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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.
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Speaking of licenses and car tags – my son just got his first car and I have to tell you I am terrified. Not in the way most parents are in this situation but that his car tag etc. will be used to cause him harm. I have heard that law enforcement drives through parking lots to get a “hit” on an RSOs tag to violate them for the proximity crap. Has anyone had problems with this or otherwise been harassed becasue of their license or car tag? How can anyone ever know all the rules and live that way? It is just horrifying. I read an article that talked about Marion county and how they purchased these fancy scanners so all they have to do is drive through parking lots and the scanner beeps at them to inform them that it is an RSOs car or a car that is registered to someone with a warrant etc. Then the article said they actually arrested one sex offender for a felony because of these fancy scanners (of course they did not say what kind of felony) and you can almost bet it was a proximity thing. It means that no matter where you go (county to county or state to state) you have to know all the rules everywhere! For instance, in Seminole you better not be near a Park but in Orange county you can be in a Park IF you have reason (they go by the State guidelines) but how does the officer driving through the parking lot know that? They don’t, so are they going to go into the Park and embarrass the RSO and their family asking questions etc.? It scares me….
maybe we should look at the federal guidelines and how the states are overstepping there authority. or there any other state’s that has the word sex offense and predator on any license.? and how did it become a law to have and state of florida license or a id: I always understood
that driving was a privilege. this is only a way the state of florida can public sham us. I am a veteran of the united states army and I am getting damn tired of the states overstepping my constitutional rights as an American citizen. I am a rso . GIVE ME FREEDOM OR GIVE ME DEATH!!!!!!!!
in Louisiana it is marked on your id in large red letters..
That is disgusting, Susan!
So, is it a violation to be in disneyworld? This I guess
Is private property and have their own rules.
Where else can registered citizens be removed from?
I’m not sure if any of you realize this but it goes further than just the stamp on dr. lic. or id card it is on your driving record thus when insurance for vehicle company’s or others that check your lic. even when you apply for credit if they also check your lic. like opening new bank accounts when they pull your dl info it is right there for them to see. thus they don’t have to actually see the phyical lic. you have in your possession any dl check will be branded that your on the hit list as well
So the lawyer recognized this as a scarlet letter but only seems concerned that a non-registered citizen was marked and mistreated because of it. Not much of a lawyer.
The Scarlet Letter was forced on Hester Prynne not as a heads up to anyone around her that a “loose” woman was around but specifically as a further punishment for her behavior after she was let out of prison. In Germany it was used to tag an undesirable class of citizens to be murdered. Public safety has nothing to do with it. Why can’t judges see that it is the same today?
Holding someone for police who has done no crime but is merely undesirable sure sounds like kidnapping to me.
I am registered as a swx offender in the state of Florida. This last April to spend a day at Epcot, so I had my wife buy our tickets to get in the park. Because I know if I had bought them, it would have been a problem.
I also agree with others that say that if we have a designation on our license, then others that commit other crimes, should have the same thing on their licenses.
You are so right mark is like we are the worst thing on this planet and it should not be there are the criminals runaround every day and Their driver license don’t have that it’s really not fair for us at all but it’s still mankind law