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March 25, 2005
Here, sex offenders always in plain sight
The property manager of Plantation of Carrollwood posts the photos and addresses of convicts living there.
CARROLLWOOD, FL - Within hours after a convicted sex offender was arrested last week on charges of kidnapping, raping and killing a 9-year-old girl in Citrus County, Tom Jones was updating the bulletin board in Plantation of Carrollwood.
Homeowners in Plantation can easily pay a visit to the management office to find out if registered sex offenders are living on their streets or anywhere in the neighborhood where their children might come into contact with them.
Jones, the property manager, has for years maintained a bulletin board at the front entrance to the management office that resembles the FBI's Most Wanted list, where he routinely posts the mug shots and home addresses of all registered sex offenders living in the planned development.
"We do have over a thousand children in this community and several recreational facilities," Jones said. "You never know."
People's interest in the bulletin board has intensified recently after the murder of Jessica Marie Lunsford and the arrest of John Evander Couey, a 46-year-old convicted sex offender who sheriff's officials say confessed to taking Jessica from her home and killing her.
There are now five people on Plantation's bulletin board. Jones says he visits the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's sex offender Web site each month to add new faces or to delete old ones who have moved out of Plantation.
Plantation is believed to be the only community in this area that regularly posts the pictures and addresses of sex offenders in a common area.
Several parents have called Jones' office demanding to know why the police do not make an extra effort to let people know about sex offenders in neighborhoods. Jones said one parent even sent her 12-year-old daughter to the management office "to find out about the rapists" in Plantation.
The 1,832-home community has a history of dealing with residents who are sex offenders.
"Most of them do not present a problem," Jones said. "However, we have had problems with a couple of them and we've worked with the Sheriff's Office to make sure they follow the conditions of their parole or they're put back in jail."
In one case years ago, sheriff's deputies investigated a convicted sex offender who lived in Plantation after complaints that he was stalking children at a bus stop in the community and at Cannella Elementary School. Jones said the man was eventually arrested on the school's property.
Plantation started posting the photographs and addresses of sex offenders when the Boys & Girls Club of Tampa Bay was operating a program there.
"Kids were complaining about grown men hanging around in the play area," Jones said. "Obviously, the parents brought that to our attention."
Jones started posting photographs of known sex offenders at the Boys & Girls Club and inside the main management office. The Boys & Girls Club program moved out of Plantation in May 2002.
The sex offender bulletin board in Plantation's main building, however, is here to stay.
"It works well in our community," Jones said. "The residents can take whatever actions they feel appropriate if they have children they feel may be affected by this. At least they are aware of it.
"It's a passive way to balance between the rights of individuals who are registered sex offenders and the rights of citizens to know it."
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement Sexual Predator/Offender Registry
(FDLE's) Web site on sexual offenders and sexual predators can be accessed at: www3.fdle.state.fl.us/sexual_predators Offenders' names, pictures, addresses and convictions are on the list, which can be searched by using names, cities, counties, ZIP codes and addresses.
Posted by Nealus at March 25, 2005 01:29 PM
