Posted on 04/23/2005 8:09:09 PM PDT by MisterRepublican
TALLAHASSEE — State law enforcement officials said Thursday they alerted the Citrus County Sheriff's Office six months ago of potentially missing sexual offenders, including the man charged this month with abducting and murdering Jessica Lunsford.
But officials at the sheriff's office said Friday they could not verify whether they ever received the letter. It required them to verify the addresses of 58 sexual predators or offenders in the county who had possibly violated their sexual offender registration requirements.
If the system had worked correctly, John Couey might have been arrested in November and could have been behind bars at the time when he is accused of raping the 9-year-old girl and then burying her alive about 150 yards from her home. Jessica was abducted Feb. 23 from her bedroom in Homosassa in Citrus County.
"Possibly. I can't say that with certainty but I suppose it's at least a possibility," Citrus County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Gail Tierney said Friday.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Guy Tunnell sent letters to Citrus County Sheriff Jeffrey Dawsy, other sheriffs and some police chiefs on Nov. 15 last year as part of an annual mailing concerning sexual offenders and predators, an FDLE spokeswoman said. FDLE sends similar letters and lists quarterly just for sexual predators.
"Addresses for these offenders and predators require verification at this time. Address verifications on these subjects may be more than 1 year overdue," the letter addressed to Dawsy reads.
Sexual offenders are required to notify the local sheriff or FDLE within 48 hours of changing their address or may be arrested and face a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
(Excerpt) Read more at palmbeachpost.com ...
They were too busy writing speeding tickets for the governor.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Guy Tunnell sent letters to Citrus County Sheriff ...
Maybe the 'commissioner' ought to have sent out warrants for the arrests of the 'missing' sex offenders.
Was the governor speeding?
lawsuit
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