Flagler County FL Sheriff Rick Staly is mad that the courts ruled in favor of a registered person

This dumb hick sheriff is running a large part of his reelection campaign on Predator Panic. This article isn't an outlier; he regularly refers to all registered persons as "perverts" even in official notices from the Sheriff's office.

http://www.flaglersheriff.com/cmsfiles/2020-79-Man-Arrested-for-Thirty-Counts-of-Possession-of-Child-Pornography-final.pdf

Our proactive Cybercrimes Unit did a great job and exactly why we started the unit just a few months ago,” Sheriff Rick Staly said. “Throughout this sick and disturbing investigation, Detective Lashbrook built a strong case against this pervert."

https://www.news-journalonline.com/opinion/20200508/donrsquot-let-sex-offenders-hide-from-registration--sheriff-rick-staly

Don’t let sex offenders hide from registration | SHERIFF RICK STALY

For years, the state of Florida has required convicted sex offenders by law to register when they move into and live in your neighborhood. This statutory provision has served Floridians well by enabling both law enforcement and citizens to know about the presence and location of convicted sex offenders in their communities. Unfortunately, a newly discovered legal loophole is being exploited by convicted sex offenders and their defense attorneys to avoid registering when they move into Florida communities.

Recently, the 2nd District Court of Appeals considered the case of a convicted sex offender in Hillsborough County who had failed to register after being released from the Florida Department of Corrections after completing his prison sentence. The offender had been sentenced to 15 years and fined $10,000. He and his defense attorney’s claimed that under the law, as it is currently written, he did not need to register since he had not completed his sentence. His sentence included both incarceration for 15 years in state prison and payment of a $10,000 fine. He served the time but never paid the fine and likely won’t. Using a creative defense his attorney exploited a loophole. The appellate court, looking at the literal language of the law and not the intent of the law, agreed with the defense and the court held the convicted sex offender did not have to register as a sex offender because he never “completed his sentence” when he failed to pay the $10,000 fine.

The intent of the current law is clear – sex offenders must register with the local sheriff. However, without action, the crazy result of this court ruling is sex offenders across Florida could avoid registering their presence in our neighborhoods as long as they never pay their fines. This is a double travesty of justice – they are legally allowed to hide who they are and where they live if they don’t pay their fines, which most Department of Corrections offenders do not pay up. This ruling puts our communities and children at risk by allowing convicted sex offenders to roam our communities unregistered and unknown to law enforcement and neighbors. This is totally unacceptable and handcuffs law enforcement from keeping sex offenders from preying on communities.

As sheriff, I have contacted the Florida Sheriff’s Association and our local representatives, State Sen. Travis Hutson and State Rep. Paul Renner so we can fix the law. All have agreed this fix needs to happen as soon as possible and I pledge to do everything I can to do just that. I am asking our community and our Florida lawmakers to join us in returning the law to its original intent. With this needed change, law enforcement and citizens will always have the opportunity to know about convicted sex offenders in their community. This reform law would help ensure a safer Florida for our children and families and hold sex offenders accountable for their criminal deviant behavior.

Staly is the sheriff of Flagler County.