Is de-listing sex offenders even possible? Lawsuit claims it is
Maybe we should call it a war between sex offender advocates?
Strange lawsuit filed in a local federal court: A Texas-based service that claims to help sexual offenders get off the state registry that limits where they can live and work is suing a Boynton Beach nonprofit that wants to loosen registry rules.
“I haven’t seen the lawsuit yet and I’ve not been served, so I don’t know,” said Gail Colletta, founder of the Florida Action Committee, defendant in the court action filed last week.
FAC was created by Colletta after her son was convicted of online sex crimes, and she wants to reform the state’s sexual offenders laws and registries.
And now, the group is getting sued for defamation by the Houston-based clearmycase.com, a for-profit company that claims it can help de-register Florida’s sex offenders.
In the paperwork, clearmycase.com takes umbrage to allegedly being called “a scam” on the Florida Action Committee’s website.
In February, Florida Action Committee’s website warned: “We have been informed that a company out of Texas called CLEARMYCASE.COM has been soliciting individuals on the Florida [sex offender] Registry claiming they might be able to help them ‘deregister’ and charging a $100 “consultation fee. Please do not fall for this scam.”
“We are not [a scam],” says owner John Bordelon.
The company charges between $4,500 and $9,800 for its services if they are successful in getting a sex offender off the registry, says Bordelon says.
“But we refuse more than 60 percent of the business we could get,” he said. “Very few individuals qualify to be taken off the list, and we only accept to help those who do.”
In some cases, Bordelon says, it takes 15 to 25 years post-conviction for sex offenders to become eligible.
While it might be difficult, “it’s not impossible” to be de-registered, Bordelon said.
FAC attorney Ron Kleiner called the lawsuit “baseless” and “frivolous” and accused Bordelon’s company of giving false hope to people branded sex offenders.
“I defy them from showing us one single person they got de-listed,” Kleiner said.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/jose-lambiet/article178124106.html#storylink=cpy
By JOSE LAMBIET
October 10, 2017 4:59 PM