Assigning a Zero to Zero Tolerance

The Supreme Court sided with privacy rights with as evidenced by the recent ruling clarifying what common decency tells most of us.

Ya just can't strip search a 13-year-old.

Per the Ventura County Star:

In deciding a case involving the strip-search of a 13-year-old girl by school officials, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday came down on the side of common sense.

The justices, in an 8-1 ruling, said the search was not reasonable, thus violating the girl’s constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment.

This decision also makes clear for school officials where to draw the line between a student’s privacy rights and their zeal to keep their campuses free of drugs and weapons.

California and six other states recognized this boundary by previously passing laws prohibiting strip-searches in a school setting.

Not so in Arizona, where Savana Redding, now 19, was an honors student at a middle school in a small town near the border with New Mexico. A classmate had accused Savana of supplying her prescription ibuprofen, equivalent to two Advils.

The school’s vice principal then took Savana to his office where her backpack was searched. When nothing was found, she was taken to the nurse’s office and ordered to strip down to her underwear by two female employees. They then made her move her bra to the side and stretch her underwear waistband.

Again, nothing was found and, after what Savana described as “the most humiliating experience” in her life, no apology was offered by school officials.

Savana, who will be attending college in the fall, said of the ruling: “I’m pretty excited about it because that’s what I wanted. I wanted to keep it from happening to anybody else.”

Savana’s rights were violated solely on the false word of another eighth-grade student, with no other evidence or corroboration.

As Justice David Souter wrote in the majority opinion: “What was missing from the suspected facts that pointed to Savana was any indication of danger to the students from the power of the drugs or their quantity, and any reason to suppose that Savana was carrying pills in her underwear.”

Wouldn’t it have been just as easy for school officials to have Savana remain under their watchful eye in the principal’s office, then contact her parents and wait until they arrived before any search was done?

All Americans — no matter the age — have a constitutional right not to be subjected to unreasonable searches. The court correctly ruled strip-searching Savana was a case of school officials stepping over the line.

6/27/2009

Michael Jackson

Like Elvis, Michael Jackson has left the building.

He leaves behind a musical anthology spanning his lifetime.

He takes with him a creative genius that evolved into an eccentricity few understood.

As I expected, the media wasted no time posting the darker moments of Michael's life, even before confirmation that he had indeed, passed away.

As with Elvis, whispers will shadow his legacy as long as those who choose to remember walk this earth.

But his music lives on.

And that, no one can take that away.

Thanks Michael, for showing us what you could do.

See ya.

Fraudulent Use of Canines in Police Work

As reported by Scott Maxwell over at the Orlando Sentinel, the suspect résumé of John Preston and his "magical dog" will hit the national highlight via Anderson Cooper, tonight at 10:00 PM.

Preston's claims — that his dog could track scents through water, even years after a suspect supposedly left them — were preposterous. And Preston was, ultimately, discredited in court.

Since then, three of the Brevard County men whom Preston helped convict subsequently had their convictions overturned.

Now comes word there may be a fourth: another man still in prison more than two decades after Preston and his German shepherd provided the key evidence allegedly tying him to the scene of the crime.

"There are a lot of similarities between this case and the others," said Brevard-Seminole's assistant public defender, Mike Pirolo. "I mean, it's scary how similar many of these cases are."

What's also scary is how many of these cases have yet to be scrutinized

And yet, until now, there has been no thorough check to see whether others were wrongfully convicted as well.

That, however, is starting to change.

•A national legal group has taken up the cause of the fourth person.

•The Public Defender's Office in Brevard opening a broader inquiry of its own.

•And this tale of perverted justice will get a national audience tonight when Anderson Cooper is slated to spotlight Preston and his cases during his 10 o'clock show on CNN.

Expect Anderson to feature recently released Brevard County citizen William Dillon. After serving 27 years in prison for murder, DNA testing ultimately excluded him from the evidence that resulted in his conviction

Evidence obtained through John Preston and his Wonder Dog.

All that aside, the following comment by blogger Scott Maxwell really ices my cake.

Meanwhile, as others search for justice, some of Florida's highest-placed officials — Gov. Charlie Crist, Attorney General Bill McCollum and Brevard-Seminole State Attorney Norm Wolfinger — remain uninvolved and unmoved.

How friggin' typical.

But, on the flip side, we at Smashed Frog are glad to see the mainstream press finally hanging Florida's legal dirty laundry out in the sunshine for all to see.

Laundry Froggers have repeatedly aired out for the past several years.

***

Read more from Maxwell here.

Read more about Fraudulent Use of Canines in Police Work here.

BBC (and Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff) Spin the Julia Tuttle

Voice of Reason found the way to my mailbox this morning with an update on the Julia Tuttle Causeway.

Here's a bit of the story. Be certain to visit VOR's blog (here) to read each story in entirety.

As reported by the BBC...

FL- Miami's tent city for sex offenders

A Miami law is forcing many of the city's sex offenders to sleep rough under a bridge, reports Emilio San Pedro for the BBC's Americana programme.

The area under the Julia Tuttle Causeway in downtown Miami has in recent years become the unlikely home for a growing community of about 70 convicted sex offenders.

(...)

"Welcome to American justice," said Dr Pedro Jose Greer, the Dean of Florida International University's Department of Humanities, Health and Society, as he met me under the bridge to discuss the squalid conditions at the camp.

"We have people living together with mental and physical illnesses in an environment where people can't possibly sleep because of the cars going by overhead - where you can smell the urine and see the trash mounting all around us."

Dr Greer has for decades been a leading advocate in Miami for homeless people and their right to receive adequate medical and social services.

He told me that he has become increasingly angry over the last few years at the existence of this camp and the lack of an alternative way to reintegrate these convicted sex offenders into society.

"What we're doing is we're saying 'let's take the people that we most despise, that did some of the most egregious things in society and let them all get together and not supervise them and let them wander around the community'," he tells me with a clear sense of frustration in his voice.

"This is the stupidest damn law I have ever seen and it's purely mandated by revenge without any consideration for the well-being of these people - who deserve better despite the severity of their crimes," he says.

The problem for people like Julio is that the serious nature of the crimes they committed makes it very difficult for them to get much sympathy from the local community or from local politicians - who for the most part have found the issue too sensitive and downright controversial to become involved.

However, earlier this month, one City of Miami commissioner, Marc Sarnoff, did just that.

With the backing of the city government, he wrote a letter to the state governor, Charlie Crist, asking him to shut the camp down.

He based that request on the fact that there is a small island that serves as a weekend park for boaters and their children that lies within the existing local boundaries.

I met Mr Sarnoff on a sunny morning at a local park, where some boys were playing baseball with their coach.

He told me that his top priority remained protecting these children from sex offenders like the ones who lived at the camp.

"Let me be absolutely clear. I'm not here to support or endorse anything with regard to sexual offenders. They are my least bit of concern," he tells me. "However, they are living in squalor. I don't think human beings will stay in that condition. They're going to start leaving and what we thought was a good law of 2,500 ft to keep them away from our children will eventually push them back into the population."

Mr Sarnoff hopes that the letter to Governor Crist will force the state either to find some alternative place to house the sex offenders or force some form of legal action that will get the state's courts, which are not beholden to the desires of the electorate, involved.

For the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and others like Dr Greer - who believe the offenders have already served their time in prison and deserve the right to attempt to get on with their lives - the camp's existence and the desperate conditions there serve as a troubling reflection of the values of modern-day Miami.

"The question is - have we become a society that doesn't let you die but lets you suffer? Do we just say we're living in the Middle Ages - an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth?" Dr Greer told me after we had finished touring the camp.

"I think we've gone beyond that."

Read what a Miami dad has to say here. (You might be surprised).

Be certain to take a few minutes to listen to the 2/16/2009 BBC broadcast where "Matt Frei looks at different responses to America's prison crisis."

You are Invited. Go to Town Meeting: Kiar, Ring, Sands

For those who wish to discuss the recent passage and signage of HB 115 into law with bill sponsors Florida state rep Martin Kiar and state senator Jeremy Ring, here's your chance.

A personal invitation to attend a town hall meeting with them both and Representative Franklin Sands, District 98 in attendance.

(HB 115 requires sexual offenders and predators to fork over their home and cell phone numbers to law enforcement authorities. Read more over at Ring Around the Kiar.)

Besides sponsoring unnecessary registration requirement legislation, Martin Kiar is also a member of the Broward Task Force, recently formed to discuss the need for Broward County to impose residency restrictions for those persons required to register as sex offenders. His office indicated the need for HB 115 "...because sex offenders were not required to provide Florida Department of Law Enforcement with a home or cellular telephone number as part of the process requiring them to register with law enforcement.

That made it difficult for law enforcement to keep track of these individuals."

Uh huh. Email address vs. home address. Hmmm. If I were in law enforcement, where would I look first?

Moving along to his cohort, per Sanders Says, state senator Jeremy Ring "...was an early stage Yahoo executive and worked for Anil Singh until about 2001. He was an operations czar and made the sales trains run on time. He had a strong point of view that people need to improve weekly, monthly and especially yearly.

At a sales offsite in 2001, he posed the following question to the young Yahoo's: Have you improved your personal resume in the last year? What is new on it?

Good advice. Ring can now update his own sales pitch by adding "selling Fear for votes".

On that note, your personal invite.

***

Good Afternoon:

I would like to extend an invitation for you to attend a Town Hall Meeting hosted by myself, Representative Kiar, and Senator Rich.

The Town Hall Meeting is meant to bring awareness to you of issues that were addressed during the 2009 Legislative Session and to allow you to ask questions and give your opinions in an open forum.

Please find below the details on the meeting that will take place on Monday June 22, 2009 at the Weston City Hall Commission Chambers.

Event: Representative Sands, Representative Kiar and Senator Rich Town Hall Meeting

Place: Weston City Hall Commission Chambers 17200 Royal Palm Blvd Weston, FL 33326

Date: Monday June 22, 2009 Time: 7:00PM

The meeting will not be used in any way as fundraising or campaign event.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact my district office at (954) 424-6800

Best Regards,

Franklin Sands

The Snowball Effect

"I'm not a monster. I don't belong on this list."

And with that said, Governor Charlie Crist delayed the decision to pardon Virgil Frank McCranie.

Married for 10 years to his wife Misty, he was 19 and she 14 when the two had sex.

The couple met through their parents, who were friends, when growing up in Jacksonville. McCranie's wife, Misty, now 28, said she became angry and jealous when he developed a relationship with another woman. She told her father she'd had sex with McCranie and they went to the police.

That's about the time McCranie's life snowballed. And rolled downhill fast.

McCranie, 34, told Gov. Charlie Crist and the Florida Cabinet, sitting Thursday as the Florida Board of Executive Clemency, that being on the sex offender list has caused him to lose at least 17 jobs in the last several years and that his four children, ages 7 to 14, have shared his stigma.
McCranie, who now has a retail sales job in Panama City Beach, asked for a pardon to lift the cloud over his life caused what's known as a "Romeo and Juliet" case.

His name, picture, address, a map showing where he lives, a description of his vehicle and tag number and other information are posted on the state's sex offender Web site for all to see.

"I just want a chance to just be a regular person again," McCranie said.

Crist delayed a decision, saying he wanted more time to think about it and study the facts.

"It's a difficult case," Crist said. "I'll make my ruling based on what I believe to be true."

To get a pardon, an applicant must receive approval from the governor and at least two of the three Cabinet members: Attorney General Bill McCollum, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson.

With McCollum and Sink running for Florida's governor and Crist seeking the Senate I'd say McCranie has a snowball's chance in hell.

But hell, we can always hope for snow.

McCranie said he's never been accused of any other crime and has worked in a series of stores where he frequently has contact with families and children without incident. He said, though, he has been repeatedly fired after some customers and other employees have found him on the sex offender Web site and complained to his bosses.

Originally charged with rape, McCranie pleaded no contest to lewd and lascivious behavior with a child as part of a plea deal.

He was placed on probation and the judge withheld adjudication. McCranie said he later violated probation "for monetary reasons" and wound up serving about a month in jail.

"My prison's out here on this Web site," McCranie said after the meeting. "Yeah, I've done about 14-15 years of hard time, believe me. I'd been better off in prison, probably."

We believe you.

Good luck from all of us here at Smashed Frog.

Read more here.

Ring Around the Kiar

Our Florida Legislators reinvent the wheel and blur the distinction between predators and offenders simultaneously once again.

And Charlie Crist signs off his okay.

Per the Sun Sentinel, 6/16/09:

Gov. Charlie Crist signed a new law today that requires sexual offenders and predators to fork over their home and cell phone numbers to law enforcement authorities.

The measure was sponsored by state Rep. Martin Kiar, D-Davie, and state Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Parkland.

Before House Bill 115 became law, sex offenders did not have to provide Florida Department of Law Enforcement with a home or cellular telephone number as part of the process requiring them to register with law enforcement.

That made it difficult for law enforcement to keep track of these individuals, Kiar’s office said.

If they don't have phones, the provision doesn't apply.

***

4. A sexual predator must register any electronic mail address or instant message name with the department prior to using such electronic mail address or instant message name on or after October 1, 2007.

775.21 The Florida Sexual Predators Act.

Email Privacy

Do email messages deserve the same privacy protection as telephone calls?

Civil liberty groups will get a second chance to make their case that yes, they do before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

On Wednesday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the ACLU of Ohio, and the Center for Democracy and Technology filed an amicus brief in Warshak v. USA in support of appellant Steven Warshak.

Warshak argues that a court order secretly directing his ISP to preserve his e-mail violates federal privacy laws and his expectation of privacy.

(...)

In November 2006, the EFF, the ACLU of Ohio, and the CDT filed a similar amicus brief in support of Warshak, arguing that e-mail deserves the same legal protection as telephone calls. In June 2007, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Warshak's favor. But that decision was vacated on procedural grounds. And now the case is back before the court.

In a statement, EFF senior staff attorney Kevin Bankston says that the Justice Department conducted what amounts to a "back-door wiretap" when it intercepted six months of Warshak's e-mail without a warrant. "Thankfully, this abuse has given the appeals court yet another opportunity to clarify that the Fourth Amendment protects the privacy of e-mail against secret government snooping, even when it's in the hands of an e-mail provider," he said.

Stay tuned.

To Ménage à trois a Predator: Chris Hanson, NBC and a Couple of Live-Action Porn Stars

It's baaack....

NBC may have canceled "To Catch a Predator", but that doesn't mean it's canceled, like totally.

Chris Hanson has dumped his gang of underage wannabees to hire age-appropriate legal talent.

Live action porn stars.

This is the point where the whole scenario goes all sex schizophrenic.

As blogged by Wine and Excrement:

(...)

The controversial show, in production since 2004, has been beleaguered with bad PR in recent years, including the suicide of a prosecutor who was the patsy during one of the show’s heavy-handed hybridizations of law enforcement and entertainment.

The show has also been criticized for a woeful conviction rate, a conflict of interest with Perverted Justice, the organization it fronts, and for allegations of entrapment.

The latter charges spring from the fact that members of Perverted Justice enter Internet sex chat rooms where they pose as under-age lascivious teens and woo adult members with absurdly wanton come-ons, often aggressively persisting until their marks relent and agree to participate in a preposterous, sex-filled romp at a decoy house that, unknown to the “perp,” is filled with hidden cameras, a platoon of heavily armed paramilitary assets, a gaggle of key grips, sound- and cameramen, a lissome house-elf that serves as the final visual and vocal decoy and, most ominously, Chris Hanson.

Now, producers say, the show is poised to put all of those allegations behind it, thanks to its rollout of young but seasoned porn stars, who will relieve the sprightly, foul-mouthed but untouchable, quickly vanishing tarts that have been a hallmark of the show since its inception.

The step, while radical, was the “last and best option” available, insiders say.

For what? Bad taste, the dumbing down of America or the search for the Holy Grail of Ratings?

What's Hanson have to say about all this?

(...)

“For the lion’s share of our history, just having a sexy ‘barely legal’ with a ridiculously high-pitched voice preen around the doorway with a plate of cookies or lemonade was more than enough to get these scumbags to step inside, giving me the chance to take over,” Hanson continued. “But despite all our success, we – and our viewers – were left wanting.”

For one thing, Hanson says, the convictions weren’t devastating enough. “Sure, many times these were felonies, and certainly we were able to ruin dozens of lives over thought crime directed against an imaginary person, and that’s good stuff – good enough for a laugh track, but we felt there was room for more.”

That’s when producers lit upon the idea of retaining seasoned sex professionals to take the place of the effective – but hands-off – nymphets that have typically served as Hanson’s sidekicks.

“We got to thinking, there’s plenty of really talented porn stars who look like they’re underage,” noted Hanson. “We know they’re willing to give up their bodies for their profession, and we figured, ‘why not take this show up a notch?’”

That's called prostitution, MacDaddy.

Oh, there's more.

(...)

“To really ratchet up charges, we’re even toying with the idea of having underage porn stars – you can get them offshore really easily – participate, after signing a waiver, of course. That would really land some serious convictions.”

Ah. Human trafficking. Nice.

Chris Hanson, NBC and Live-Action Porn Stars.

Should this "show" ever see air, expect a lawsuit to be slapped against this ménage à trois somewhere mid-season.

Miami Herald: Close the Sex Offender Camp

The Miami Herald speaks out. Against residency restrictions. Against buffer zones.

And Ron Book admits he was wrong.

This Frog hopes our Democratic contenders for Florida AG (Dan Gelber, Dave Aronberg and quite possibly, Rod Smith) are listening in and listening well, especially if any or all candidates planned to use the sex offender issue as a vote getter.

Want to be a progressive Democratic candidate? Sit in with Broward County's task force and pay attention to ways Florida's children can be better protected.

Presented in toto....

The Miami Herald.

Close the sex offenders' camp under causeway

OUR OPINION: The shantytown of sex offenders under the Julia Tuttle Causeway is fast becoming a public-safety and health crisis


The year: 2020. The place: Under the Julia Tuttle Causeway. Population: 500 homeless sex offenders living in a shantytown created with the help of state and local officials. There's an outbreak of tuberculosis in the camp, which the felons leave each day to work.

The pollution in the bay has worsened as make-shift toilets flush into the once turquoise waters.

Meanwhile, the courts are still trying to decide if state and local laws went too far.

It may seem like a far-fetched scenario -- 500 men, including a smattering of women, living in tents and rotting wooden cabins under a bridge that links cosmopolitan Miami to tourist mecca Miami Beach. But it's not. Just three years ago -- after the Miami-Dade Commission passed its ordinance barring convicted sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet from schools, parks and even bus stops -- there were only three sex offenders forced to live under the bridge. They could find no affordable housing anywhere else that met the 2,500-foot buffer.

Population swells

Today, there are almost 70 felons.

At that rate, South Florida could find itself with hundreds under the bridge in a few years -- and that includes Broward, where a couple dozen cities have buffers, too. The effort to protect children is fast becoming a public-safety and health crisis -- another pox South Florida does not deserve.

Who's to blame?

• The Florida Legislature, which passed a 1,000-foot-buffer zone several years ago and then allowed cities and counties to go beyond that -- without making a distinction between true sexual predators and offenders who may have been convicted for other, lesser crimes, such as public exposure for urinating outdoors.

• The state Department of Corrections, which has been sending felons with their ankle GPS tracking devices to live on a state-owned spit of sand under the bridge once they finish serving their prison sentences.

• Local governments, which went too far with zones that are unworkable.

Buffer no protection

The American Civil Liberties Union is planning to file a lawsuit. Ronald L. Book, chairman of the Homeless Trust, now admits he was wrong to support the 2,500-foot buffer, and that a smaller buffer would still protect children and find a suitable place for felons to live without becoming a global embarassment for South Florida.

Buffers are wrongly based on the premise that there's a relationship between residency and recidivism. But there's no evidence that's so. The Iowa County Attorneys Association, prosecutors dealing with a 2,000-foot buffer in Des Moines, noted in 2006 that a buffer ''does not provide the protection that was originally intended,'' and that it's too costly to enforce.

The prosecutors noted, too, that most sex crimes against children are committed by relatives -- not strangers in a park.

Children deserve every protection, and loitering restrictions in parks and school zones are one way to keep predators at bay. GPS devices are another way to ensure felons are not straying.

But state and local governments can't continue to dump people under a bridge and pretend this community is safer for it.

The Miami Herald
6/9/2009

Dan, Dave and Rod, one viewpoint offered by a citizen to head you guys in the right direction.

Music wrote on 06/09/2009 12:58:16 PM:

The article also points that "GPS devices are another way to ensure felons are not straying". Unfortunately, GPS is not a solution to the problem either. The GPS system as it stands now is pretty ineffective and does not cover the state, there are plenty of "dead zones" where the signal can be lost and also, if an offender wants to remove the GPS bracelet, he/she get some scissors and away they go. Finally, who pays for the GPS if the offender does not have the means to (no job). It falls on the taxpayers.

Let's focus our attention on the repeat and/or violent sex offenders. Those individuals should be on the registry and they should be strictly monitored. Many (not all) of the offenders on the registry are consensual, one time offenders who are little risk to the general public.

If we can focus on the most dangerous offenders and predators, law enforcement can do a more effective job in monitoring and keeping tabs on those who are at the highest risk to re-offend.

Read more comments by MH readers here.

And thank you, Miami Herald.

Making Tracks

Per Florida folklore, when the animals make tracks, it's time to take notice.

When critters of all species travel together, it's to save their own hides from an approaching hurricane.

Hey.

Check who's headed for higher ground.

***

Gov. Charlie Crist has failed to offer the City of Miami a hand up out from under the Julia Tuttle Causeway as discussed by the Miami Herald's Fred Grimm, 6/4/09:

(...)

(City Commissioner) Sarnoff and City Manager Pete Hernandez rightly described the makeshift encampment as an unsanitary, festering mess. Except Sarnoff seems to think the solution is to make a disgraceful situation even worse.

To give him credit, however, he has managed an extraordinary feat, creating unlikely allies out of the ACLU and the Florida Department of Corrections.

Sarnoff's flawed reasoning began when he addressed the letter to a governor who would sooner give up his private plane than take on a politically risky problem like homeless sex offenders. For months now, Crist has been ignoring pleas from South Florida politicians to find a statewide alternative to these crazy local laws.

And Sarnoff and Hernandez surely know that Miami, of all places, can't go around busting homeless folk. The city was thoroughly whacked in U.S. District Court 13 years ago for regularly rounding up street people like dog catchers going after strays.

To resolve the embarrassing lawsuit, the city signed a consent decree pledging that Miami policemen would refrain from chasing homeless squatters off public property unless they were relocated to a proper shelter.

But Miami's homeless shelters -- and essentially all of South Florida's affordable housing -- fall within forbidden zones. Homeless shelters can't take in the Tuttle Causeway castaways.

Valerie Jonas, who worked on the original homeless lawsuit, made it clear Wednesday that the ACLU would charge back into federal court if the city cops violate the 1996 decree out on the Tuttle.

Besides, sex offenders stuck under the causeway aren't there by chance. DOC parole officers, unable to find suitable housing, told them that the middle of Biscayne Bay would be their only legal address in Miami-Dade County. They're loitering on state property because the state put them there. Which would make the city's next venture in federal court even more tenuous.

INSANE LAWS

A homeless camp in the middle of the bay, of course, is a mad, awful predicament. But the solution is to enact saner laws, replacing the over-reaching, insane hodgepodge of city and county residency restrictions that leave sex offenders with no place to live.

But rather than reform the residency ordinances that made them homeless, Sarnoff wants sex offenders busted for being homeless. It's no more a solution than Picnic #4 is a park.

Read Grimm's and reader commentary in full here.

***

NBC's To Catch a Predator. Canceled.

Controversy finally canceled Dateline NBC’s popular “To Catch a Predator” series. Although it wasn’t the only program to profit from the sordid world of sexual abuse, it was the first to transform audiences’ strange fascination with sexual crimes into a commodity.

To produce the show, Dateline NBC paid the controversial citizens’ organization Perverted-Justice.com, which recruits volunteers to pose as underage Internet users to lure online predators to pursue sexual liaisons. Dateline producers funded the organization, which then staged confrontations between the predators and reporter Chris Hansen, who grilled them before their arrests.

Although Dateline producers marketed the program as an investigation, which reports the news as it currently exists, they were, in fact, helping to produce the news themselves by spearheading antipredator initiatives alongside Perverted-Justice.

There lies one of the show’s significant moral blemishes: A journalist’s responsibility is to report the news, not create it and then cover it.

(...)

Read "The Real Cultural Predators" and reader commentary in full here.

***

And catching a slap as the eye of the storm slowly passes over....

A central player in the prosecution of an East Bay doctor arrested in a televised sex-predator sting in Petaluma has been ordered to appear before a Sonoma County judge to explain how crucial data on his computer apparently was lost.

Computer chat logs reflecting sexually tinged online conversations gathered by a decoy affiliated with a vigilante group are key to the prosecution of Dr. Maurice Wolin, 51, of Piedmont.

Wolin, along with 28 others, was arrested in August 2006 during a three-day sting law enforcement conducted in partnership with a group called Perverted Justice and the NBC-TV show "To Catch a Predator."

He is challenging the authenticity of the online chats police say he engaged in with the decoy, Xavier Von Erck, a founder of the online group. Von Erck and other online decoys posed as young teens who arranged to meet adult men ostensibly for sex.

Von Erck, who calls members of his group "evil vigilantes," testified that the chats were saved on his home computer hard drive. But after a judge late last year ordered that mirror images of the hard drive be turned over to defense attorneys, Von Erck told prosecutors his hard drive had crashed in February 2007 and the data was irretrievably lost.

(...)

"To date, no legally sufficient evidence of Mr. Von Erck's claim has been presented to this court," Judge Arthur Andy Wick wrote in an order made public this week.

Von Erck didn't mention the crash during his testimony at Wolin's lengthy preliminary hearing in September 2007.

Staebell said Von Erck only recently notified his investigators of the crash. He said the chats were also preserved on Perverted Justice's main proxy server at a remote location.

Wick tentatively ruled last month that prosecutors needed to provide a fuller explanation of Von Erck's claim and the current status of the hard drive. On Tuesday he issued a more specific, written ruling.

Wick ordered that Von Erck appear before the court June 15 and bring with him his computer hard drive "in whatever condition it is in."

(...)

Read the 6/4/2009 coverage by The Press Democrat in full here.
Read 5/22/2009 coverage here.

***

"It was like being in the eye of a hurricane. You'd wake up in a concert and think, Wow, how did I get here?"

--John Lennon

More from Ron and Lauren Book

As if attorney--lobbyist and Chair of the Homeless Trust Ron Book hasn't done enough through his hypocritical support of residency restrictions which exceed the state guidelines and as a result, have increased homelessness--forcing many South Florida citizens to live beneath the Julia Tuttle Causeway--now he and his daughter have embarked on a national campaign to promote child-safety zones that would keep sex offenders within 300 feet of parks, day cares and YMCAs, among other facilities.

Interesting concept, considering the law currently restricts those convicted of whatever is considered a sex offense these days from residing near these areas. Those who do, lived within proximity of these areas previous to the passage of the law and were therefore grandfathered.

Which I'm certain the Books didn't bother to expound upon during a 6/2/09 Orlando interview; however, both played the Fear card fairly well.

"Back home in Boca Raton, three children were sexually molested in a bathroom during the day," Lauren Book said. "And their parents said, 'Just go to the bathroom, I'm standing here.' It's not OK."

Ron Book said parents should never take their children for granted."Hug your children. Ask them what they're doing. Pay attention. Pay attention all the time, not just five minutes after this broadcast," he said.

Sounds like public restrooms will soon be off-limits as well.

Here's an idea, just for kicks and giggles. How about parents teaching their kids how to take care of themselves?

Something Ron, you obviously forgot to do.

Meanwhile, back in Broward, Mr. Book's fingers have dabbled in the pretrial release program.

Earlier this year, Public Defender Howard Finkelstein criticized the commission for approving changes to the program because they were sought by lobbyist and frequent campaign contributor Ron Book, who represents bail bondsmen.

''It is definitely keeping the jail population from going over unacceptable limits,'' Finkelstein said. ``This has never been about whether the program has been successful. It has only been about Broward county commissioners who wanted campaign contributions from Ron Book.''

How many dots need connection to determine one man's behind the scenes influence...and for profit?

Perhaps a law should be drafted to limit the number of clients a lobbyist can represent?

Or better yet.

Those restricted from use of a public facility--a library, a community center, a park or athletic field--no longer pay taxes to support the creation or maintenance of such.

Mr. Book's Principals
(yet another pun):
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
421 Aviation Way Frederick, MD 21701

Industry Code: 813910

Effective: 01/15/2009

Altria Client Services Inc. and its Affiliates
333 N Point Center E Ste 615 Alpharetta, GA 30022

Industry Code: 312221

Effective: 03/18/2009

AmTrust Insurance Services, Inc
901 NW 51st St Ste 100 Boca Raton, FL 33431

Industry Code: 524145

Effective: 01/15/2009

Anchor Towing, Inc
12555 Biscayne Blvd PMB 455 North Miami, FL 33138

Industry Code: 488410

Effective: 01/15/2009

Ashbritt
408 S Andrews Ave Ste 103 Pompano Beach, FL 33069

Industry Code: 562111

Effective: 01/15/2009

AT&T
150 S Monroe St Ste 400 Tallahassee, FL 32301

Industry Code: 517110

Effective: 02/10/2009

AutoNation, Inc
450 E Las Olas Blvd 12th Floor Ft Lauderdale, FL 33301

Industry Code: 522220

Effective: 01/15/2009

Bail Agents Independent League of Florida
424 S Congress Ave West Palm Beach, FL

Industry Code: 525990

Effective: 01/15/2009

BellSouth
150 S Monroe St Ste 400 Tallahassee, FL 32301 (Withdrawal Date: 02/10/2009)

Industry Code: 517110

Effective: 01/15/2009

Best Buddies International
100 SE 2nd St Ste 2200 Miami, FL 33131

Industry Code: 624110

Effective: 01/15/2009

Biscayne Bay Pilots
2911 Port Blvd Miami, FL 33132

Industry Code: 485991

Effective: 01/15/2009

Broward County
115 S Andrews Ave Ft Lauderdale, FL 33301

Industry Code: 921110

Effective: 01/15/2009

Broward County Clerk of Courts
201 SE 6th St Ft Lauderdale, FL 33301

Industry Code: 922110

Effective: 03/02/2009

Charlie Ladd
Broward Barron Inc 2900 University Dr Coral Springs, FL 33065

Industry Code: 236220

Effective: 01/15/2009

Children's Home Society
1485 S Semoran Blvd Ste 1448 Winter Park, FL 32792

Industry Code: 624110

Effective: 01/15/2009

City of Aventura
19200 W Country Club Dr Aventura, FL 33180

Industry Code: 921190

Effective: 01/15/2009

City of Cooper City
9090 SW 50th Place Cooper City, FL 33329-0910

Industry Code: 921190

Effective: 01/15/2009

City of Hallandale Beach
400 S Federal Hwy Hallandale Beach, FL 33009

Industry Code: 921190

Effective: 03/05/2009

City of Lauderdale Lakes
4300 NW 36 St Lauderdale Lakes, FL 33319

Industry Code: 921190

Effective: 01/15/2009

City of Miami
3500 Pan American Dr Miami, FL 33130

Industry Code: 921190

Effective: 01/15/2009

City of Miramar
2300 Civic Center Place Miramar, FL 33025

Industry Code: 921190

Effective: 01/15/2009

City of North Miami
776 NE 125th St North Miami, FL 33161

Industry Code: 921190

Effective: 01/15/2009

City of North Miami Beach
17011 NE 19th Ave North Miami Beach, FL 33162

Industry Code: 921190

Effective: 01/15/2009

City of Palm Bay
120 Malabar Rd Palm Bay, FL 32907

Industry Code: 921120

Effective: 01/15/2009

City of Pinellas Park
5141 78th Ave Pinellas Park, FL 33781

Industry Code: 921190

Effective: 01/15/2009

City of Sunny Isles Beach
18070 Collins Ave Sunny Isles Beach, FL 33160

Industry Code: 921190

Effective: 01/15/2009

City of Sunrise
777 Sawgrass Corporate Pkwy Sunrise, FL 33325

Industry Code: 921190

Effective: 01/15/2009

City of Tallahassee
300 S Adams St Tallahassee, FL 32301

Industry Code: 921120

Effective: 01/15/2009

City of Tamarac
7525 NW 88 Ave Tamarac, FL 33321

Industry Code: 921190

Effective: 01/15/2009

City of West Palm Beach
200 2nd St 5th Floor West Palm Beach, FL 33401

Industry Code: 921190

Effective: 01/15/2009

Consolidated Credit Counseling Services, Inc
5701 W Sunrise Blvd Ft Lauderdale, FL 33313

Industry Code: 541990

Effective: 03/12/2009

Diabetes Research Institute Foundation, Inc
3440 Hollywood Blvd Ste 100 Hollywood, FL 33021

Industry Code: 813211

Effective: 01/15/2009

Dolphins Stadium
2269 Dan Marino Blvd Miami Gardens, FL 33056

Industry Code: 711219

Effective: 01/15/2009

Florida Apartment Association
1133 W Morse Blvd Ste 201 Winter Park, FL 32789

Industry Code: 531110

Effective: 01/15/2009

Florida Association of Forensic Professionals
14000 E Palomino Dr Southwest Ranches, FL 33330

Industry Code: 813920

Effective: 01/15/2009

Florida Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, Inc
2475 Apalachee Pky Ste 205 Tallahassee, FL 32301

Industry Code: 813319

Effective: 01/15/2009

Florida Children's Services Council, Inc
216 S Monroe St Tallahassee, FL 32301

Industry Code: 624110

Effective: 01/15/2009

Florida Heart Research Institute
4770 Biscayne Blvd Ste 500 Miami, FL 33137

Industry Code: 541771

Effective: 03/02/2009

Florida Power & Light Company
215 S Monroe St Ste 810 Tallahassee, FL 32301

Industry Code: 221122

Effective: 01/15/2009

Florida Regional Councils Association
2999 NE 191st St PH6 Aventura, FL 33180

Industry Code: 813990

Effective: 01/15/2009

Florida WIC Grocers Association
8425 NW 29th St Miami, FL 33122

Industry Code: 445110

Effective: 01/15/2009

Florida Yacht Brokers Association
PO Box 460044 Ft Lauderdale, FL 33346

Industry Code: 441222

Effective: 03/10/2009

GEO Group, Inc, The
621 NW 53rd St Ste 700 Boca Raton, FL 33487

Industry Code: 922140

Effective: 04/07/2009

Gold Giant Internet, LLC
1001 Broken Sound Pky Ste C Boca Raton, FL 33486

Industry Code: 423940

Effective: 03/02/2009

Grant Street Group
1800 Allegheny Bldg 429 Forbes Ave Pittsburgh, PA 15219

Industry Code: 541511

Effective: 02/02/2009

Health Choice Network
9064 NW 13 Terrace Miami, FL 33172

Industry Code: 621491

Effective: 01/15/2009

Indian River County
1840 25th St Vero Beach, FL 32960-3365

Industry Code: 521190

Effective: 01/15/2009

Interior Design Associations Foundation
250 Royal Ct Delray Beach, FL 33444

Industry Code: 813920

Effective: 01/15/2009

Lawrence Group, The
4007 Hillsboro Rd Nashville, TN 37215

Industry Code: 111998

Effective: 01/23/2009

Maefield Development
250 E 96 St Ste 580 Indianapolis, IN 46240

Industry Code: 236220

Effective: 01/15/2009

Merrill-Stevens
1270 NW 11th St Miami, FL 33125

Industry Code: 336611

Effective: 01/15/2009

Miami Beach Community Health Center
710 Alton Rd Miami Beach, FL 33139

Industry Code: 621498

Effective: 01/15/2009

Miami Project/Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis
Lois Pope Life Center 1095 NW 14th Terrace Miami, FL 33136

Industry Code: 541710

Effective: 01/15/2009

Miami-Dade County
111 NW 1st St Ste 1032 Miami, FL 33128

Industry Code: 921140

Effective: 01/15/2009

Miami-Dade County Public Schools
1450 NE 2 Ave Miami, FL 33132

Industry Code: 611110

Effective: 01/15/2009

Mount Sinai Medical Center
4300 Alton Rd Miami, FL 33140

Industry Code: 621493

Effective: 01/15/2009

Neptune Wholesale, Inc
768 E Dania Beach Blvd Dania, FL 33004

Industry Code: 424990

Effective: 01/15/2009

New Horizons Community Mental Health Center, Inc
1313 NW 36th St Ste 400 Miami, FL 33142

Industry Code: 621112

Effective: 01/15/2009

Our Kids of Miami-Dade/Monroe, Inc
Rohde Bldg 401 NW 2nd Ave S-212 Miami, FL 33128

Industry Code: 624110

Effective: 01/15/2009

Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners
315 Court St Clearwater, FL 33756

Industry Code: 921120

Effective: 01/15/2009

Public Health Trust-Jackson Memorial Hospital
1611 NW 12th Ave Miami, FL 33136

Industry Code: 621493

Effective: 01/15/2009

Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic Florida
6704 SW 80th St Miami, FL 33143

Industry Code: 611710

Effective: 01/15/2009

Republic Services, Inc
751 NW 31st Ave Ft Lauderdale, FL 33311

Industry Code: 562111

Effective: 01/28/2009

South Broward Hospital District
1131 N 35th Ave Hollywood, FL 33021

Industry Code: 921190

Effective: 01/15/2009

Spectrum Programs & Miami Behavioral Health Center
11031 NE 6th Ave Miami, FL 33161

Industry Code: 621112

Effective: 01/15/2009

Teva Pharmaceuticals, USA
444 N Capitol St NW Ste 399 Rogers, AR 72758

Industry Code: 325412

Effective: 01/15/2009

Turnberry Associates
19501 Biscayne Blvd Ste 400 Aventura, FL 33180

Industry Code: 531312

Effective: 03/02/2009

University of Miami
Ashe Administration Bldg Rm 230 Coral Gables, FL 33146

Industry Code: 611310

Effective: 01/15/2009

Vehicle Production Group
1425 Brickell Ave Ste 54-E Miami, FL 33133

Industry Code: 336111

Effective: 03/25/2009

Village of Bal Harbour
655 96th St Bal Harbour, FL 33154

Industry Code: 921190

Effective: 01/15/2009

Village of Palmetto Bay
8950 SW 152nd St Palmetto Bay, FL 33157

Industry Code: 921190

Effective: 01/15/2009

Village of Pinecrest
12645 Pinecrest Pky Pinecrest, FL 33156

Industry Code: 921190

Effective: 01/15/2009

Village of Royal Palm Beach
Royal Palm Beach Blvd Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411

Industry Code: 921190

Effective: 01/15/2009

Vitas Healthcare Corporation
100 S Biscayne Blvd 15th Floor Miami, FL 33132-2304

Industry Code: 621610

Effective: 01/15/2009

Wal-Mart
1505 Ft Clarke Blvd #13-202 Gainesville, FL 32606

Industry Code: 452990

Effective: 01/15/2009

West Flagler Kennel Club, Inc
401 NW 38th Ct Miami, FL 33126

Industry Code: 711212

Effective: 01/15/2009

Westchester General Hospital
2500 SW 75 Ave Miami, FL 33155

Industry Code: 621493

Effective: 01/15/2009

White Rock Quarries
101 Sansbury's Way West Palm Beach, FL 33411

Industry Code: 212312

Effective: 01/15/2009