Woman’s License Mistakenly Marked ‘Sexual Predator’
A Florida woman took her children to Disney World for a fun weekend, but was denied service at the hotel. When she asked why she was not allowed to stay there, she was shocked by the response. Now, the mother is taking legal action.
Tammy Lemasters was denied service at Disney World and when she asked why, she was told it was because her driver’s license listed her as a sexual predator, the New York Daily News reports. She was shocked by the revelation, as she has no history of any such crime.
“I was afraid to drive in my car,” Lemasters told The Associated Press. “I was afraid of getting pulled over. I was afraid of the kids being in the car.”
Lemasters is now planning to file a lawsuit against the Lake County Tax Collector’s office for defamation after she says a computer glitch caused the phrase “sexual predator” to be printed on her license, according to the Daily News.
“It reminds me of the book, ‘The Scarlet Letter,'” said Lemasters’ attorney John Phillips. “She walked around with that on her license, not knowing where it had been reported. This is completely, completely avoidable by just putting in some sort of default on the computer.”
Phillips says an office clerk had checked off “yes” for “sexual predator” rather than “organ donor” while filling out forms on a computer.
The error caused Lemasters to be denied service from a hotel and detained at Disney World for three hours, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The mother and her fiancé told employees at Disney World that the stamp was a mistake, but were held while employees contacted the authorities regardless.
The manager of the Lake County Tax Collector’s office David Jordan said the issue was due to a human error from a “top-notch” worker, the Daily News reports.
“We made a mistake. Period,” Jordan said. “We feel horrible. It totally stinks it happens. Everybody involved feels terrible. We offer our apologies. We offered it immediately.”
Lemasters says she didn’t notice the stamp on her ID and didn’t think to check for a mark identifying her as a sexual predator.
“They asked me to check my name and address, and that’s what I checked,” she said, the Orlando Sentinel reports. “The sexual-predator box is in the lower corner, and she had her finger there. I just took it and put it in my wallet. No one checks for ‘sexual predator’ on your license.”
Phillips says the goal of Lemasters’ lawsuit is not to be paid, but rather to prevent the problem from happening to others.He says that if the agency agrees to make changes in its system to prevent the problem from reoccurring, the lawsuit will not be filed.
I was held at Disney in the office.They locked the doors and called the cops to give me a trespassing warning. The official document said that they don’t accept that kind of conduct in there park. So it was made to look like I actually did some kind of conduct when my conviction was almost 20 years ago.
Somebody having experienced this needs to get disney in court to determine and clarify exactly what kind of ‘conduct’ they are giving a trespassing charge for.
thanks for your input Chris
How long ago did this happen? I am an annual passholder.
It reminds her of The Scarlet Letter…..but I bet if you had asked her a week ago if it was OK to put that mark on an SO’s/SP’s license or passport, she would have said HELL YEAH HANG THOSE SCUMBAGS!!
But it is suddenly not OK when it happens to her….the double standard at it’s best.
“they called authorities”
wow, so not only are they ejecting, or in this case it sounds like they detained the family, but they call the cops? is it actually “illegal” to be at Disney? i have heard that Disney is kicking registrants out, but i didnt realize they were actually call the police. Can any business call the cops over customers they don’t want to serve? i wasn’t aware that this was a valid reason to call police.
“I was afraid to drive in my car,” Lemasters told The Associated Press. “I was afraid of getting pulled over. I was afraid of the kids being in the car.” Yes! and this is how all the other registrants feel as well especially those with families, friends, coworkers that might be in the car. Does this sentiment she expresses sound like this notification is ‘non-punitive’? She sure sounded punished by the anxiety and fear inherent in her speech.
Disney will have the police issue a No Trespass Notice to members of the Hit List; unsure on the legalities of them detaining someone until the sheriff gets there to trespass someone.
Wonder why this has not been challenged as compiled speech as all is required to have a DL or ID cards
Sounds similar to a story about a Christian who was forced to wear a star in Nazi Germany by mistake. Unfortunately the outcome was not as pleasant as it was for this woman.
She found out that being labelled and forced to wear that label publically is not so pleasant. Now at least she knows what registered citizens deal with 24 / 7 / 365.
Seems that in America we do not learn from history. Well, the government did learn a lot about using fear as propaganda to control the population…so there is that! 🙁
If a sexual predator or sex offender is going to be identified on a drivers license then all convicted of any felony should have that conviction listed on the drivers license. All citizens need to be treated equally. The drivers license should be for law enforcement purposes, anyway, and therefore any violations should be in code understood by law enforcement only. My doctor, librarian, a hotel manager, etc. has no need for the information.
True! Captain. Who identify those who kill; particularly children and walk around us freely, get jobs everywhere, open day care centers an are not required to be ID as child killers….why are these laws so crooked? Who allows these regulations get so out of control? Are we that afraid to fight for the restoration of our rights?
I agree – if we are going to label drivers licenses how about drunk drivers etc? You know things that actually have to do with driving?
Right… or since people use their IDs when paying with credit cards or checks, people who have been arrested for writing bad checks or who have credit card fraud convictions.
It would make sense to brand someone’s driver’s licenses in scenarios where they actually have to use it for driving or identification. Does the legislature presume that children are going to ask to see ID before being abducted?
It’s all about shaming. Not about public safety.