County Publishes List of over 500 Sex Offenders

MARION COUNTY, Fla. — The Marion County Sheriff’s Office has put together an unusual publication. A newspaper filled with registered sex offenders.The sheriff is using it to warn homeowners about the sex offenders in their neighborhoods. Much of that information is already online on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s website.But the sheriff’s office took it up a notch.All 509 registered sex offenders and predators living in Marion County are in the newspaper and for the 5th straight year, they printed 100,000 copies.Matthew, 10, lives on a Summerfield block full of friendly neighbors. But there are some houses he never, ever goes near; the homes of registered sex offenders.”So, you stay away from them?” WFTV reporter Berndt Petersen asked.”Yeah.” Matthew replied. “Do your friends stay away from those places too?” Petersen asked.”Yeah.” He replied.The sheriff’s office is helping neighbors identify them the homes. They’re distributing 100,000 copies of a 40-page newspaper that lists the names and addresses of every offender and predator living in Marion County.”Not only let the citizens know, but let the offenders know that we are holding them accountable,” Lt. Chris Vorisek of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said.Offenders James Martin and Peter Czaplicki share a house. After neighbor Timothy Johnson received one of the newspapers, he decided to warn the entire community.”Well, I figured if it helped one kid stay safe, I thought that would be the right thing to do,” Johnson said.Johnson says several predators live in the area and folks are spreading the word.”There was a child at my son’s bus stop who ran up to me and said we have a sex offender living in the neighborhood. The child knew before I did,” said Cathy, a parent.That’s how Matthew found out and he’s following his parents’ instructions to “stay away.””Do they ever try to talk to you?” Petersen asked. “Oh, if they do, then we know better to run away and scream,” Matthew replied.The newspapers cost $18,000 to print, but it didn’t cost taxpayers a dime. It was paid for with money from illegal drug seizures.Eyewitness News learned that of the 500 offenders in the newspaper, only 80 of them were convicted in Marion County. The rest moved there from outside the county or outside the state.

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This story is pretty interesting to say the least. The fact that they thought it was plausible to actually print this out is appalling. I’m not upset with it, I’m shocked as to why they feel the need to do so. Trust me, I’m all for publishing the whereabouts of Sex Offenders/Predators in our communities. However, I see a bigger picture. I want to know why they are out of prison to begin with. Can anyone tell me why they are released so soon, only to attack again? There is a story running right now in Cleveland regarding a man who is labeled as a “serial killer/rapist” and he is also being said to have been released after serving 15 years in prison from raping and choking a young woman back in 1998. You’ve probably heard of his name, Anthony Sowell age 50, African American. Why was this man released back into the community? He proved many years ago that he could not be trusted, and now we see in retrospect that he should not have been released without conditions. He has since then had his home searched and it was discovered that he had over 15 bodies of young women buried around his property. Whose fault is this?

I don’t see anything wrong with publishing this information to “alert and warn” local residents. But isn’t that sort of like, letting loose a Lion into the community and warning and alerting the public about it’s existence? Now read this carefully, If we have animals in our community on the loose, what usually happens? An animal “trapper” of some nature typically comes out and removes the “animal” from the neighborhood where it is found. Why don’t we have “trappers” who come out and remove any unwanted humans who are animal in nature from our communities? Why are the residents of the community left to fend for themselves? They’ve handed you a map of the “danger zones/hot spots” and you’re on your own and left to your own device of avoidance. Something does not seem right about that. Why do we have a mayor and a governor? Why do we pay them again if we’re our own Police and Predator/Offender task force?

There is something clearly wrong with this. Now I will add also, I find it amusing that Orlando, Florida has not done this, and perhaps if it had listed all of the offenders in Orlando, The Orlando Sentinel would be out of business as I don’t think their is enough Ink nor paper to list of these. Orlando Florida is a cesspool of Predators and Pedophiles. Once again, I have no problem with the list, but is this the best thing they can do to help out their citizens? Is this all there is to assist in this? Let me take you some place else for a moment.

Visualize this, in your community of 1,000 people, there are at least 2 Pedophiles on each street. You have received the list giving you the names, the addresses, and the nature of the crimes that your pedophiles have committed. You’ve talked to your children about “safety”. You’ve told your children about “avoidance”. Now what are you waiting for? Can you truly sit inside your house and allow your child to play freely in the streets where you reside and pay the city to keep clean? Can you trust that your child will follow your instructions and avoid the pervert? Can you trust the pervert to avoid your child? Will you let your child hang out with friends? Will you let your child walk home from school with friends or alone?  Most of you won’t be able to let your child do any of these things. So it seems to me that you’ve gotten a bad deal. You’ve purchased your home in which you have no freedom, your child is living in fear for their safety, and you cannot enjoy the community as a whole because what lives amongst you is something unimaginable to you and the thoughts that the freak down the street may actually break the rules and come after your child are constantly creeping in your mind. Is this what you’re paying for?

I hope not. I hope that this is not what we bargained for. We deserve better than this. I deserve better than to have to share my community with Pedophiles and Rapists. When we say the term clean the streets, it should also include this. Clean our streets from these types.