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...[ESPN Sports cable tv founder and defendant,] Rasmussen used to be booked as a public speaker but now cannot get work.

Prior scheduled speaking engagements were canceled after the charges were filed.

"The punishment is huge," Berry said.[...] He [Rasmussen] now lives in New Jersey and will be permitted to report to Collier County Probation Department through the mail if the probation department wants to handle his reporting in that manner.

...It was [defendant] Hardy's idea to donate 800 hours of community service rather than serve four years probation and eight months of house arrest, which was the previously agreed-upon plea deal.

Am I wrong to feel outraged by this non-existent "punishment" for RACKETEERING? Why don't we just all admit at the onset that for white collar crime, the punishment is: NONE.

True, you may get your public speaking engagements cancelled -- but, hey, you also get to avoid any and all jail time, and decide you don't even want house arrest, AND you can serve your "probation" in any state you choose to live.

What a total and pathetic joke this "punishment" for racketeering in this scheme is to me. Next time, let's save taxpayer money and just say at the onset:

HEY, SINCE THE "PUNISHMENT" FOR WHITE COLLAR CRIME IS NOTHING, FORGET THE TRIAL, PLEAD GUILTY, NO PUNISHMENT, AND THAT'S IT! (Because that's it is anyway.)

I meant to type: (Because that's it anyway.)

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the Rev. David Mallory's Campus of Care for the homeless in East Naples.

What the heck is this? When I left Naples in '88, there wasn't a single homeless person in town. Now they're inviting them in? What's happened to the crime rate? I seriously want to know as one of my New Years resolutions is to get down to Naples and decide whether I want to move back.

As for rich retired racketeers, Naples has always had its share but I think most get tossed in jail. And when I was there, a son of the Benson family of Benson & Hedges was convicted of murdering the rest of his family by blowing up their car in the driveway so he could be the sole heir. Nice people.

Senior Circuit Judge Stephen Dakan

??????Is he a holdover from the Childs' era????