases though, like where there is an error in your paperwork, all the reminders in the World don’t help. Took me three attempts to get them to put the correct color of my vehicle on my paperwork.
I cannot expect my parents to remind me of things as their memory is worse than mine and I am already a burden to them.
Also mentioned before I tried to move to another state but found out the hard way, your rules come with you from the state you were charged in. However moving to another county was a 10000000000000% improvement.
Disagreed on the moving to another state comment as far as rules following you. This applies only if you’re on probation.
Moving to another county can very much be an improvement however. Total agreement with you on that. This applies for those on and off of supervision.
And I respectfully counter. I moved for 3 days to another state after I was relieved from probation. When I went to find out about registration, they told me it would be there rules plus whatever Florida had on me so I moved back because it would have been worse.
I inquired on a few other places and then spoke to a lawyer and they confirmed.
Plus several people in here have said the same thing. If you know of a decent state that lets people off the registry if they are not on probation, you let me know. My Charge is from 30 years ago. Was told I am on registry for life but can apply to get off after 25 years off of paperwork which is still 5 years away.
But doesn’t matter now, my parents are elderly and need to be here for them anyway. I found a country that would take me but was told once I re-entered the U.S I would be arrested.
Most of the officers who come to my house are professional. One time I had a fill in one who must have come because my regular guy was maybe on vacation? Anyway, this fill in officer was a real you know what. He interrogated me right at my own door step.
I explained that I know how the system works since I have been been a law enforcement officer and a felon and not asking for any favors but ALL people should be treated with respect as I treated them when I was in law enforcement.
Well he started going into this rant about how if he was in charge of the program none of us would be on the streets. I then said, well I am not homeless so I am hardly on the streets to which he called me a smart ass. He said we either all should be in prison, halfway houses where we can be monitored for life and some should be given a lethal injection since they would never be of any use to society.
I did not report him due to expectations of repercussions and thankfully I never saw him again. I also had a fill in female officer once and she was pretty hateful as well. But like I said, my regular guy is stern but professional, just gives me the spiel, make sure to register blah blah and moves on.
And speaking as a former officer myself, do not believe for a minute a cop or deputy will not lie their butts off in court. I always refused to testify when there was an incident because we were so coached I told them just leave me out of it, I am not going to lie. I am no Angel and far from perfect but in great conscience, if I saw an officer beat a citizen with night sticks just for mouthing off to them, no way I was going to agree that in any World that is ok.
I read what you had to say so I feel your pain and I too hate liars and being harassed by people who have ignorance and have no clue what they’re talking about. I see the cops come through here every day and it just to harass and let me know that they can do anything they want. They are so corrupt as I have caught them entering my house illegally on 1 occasion a male and female cop. When I ran up to my door they took off running. I feel so unsafe and terrified and times as I have no means of protecting myself against these thugs. They have stolen things from my house and sabotaged my Harley and other things. It is always something with them.
Well there are some really decent officers. I got pulled over last year by a deputy for going 50 in a 35. I did tell him about my former law enforcement career and told him I prayed for them every day to be safe. When he came back from running my information he mentioned me being on the registry and said “Now I know why you left law enforcement”. I replied, “No that arrest had nothing to do with it as I left long before that incident”.
I thought for sure I was getting a ticket ( I was going 15 over ) but he also saw I had a safe driver on my license and I was really nice to him. He came back and gave me my license and said ” Slow down” and I did not get a ticket.
Most of my contact with law enforcement is positive but believe me, I have had a few incidents where I almost went to jail JUST because I was on the registry. I was at a school once watching my grand daughter’s play. An officer was driving around the parking lot and had a license plate reader on his patrol cruiser and got a hit on my car stating I was a felon on the registry. He came in, found me, took me outside and detained me for over an hour. Finally I had enough and asked for a watch commander. Once the supervisor showed up, he said I needed to get my grand daughter and leave the premises or face arrest.
Bunch of crap but was almost a step away from a bogus charge.
All those laws and rules were added years after my charges and they keep trying to apply them retroactively.
Heck I live so close to a school that I can throw a rock at it. They cannot do anything about it because I have lived here with my parents now for over 20 years since before the restrictions went into place.
I understand why these charges end in pleas but I’m always curious what a jury would have handed down.
I guess a jury would have been instructed, “is there proof that he completed his registration without the correct digit?”