"What we do to sex offenders these days is we effectively make them pariahs," said University of Michigan law professor J.J. Prescott, who studies post release sex-offender laws. "And pariahs … really have nothing to lose."
http://web.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/new-pasco-ordinance-will-push-sex-offenders-further-away-could-it-also/2264494
New Pasco ordinance will push sex offenders farther away; could it also push them to re-offend?
- By Josh Solomon, Times Staff Writer
Sunday, February 7, 2016 8:41pm
Earl Reyes Villagomeza, 31, was forced to leave his family’s home in Lutz.
Earl Reyes Villagomeza's sex offender designation follows him everywhere, and now, in Pasco County, might make him homeless.
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Last year, the 31-year-old pleaded guilty to inappropriately touching a teenage girl. So, he is subject to an ordinance adopted by the Pasco County Commission last year that bars newly registered sex offenders whose victims were younger than 16 from living within 2,500 feet of a child care facility, library, playground, park or a school.
That's more than double the state's 1,000-foot restriction. The rule bars those sex offenders from living in 48 percent of Pasco County — basically all of its cities and most of its suburbs.
The home of Villagomeza's parents complies with state law, but it violates Pasco's new ordinance. Unable to legally live near his family, he's forced to reside in a Hillsborough County motel — but his money is running out.
His attorney, Patrick Leduc, is suing to overturn Pasco's law. He believes that if the law stands, it will start a domino effect. Governments across Tampa Bay will pass their own harsh restrictions to avoid the wave of sex offenders who will be forced to move.
Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore, who proposed the ordinance, said it will keep children safe. He's not concerned about how it will affect sex offenders.
"These people are the worst of the worst," Moore said. "These people did it to themselves. Society owes them nothing."
Some experts, however, are skeptical Pasco's ordinance will improve public safety. Instead, they warn that by making the lives of sex offenders even harder, it will derail their rehabilitation. It could make them more likely to find new victims — not less.
"What we do to sex offenders these days is we effectively make them pariahs," said University of Michigan law professor J.J. Prescott, who studies post release sex-offender laws. "And pariahs … really have nothing to lose."
Villagomeza was arrested months after his crimes took place in 2014.
In April 2015, Pasco passed its new sex offender ordinance. In September 2015, Villagomeza pleaded guilty to two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation in Hillsborough Circuit Court. By doing so, he avoided jail time in exchange for two years of community control, or house arrest, followed by eight years of probation.
When Villagomeza walked out of the courtroom, he was told he could no longer live with his parents in their home on the Pasco side of Lutz, where he had lived for 28 years.
A judge gave him 60 days to find a place in Pasco near his family. He couldn't. So, in December, he moved into a motel by the Florida State Fairgrounds. Leduc said his client would not comment to the Tampa Bay Times.
Pasco sheriff's Detective Scott Anderson of the agency's sex offender unit said there's plenty of affordable housing in the county that complies with the new rule. He said offenders can legally live in certain areas around Dade City, Shady Hills, Wesley Chapel and Zephyrhills.
The detective said if offenders have trouble finding a legal place to live in Pasco, his agency can point them toward neighborhoods such as Angus Valley or connect them with a landlord who rents to sex offenders.
Anderson pointed the Times to landlord Randy Young, 60, of Daytona Beach, who is also a sex offender. Young owns six houses near Dade City that comply with the new law and rents individual rooms to sex offenders. Each house fits three people, he said, and there are several vacancies.
"If they're looking for a place to stay," Anderson said, "we can tell them somewhere."
Pasco's restrictive new sex-offender ordinance imposes another buffer that the state does not: It bars registrants from loitering within 300 feet of "child safety zones," including libraries, public beaches, businesses that cater to kids and 4,400 school bus stops.
Violating the ordinance could result in fines of up to $500 a day. A judge could order the offender to comply or be held in contempt and jailed.
There are 919 sex offenders in Pasco County, but only 50 to 60 are subject to the new residency restriction. The rest either didn't victimize someone under the age of 16 or their addresses were grandfathered in. However, if those offenders move or violate their probation, they will be subject to the new restriction. It will also apply to new offenders, so the number of offenders affected will only grow.
Some experts say there's little evidence that residency restrictions keep kids safe and offenders in check. Instead, they argue, restrictions could promote recidivism.
Florida State University law professor Wayne Logan, who specializes in sex offender registration and sentencing, said the harder it is to find a home, the harder it is to find a job.
"And we know how holding a job is one important part of an individual remaining a law-abiding citizen," Logan said.
The county commissioner who proposed the ordinance dismissed that concern.
"I think that's ridiculous," Moore said. "People travel far to go to work sometimes. It's a reality, we all have to do it."
Moore added: "I'm not sure how many people are going to hire convicted sex offenders."
Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco, who supported the ordinance, echoed Moore's sentiment.
"There are two choices: You're either going to defend sex predators, who are likely to reoffend, or you're going to fight to protect our children and those most vulnerable," Nocco said in an email.
Prescott, the University of Michigan law professor, said those attitudes can be counterproductive. He said residency requirements often force them to live in "sex offender ghettos" far from their families — and thus the support systems that could keep them from reoffending.
"The big disconnect is these policymakers believe you can do anything to sex offenders, make their lives more miserable," Prescott said, "and that won't make them more dangerous."
In 2009, Miami-Dade County made national news when it passed a 2,500-foot residency rule that forced sex offenders to live in a tent city underneath a highway overpass.
Those restrictions have been upheld by an appellate court that ruled state sex offender laws don't prevent counties and municipalities from imposing their own.
Neither Hernando or Pinellas counties nor St. Petersburg or Tampa have passed rules governing sex offenders. Hillsborough has passed a limited number of restrictions, such as prohibiting sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of senior centers, and barring offenders from living with each other.
Leduc, Villagomeza's attorney, said if his challenge fails and Pasco's ordinance stands, he believes other bay area counties will follow suit. They'll do so to avoid becoming safe havens for the region's sex offenders, who could suddenly find themselves transients.
Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender Bob Dillinger said research shows Pasco's new rule won't work. And he's not sure whether those who pass such laws care if they work.
"There's a cynical group among lawyers that believe this is just an attempt to drive them out — make them somebody else's problem — as opposed to addressing the problem," he said.
He also said this: "It might be politically effective, but it's not statistically effective."
