Operation “Paladin’s Shield” Nets 8 in Walton County, FL
There are several things that strike me as incredible from the most recent Florida online sex sting.
(1) People still fall for this BS! Honestly, after decades of police pulling the same scam, unless you’ve been under a rock for 20 years, you have to know that the only minors trying to meet up with adults on Craigslist are police officers! Even Dateline’s “To Catch a Predator” got played out after a dozen years.
(2) The Walton County sting took five (5) days and according to this article; “Walton County Sheriff’s Office hosted the operation with help of area agencies including Panama City Beach Police, Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, Pensacola Police Department, Gulf Breeze Police Department and other Florida agencies including Gainesville Police Department, Tallahassee Police Department, Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.” Eight (8) men were arrested. WHAT?!?!?!? The operation took five days and involved ten (yes, 10) law enforcement agencies and they only arrested eight people? You need to wonder whether the resources spent entrapping people could have been better spent protecting real children, rather than fictitious ones.
(3) These sites where the alleged predators were caught, are all sites whose terms and conditions expressly require users to be over 18, so the presumption is that anyone they are seeking to meet would be an adult. Craigslist, the most common site of stings, contains a separate disclaimer before you can even click on the personal ads, that says, “By clicking the link below you confirm that you are 18 or older and understand personals may include adult content.”. If ten law enforcement agencies only caught eight people in 5 days, clearly these sites are not a playground for pedophiles, so it’s really unlikely that any of these men went to the site with the intention of finding children.
(4) Sheriffs are very quick to issue press releases outing the people they arrested, but not so open about the conviction rates. A report from Florida News Station, WTFV, found the results of a Volusia County sting “[t]wo years after the arrests, one case is still pending and 15 men were convicted of a sex crime, but seven either had their charges dropped or were convicted of lesser, non-sex crimes” and a similar sting in Orange County, “31 men were arrested: six men still have cases pending, 16 were convicted of a sex crime, and nine either had their charges dropped or were convicted of lesser charges that did not carry the sex offender registry.” Most will take a plea, rather than risk substantial time and embarrassment, but of the ones that fight the charges, in too many cases courts are finding that these people had no intention of soliciting a child and but for the actions of law enforcement, no “crime” was in danger of being committed.
These stings make great headlines for law enforcement agencies and create easy fishing for them to seize property, even when no charges are brought. But, in reality, there is very little return on the law enforcement investment. At a time where the State of Florida has a backlog of over ten thousand rape kits that have not been tested and we are scrambling for ways to protect children from mass-shootings in their schools, the most incredible thing to me is that the public is not more outraged by these stings… er, scams!
You’re all just a bunch of criminals who got caught and are whining because you got caught. Not one intelligent word has been spoken here.
You are all a bunch of sick bastards. Good for law enforcement for arresting you. How pathetic and cowardly every one on this page is. God it makes me sick. May you all rot with the thoughts in your mind. Excuses are so pathetic.
@Audry
Are you a Saint? Have you followed every single rule everyday of your life including those you did not know about?
Pretty sure the answer is NO. That and the simple fact that most of those that bark the loudest have the most to hide maybe why your post was laced with Venom.
May you never have to experience first-hand (or any hand for that matter) the constant re-criminalization and daily persecution that is the Registry. The constant Stigma and reminders is an incredible burden to bear that is not necessary for ALL people that have been charged or convicted of a “Sex Crime” as that label itself is remarkably obscured within the Statutes of the “Law” for reasons that far extend beyond Public Safety.
It would be both Prudent and Wise for you to research and delve into the reality that is current proven statistical and measurable data before throwing a stone in a Glass House.
Anon for now
“Judge not that ye be judged”. It is so comforting to know that Jesus has sent a clone to live amongst us. Must be nice to be sinless!
Here in Duval County it seems like we have a teacher every week getting arrested on child sex charges. A first coast high teacher was just arrested in distribution of child porn. And all you see on the news is how could the schools hire someone like that. There needs to be better laws in place to prevent this. These idiots think stringer sex offender laws will prevent these crimes. This guy has never had a felony been married for 20 years you can’t prevent this from happening, why can’t the public understand this. More/stronger sex offender laws would not change this out come.
Here is a question, if we all know that the stings are shady and law enforcement’s way of obtaining funding and deepening their pockets then why isn’t someone taking this to the top and fighting to have these convictions from these sting operations overturned? I would love to fight back for my son’s case and I have smelled a rat since the day it happened. They did not want to loosen the grip on my son and the prosecution would not even entertain any dropping of the charges, but yet others have had the same charges lessened or even dropped. Something just hasn’t felt right in my gut about my son’s case and I am still unsettled about it. The more and more I read about these sting operations, the more I am wondering if there is something in my son’s case that they are trying to hide and that is why they kept trying to push to sweep it under the rug as quickly as they could. I have been on to them since the beginning but how do we prove to what seems to be a very lopsided court system in Florida? Maybe a class action for all those convicted as a result of these sting operations would begin to turn the heads of the public. Would love to find another lawyer willing to look at my son’s case cause there is definitely more than meets the eye here. Lies upon lies and the prosecution gets away with it. And since when does the state prosecution have more of a say so than a judge in a courtroom. Sorry, I live in a state where the judge rules the courtroom and makes the decisions not the state prosecutor. Never have I ever seen such a backwards system than the one in Florida. Sorry for the vent…just looking for some answers and possible suggestions.
DVH, you have to answer your own question. You wonder why someone isn’t fighting the convictions, but then suggest you would want to revisit your son’s case. Did he fight his conviction? Take it to trial? Appeal?
If not, and he took a plea, you should ask him why. Yes, people have, in fact, fought back and been acquitted. People, I’m sure, fought and were convicted.
Every case is unique and if you want to appeal your son’s case, it can’t be part of a “class action” criminal case, unless he had direct co-defendants.
If anything I am just baffled as to how anything works In Florida. I don’t understand and I am trying to. While I find the information you post here helpful I wonder as to how we can go about applying it to what we are going through. I feel completely helpless but yet want to fight and stand up. Maybe I don’t present things correctly and therefore always feel like when I do I am on my own and told to figure it out myself. It hasn’t been easy for us as I am sure no one on here has had it easy but I don’t know where to begin. Our son took what he felt was the only thing he could do. He didn’t have the best of counsel and we have never dealt with anything like this before. I feel like we just keep beating our heads up against a wall and this is our life without our son.
DVH – hang in there. To better explain my response, FAC focuses on the sanctions imposed on ALL registrants after they have served their sentence (ie: registration, residency restrictions, public notification, etc.). We don’t involve ourselves in an individual’s underlying criminal case that landed them on the registry.
Reasons are:
1) the registry requirements are imposed universally and to all members. Each individual’s criminal case is unique to them.
2) Criminal defendants should ONLY take guidance from their attorney. FAC is not a law firm, we are not licensed nor qualified to give legal advise.
It would be very irresponsible for anyone (even an attorney) to give you advise on the merits of an appeal to your son’s case without looking at the pleadings and the evidence against him.
If you want to explore options. I suggest contacting a criminal defense attorney who (a) specializes in appeals and post-conviction relief, and (b) sex offenses. Since he’s likely no longer eligible for a public defender (his case has been dispositioned), you’ll unfortunately have to get a private attorney, which will unfortunately cost money. I doubt you can find one that will do it for free, but you can try asking around – you may get a free consultation but for someone to dig into the file, review everything and come to an opinion, count on spending some money.
If you ask how many appeals they have pending or filed this year and they say “none” – move on. If you ask how many registrants they have as clients – move on. If they tell you “your son can file …” without looking at the docket, his charging documents and sentencing documents – move on.
Most who have never had to deal with anything like this before, such as yourself, are flying blind and while it should be a great thing to have no experience with criminal matters, it’s not once you’re in this mess.
There are also factors completely outside the “legal” realm that weigh into these cases. In Florida, you have judges that are elected and have their own biases. If they are conservatives up for re-election, it may not matter if you’re completely innocent. You also have counties with different agendas. You have sheriffs, such as Shady Grady out of Polk, who has made these stings his life’s mission. Half his County can be strung out on Meth and burglarizing houses, but the police are too busy to care because they are pretending to be 12 year olds on Craigslist.
I strongly encourage you to contact membership and volunteer. They will guide you on how to become involved. Regardless of how your son’s criminal case goes, he will eventually get out. He will need a roof over his head and the opportunity to earn a living, and things you do now to help better the chances he will have of accomplishing those things, will make life easier for him when he gets out.
Actually DVH they are partial right , Your Sons case if you have proof of a violation of Due Process Rights , that may have been denied to your Son , In his conviction. Can be challenged . I, do not know how long his Case falls back . Yet he also has the Right to file a Habeas Corpus , for Relief if He was convicted Illegally , or again outside the Law . The relief sought will be violations that may have been Imposed on Him , during The Arrest , and the ineffective assistance of Council , the lawyer that represented Him during the hearings . Did the lawyer file any ” Pre Trial Motions , trying to get the Case dismissed ? Did the Lawyer conduct a Brady Interview , of all State Witnesses before he your son plead guilty ? Did his lawyer come to jail throughout his Pre-Trial time in jail to go over strategies ? If the answer is NO to any of these questions , YES he can file a motion to withdraw his guilty plea under Case Federal Read : US vs COUTO , 311 F.3d 179 ( 2nd Cir ) This is a Federal Case . Please look it up for clarification. There are several ways to turn a case around No matter how Old . The major theme . Is the ” Due Process ” Right Did your son get proper Due Process . was it violated . 90% of most cases are . This can be argued also in a ” State Habeas Corpus , filing . Subject Matter , Violation of Due Process , 14th Amendment . This has won cases and is worth the effort . DVH
Demetrios,
If the guy had a public defender, the likely answer to all questions is no. But if he files a habeas case, they’ll be created and back-stamped by the clerk prior to his evidentiary hearing.
You need to contact Rachel Reese esquire at O’Brien and Hatfield in Tampa she can help. Tell her April From Oklahoma sent you she should know wh ur talking about. She’s the best!!
Another example of entrapment and lying I asked for proof of age they would never provide it made every excuse not to because law enforcement no longer has to identify themselves during a investigation even when asked to do so only during an arrest. Combine that with Strict Liability and there’s your recipe for ruining someone’s life. I won’t say forever because this lunacy has to end I just hope it’s during my lifetime
First @ Capt Munsey (salute) The entrapment laws went down the toilet after the federal government couldn’t convict John Delorean allegedly attempting to by cocaine from federal agents because the court sided with the defense saying he was entrapped. After that the government did what every sore loser with power does they changed the rules and lowered the bar for convictions. Another example law enforcement is allowed to tell you a bold faced lie in order to get information or a confession you on the other hand could be hit with more charges if you lie to them.
It is absurd that this still goes on with no relief. I was also arrested in a deadline sting, and fought hard to get aquitted. This cost me everything I had and then some. The collateral damage cost me my children and after serving 5 years in prison, I am still paying. Being on the registry is bad enough but that also means that I can’t pass a background check and end result have been out of work for years, Because to anyone else their mentality Is that if your on the registry you must be a child molester. I also did not believe that the person was 14, But The Police Insisted That They Told Me And The Jury Believed Them. Not Only did it cost me everything, but 10 years later I am still paying for this even after I did my prison time. I survived prison, it wasn’t that enough torture of being harrassed, beat up and constantly demoralized by FDOC officers but to be out this long and it feels like I will be paying for the rest of my life because of going on a date with someone who wasn’t what they said they were. I’ve never been in trouble in my life, and now I look over my shoulder every step I take for fear of being hurt. Florida will not be happy until there is a barbed wire fence around the state.
Do a thousand good deeds and no one remembers; do one bad deed and no one forgets. I know the feeling but with enough effort and the right friends that can change. It tough being patient but that’s what it takes. Like my pastor said,”Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future”.