Ron Book's DUI case is set for jury trial February 18, 2020

As confirmed by the Broward County Clerk of Courts.

Ron Book and his Miami-Dade cronies spend Homelessness Awareness Week by evicting homeless folks from camp

"Helping the homeless", Miami-style.

https://www.local10.com/news/2019/11/19/miami-dade-county-closing-down-homeless-camp-while-promoting-awareness-week/

Miami-Dade County closing down homeless camp while promoting awareness week
Homeless camp on stretch of 37th Avenue being shut by county

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A group of people living in a Miami homeless camp is being told to leave. 

This is happening in the middle of Homeless Awareness Week. 

Some of those people built shelter out of whatever they could find.

Others are living in their cars, and some in makeshift trailers.

The homeless camp is located on a stretch of Northwest 37th Avenue in Miami.

It's now so large that the county is deeming it a sanitary nuisance and a safety issue, sending cease and desist notices to dozens who call the street home.

The order comes into effect as the county is promoting its hunger and homelessness awareness week, asking the public to be more considerate of residents without roofs over their heads.

Homeless advocate and Pastor Frank Diaz says most of the men living at the camp are registered sex offenders who have virtually nowhere to go.

"Everyone considers this a hot potato," Diaz said.

According to Diaz, unless the mayor and county officials can help these people find a permanent place to live, they’re not just going to go away.

"For the last six months, I’ve been trying to sit down with the mayor, but apparently he’s very busy," Diaz said.

Lauren Book's legacy in Miami-Dade continues as homeless registrants are forced to move again

Here we go again. Lauren Book hasn't lived in Miami-Dade County for years but the Hitler-esque bill named in her "honor" continues to be an international embarrassment. Now, I recognize that some readers don't care about folks on the sex offense registry, but it is a proven fact that lack of housing promotes crime. This means the Books are putting your families at risk for their personal quest for vengeance.

Just think about how much time, energy, and taxpayer dollars go towards all of this harassment.

Brother of Parkland shooting victim is DISGUSTED by Florida State Senator Lauren Book

https://www.foxnews.com/media/parkland-shooting-sheriff-israel-reinstatement

“Something I’m so disgusted about the last few days is Florida Sen. Lauren Book, someone who has served on the MSD commission. She knew all the facts, watched my sister get murdered, but still voted to reinstate Sheriff Israel. She sold out the community of Broward county and put our children at risk. I'm completely disgusted with Florida Senator Lauren Book.”

“Gary Farmer, Perry Thurston, Oscar Braynon, they were laughing. They were eating candy while these parents are begging them, ‘Please vote in our favor. Please vote in the interest of Broward County.' But to these Broward senators, it was just a joke.”

"And Lauren Book is the worst out of all of them, because she sat on that commission, and she watched these people get shot, she watched these children die. But simply sold out her community for her own political ambition, and that's just something that makes my stomach sick. I'm up here in Tallahassee tying to honor my sister, and this girl had the audacity to just go behind our backs and vote against the community of Broward County."

These are the words of Hunter Pollack, brother of Parkland shooting victim Meadow Pollack, who was among the 17 murdered in last year's Parkland shooting. He is also among those who feels betrayed by Lauren Book.

I hate to put it this way, but maybe the Parkland shooting victims would have gotten all of Lauren Book's attention if they were sexual abuse victims rather than murder victims, because that is literally all Lauren Book knows.

And I'm not trying to sound harsh, but has any of the Parkland shooting victims' families investigated Lauren Book? It isn't like the link between Lauren Book and Scott Israel was that well hidden. Lauren Book is the daughter of Ron Book, Florida's most powerful lobbyist. Lauren Book's charity is the same address as her dad's firm. There's literally nothing Lauren does on a professional level without daddy Ron, not even her charity (run by Ron).

It is sad it took this to wake folks up. But here's the problem-- who will run against Lauren Book? She won both her elections by default. That does NOT mean this will be an easy defeat. Read this blog. I covered how her home-based PAC holds nearly a million dollars for her reelection. She has big money on her side. Please, folks, do your research. Read this blog. I've been posting this stuff for a reason. Use it for good and put an end to Senator Book's corruption!

Parkland school shooting victims are shocked that Senator Lauren Book betrayed them. I'm not shocked

C'mon, Parkland shooting victims, y'all should've known this was coming. Oh, in case you don't know, that's daddy Ron Book meeting with ex-sheriff Scott Israel.

https://www.local10.com/news/politics/book-among-state-senators-who-voted-to-recommend-reinstating-israel-as-sheriff

Book among state senators who voted to recommend reinstating Israel as sheriff
Lawmaker's vote surprises some Parkland parents
By Peter Burke - Local10.com Managing Editor, Roy Ramos - Reporter
Posted: 5:29 PM, October 22, 2019

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A state senator from South Florida who has stood with Parkland parents since the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School explained Tuesday why she voted to reinstate suspended Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.

Gov. Ron DeSantis removed Israel from office in January, citing "neglect of duty and incompetence."
The Florida Senate Rules Committee voted 9-7 on Monday recommending Israel's removal. Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, was among the seven senators who voted to reinstate him.

Book has been united with the parents of the Parkland victims, so her vote came as a shock to some, like the mother of Alyssa Alhadeff, who was killed in the February 2018 mass shooting.

"That was the decision she made and she needs to be -- you know, she's accountable for her vote and the choices that she makes," Lori Alhadeff told Local 10 News reporter Roy Ramos.

Book, whose district includes Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, spoke about the reasoning behind her vote.

"If we don't reinstate the former sheriff, you're not going to be able to hold former Deputy (Scot) Peterson accountable," Book said.

Peterson was the former school resource deputy who failed to engage the shooter. He has been charged with child neglect, perjury and culpable negligence in connection with the shooting.

Book said she's worried if Israel isn't reinstated, a defense attorney could clear Peterson of any wrongdoing.

"If we are removing Sheriff Israel for not providing adequate training, you can't then at the same time say that he had the training," Book said.

All 40 senators are expected to convene Wednesday to decide whether Israel should get his job back.

Ahead of that vote, many Parkland parents were meeting with lawmakers in hopes of preventing a similar tragedy.

"The families are still going around speaking to different senators, trying to keep telling them the facts and let the facts drive their decision and their vote," Lori Alhadeff said.

Israel has argued that his suspension was politically motivated. Monday's vote was decidedly partisan, with all nine Republicans recommending Israel's removal and all seven Democrats recommending his reinstatement.

The recommendation for removal was contrary to Special Master Dudley Goodlette's recommendation.

Israel's attorney, Ben Kuehne, said in a statement Tuesday that his client "is disappointed by the Senate Rules Committee's abandonment of the rule of law and principles of fundamental fairness by its exercise of brute political force yesterday."

"Sheriff Israel hopes the full Senate will fairly deliberate on the special master's report recommending the sheriff's reinstatement, the only just and proper result based on the governor's failure to prove any ground for the removal from an office to which Sheriff Israel was elected by a landslide margin," Kuehne went on to say. "The people of Broward County deserve their right to choose their sheriff by election."

https://www.local10.com/news/florida/broward/broward-sheriff-accuses-local-10-news-investigative-reporter-bob-norman-of-bullying

Sheriff meets with father of member of commission to investigate Stoneman Douglas tragedy
Scott Israel says he will never answer another question from Bob Norman
By Bob Norman - Investigative Reporter
Posted: 6:19 PM, May 03, 2018
Updated: 7:48 PM, May 03, 2018

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Broward Sheriff Scott Israel hosted a service today in honor of the National Day of Prayer, and while he didn’t mention the Parkland massacre, he did reference his own travails in light of the school shooting that left 17 dead.

Israel said God puts people in rough seas because their "enemies can’t swim."

"If you seek shelter with the most high, you will be protected in the shadow of the almighty," he said.

After an overwhelming no-confidence vote by his deputies' union and with investigators -- from both the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Gov. Rick Scott's public safety commission -- looking into his actions after his agency's failures in Parkland, Israel may need all the protection he can get.

"Everything is on the line right now," said union chief Jeff Bell, who led the no-confidence vote and is encouraging Scott to suspend Israel from his post, alleging incompetence and neglect of duty.

The clouds surrounding BSO could explain the sheriff's meeting with lobbyist Ron Book Tuesday night at J. Alexanders in Plantation. Book is one of the most powerful lobbyists in Tallahassee and has the ear of the governor, who has said he will decide whether or not to suspend Israel when the FDLE investigation into the BSO response to Parkland is completed.

Presenting a more serious potential conflict of interest for Israel is the fact that Book's daughter, Sen. Lauren Book, sits on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, which is also investigating the shooting and BSO.

Bell said the meeting raises serious questions, saying the sheriff should take the same advice given to deputies who fall under investigation – stay away from potential conflicts of interest.

"Any time that you’re being investigated and you’re meeting with people who have direct ties with running that investigation or have family members of close friends that are involved in that decision making process you should always stay away from that," Bell said. "We’re always held to a higher standard and we should know better so to put yourself in situation like that where you could even be accused of having a conversation to dictate the outcome of an investigation."

When Local10 News investigative reporter Bob Norman asked Israel about the meeting with Book after the prayer service, Israel made it personal, accusing Norman of "bullying and disrespect."

"So you’re not going to answer my questions?" Norman asked.

"None of your questions ever," Israel said. "And I told you that four or five years ago, but thanks for coming Bobby."

Book said the two men had bumped into each other earlier this week and that he made a suggestion they catch up some time, though he said he doesn’t recall them ever socializing in the past. He said Israel called him the following day and suggested they meet for dinner at J. Alexander’s.

While he conceded they discussed the Parkland shooting, Book said the subject of the investigations and the governor were never mentioned. He said the subject of his daughter sitting on the Parkland commission also didn’t come up.

Book also said he didn’t consider the meeting a conflict of interest because he did not discuss Israel with his daughter either and that the two keep such matters "separate" from each other.

ADDENDUM: It seems that Bimbo Book's idiotic sister is showing her true colors by attacking expressing shock and anger at Senator Book's betrayal of the Parkland shooting victims.

Speaking of Samantha Book, did you know she ALSO had an auto wreck and her and daddy Book is being sued? Was it also DUI related? If so, then the rotten apple doesn't swerve far from the drunken tree.

Big Sister Is Watching You: Senator Lauren Book passes Orwellian electronic monitoring law to spy on teens

Imagine that, a self-professed child victim advocate (and obviously delusional person) is the lone legislator on a committee and this "committee" decides that Orwellian surveillance is the way to go.

https://www.wlrn.org/post/florida-launches-controversial-database-student-information-aimed-identifying-threats

Florida Launches Controversial Database Of Student Information Aimed At Identifying Threats
By JESSICA BAKEMAN • 15 HOURS AGO

After a former student killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year, Florida public school children are being watched more closely.

Police in Miami-Dade and Broward counties now have real-time access to tens of thousands of surveillance cameras in schools. Miami-Dade's fleet of nearly 1,100 school buses is outfitted with GPS tracking devices. An app created by the state in the wake of Parkland lets people throughout Florida anonymously report tips about possible threats to campuses.

And in August, the Florida Department of Education launched a new database with information about students, like their discipline and mental health care records. One component of the Florida Schools Safety Portal is an online monitoring tool that scans social media for students' posts including words like "gun" or "bomb."

The portal was a recommendation from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, a group created to investigate the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting and recommend policy changes that could prevent similar massacres in the future.

But while civil rights groups, advocates for students with disabilities and some parents are concerned the database could jeopardize student privacy or lead to discrimination, commission members think it doesn't go far enough to keep schools safe.

“Don’t be walking away thinking that, ‘Oh my god, we have this magic wand,’ because, really, it’s not," said Bob Gualtieri, the commission's chair and the sheriff in Pinellas County, during an August meeting in Sunrise.

The commission's hope was to help teachers, mental health care providers, police officers and others who assess potential threats to schools get all the information they need about students in one place.

But Gualtieri was frustrated that the school district crime data in the portal is months old and often inaccurate. The law enforcement information is only from the state, not local agencies. Records about instances when students are referred to emergency psychiatric care, sometimes involuntarily, under the state Baker Act are only viewable by a limited number of people with the permissions under privacy laws to see them.

“What was being envisioned is to eliminate those silos and to try and create something where there could be this one-stop shopping," Gualtieri said.

He stressed he didn't blame the Department of Education for what he thought was a flawed product, saying officials there did the best they could given the limitations they were working under.

"What they were tasked to do was impossible," Gualtieri said.

State Sen. Lauren Book, a Broward County Democrat whose district includes Parkland, is the only legislator on the commission and helped write the law requiring the new portal. She's also a former kindergarten teacher.

She doesn’t think this portal goes far enough, either.

“It’s almost an ineffective tool, because people can see only what they can see already," she said. "So I would say that we’re still working on it. It’s a 1.0."

The commission members' take is in stark contrast to some of the public backlash to the portal.

"We are deeply concerned that the program will be used to label students as threats based on data that has no documented link to violent behavior, such as data on disabilities or those seeking mental health care," wrote a coalition of 33 civil rights, privacy and disability advocacy organizations in a July 9 letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis. They included the national and state chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union, an arm of the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Florida League of Women Voters.

"We urge you to immediately halt the state’s construction of this database and, instead, create a commission of parents, students, and experts on education, privacy, security, equity, disability rights, civil rights, and school safety, to identify measures that have been demonstrated to effectively identify and mitigate school safety threats," the groups wrote.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Education said the data is not "stored" in the portal. It may be viewed by people with access to the portal, but it may not be downloaded or shared.

The portal "is a tool to evaluate the seriousness of reported or identified threats and to assist in getting professional help when necessary," according to Cheryl Etters, the department's deputy director of communications. "The portal has internal and external controls to protect the information."

Even so, the portal is causing a lot of anxiety among parents. They worry even a misunderstanding involving their kids could show up in the database and lead to serious consequences.

One of those misunderstandings involved a Miami-Dade County high school student named Eric. WLRN is not using his family's last name to protect his privacy.

Last March, Eric had a couple friends over, and they were playing with plastic pellet guns in his room. At one point, Eric sat down in his desk chair holding an airsoft rifle designed to look like an AR-15.

Eric's friend took a picture of him holding the toy gun on the arm of his chair, pointing it toward the ceiling. In the image, Eric is looking at the camera.

Unbeknownst to Eric, his friend shared the photo on Snapchat with the caption: "Don't come to school Monday."

"A lot of people these days just make dark humor jokes about a bunch of tragedies just for the comedy of it," Eric said. "I don't think he really had the intention of getting me in trouble for it."

Eric did get in trouble, though.

Several days later, he said two police officers and his principal pulled him out of science class to question him.

"I was terrified," Eric said. "They think that I wanted to shoot up the school, and I didn’t — I didn't want to at all."

Eric was suspended for 10 days, and he almost got expelled, according to documents provided by his family. His parents fought it, though, explaining that he didn't take the picture, caption or send it anyone himself. Ultimately, he was moved from the A-rated magnet school he attended with his sister to a different school with a C grade. He's now a high school sophomore.

His parents want to transfer him somewhere else, but they worry about his record now: It says Eric distrubed a school campus with a weapon, which is far from what actually happened.

"Anybody that doesn't know the story will read this and say, 'There's no way in the world I'm going to put this child in my school,'" Eric's dad, Ricardo, said.

The Department of Education confirmed that the new school safety database includes information about past incidents.

A spokesman for Miami-Dade public school said the district takes threats seriously, investigates them thoroughly and disciplines students when necessary.

A lobbyist, a rabbi, and a fornicating ex-president walk into a bar...

The title sounds like the opening line to a joke. The real joke here is that in 2010, ex-President Bill "I did not have sexual relations with THAT woman" Clinton, Ron Book, and Miami-Dade Homeless Trust VP RABBI Solomon Schiff held a big soiree to discuss the unique homeless crisis in Miami. Of course, Book CAUSED much of the homeless crisis.

https://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/22/1592322/bill-clinton-and-others-meet-on.html -- Defunct Link but was archived

Bill Clinton and others meet on the successes with the Homeless Assistance center in Homestead

Rabbi Solomon Schiff, Vice Chairman of the Miami-Dade county Homeless trust.

By Rabbi Solomon Schiff
Orthodox Miami

Former Persident Bill Clinton visited the Miami area 17-18 of April.

On Sunday April 18th, 2010, Rabbi Solomon Schiff, who is the Vice Chairman of the Miami-Dade County Homeless trust, attended a meeting with former President Bill Clinton at the Homeless Assistance Center In Homestead, Florida. The President was joined by 1300 students from 80 countries who are member of the Clinton Global Initiative University. These students have dedicated themselves to do community service and help, in a variety of ways, to make our communities better.

The Homeless Assistance Center was established and is supervised by the Homeless Trust. The Trust was created about 16 years go, and receives funds through a one percent tax on food and beverage. These funds, together with funds provided by the Federal Government, help provide various services including housing for the many homeless in our community. When the program stated,  there were 8,000 homeless on the streets, now there are less than 800.  This resulted form the creation of two homeless assistance centers, that were built, one in the Omni area of Miami, and the other in Homestead, as well as, a number of long term housing facilities

In addition to President Clinton, other speakers included Ron Book, Chairman of the homeless trust and Alonzo Mourning of the Mimi heat. Said Rabbi Schiff "to see such a large number of young people that are committed to helping to elevate the live of those in need, is very heartwarming and portends well for the future."

Pro-Abortion Lauren Book wants to stop Florida Republicans from passing restrictions on abortion unless half the legislature is comprised of 50% women

Ironically, the people of Lauren Book's district did not have a choice on whether to elect her. She has ran unopposed twice after her district was gerrymandered.

You know what else I find ironic? A self-professed child advocate like Book is also in favor of abortion (child murder).

https://www.upworthy.com/lauren-book-abortion-vote

State Sen. Lauren Book filed SB60, a bill that would allow Floridians to vote on a constitutional amendment that prevents the state legislature from voting on abortion bans unless half of the legislative body is female. "No vote about us without us," Book told the Tallahassee Democrat.

"If we're not being represented in the legislative body, I don't think that older white men should be deciding what and how reproductive health care is looked at and [making] decisions that are life-altering," she told the Huffington Post.

Book also told the Huffington Post that women will continue to get abortions, even if they live in a state with restrictive abortion bans. "We need to make sure that it's healthy, we need to make sure that it's safe. We need to make sure that there's access," she said.

Currently, both the Florida House and Senate is majority male. Men make up 70% of the House, with 84 out of 120 male state representatives. In the Florida State Senate, the percentage is the same. Out of 40 state senators, only 12 are women. Florida has also been looking to pass their own anti-abortion legislation. Two bills were introduced by two different men, however no bills were actually voted on.

https://www.theflorida.report/president-of-florida-right-to-life-responds-to-sen-lauren-books-abortion-bill.html

President of Florida Right to Life Responds to Sen. Lauren Book's Bill That Would Block Legislative Votes on Abortion

@TheFlaReport  @JKirklandFL                   
August 7th, 2019

Those in Florida who oppose Sen. Lauren Book's controversial measure are speaking out.

On Wednesday, President of Florida Right to Life Lynda Bell responded to Book's proposed bill calling for a constitutional amendment that would prohibit the Florida House of Representatives and Senate from voting on a bill that would affect access to abortions unless women legislators were equally represented.

“Lauren Book has become so radical that she wants to eliminate the constitution and clearly doesn’t understand Representative government," Bell told The Florida Report. "Her bill would halt the voice of every person -- women included -- who happened to vote for a man!"

If successful, Book's bill would undermine the electoral and legislative process in Florida, and attempt to artificially circumvent the way legislators enact and vote on legislation in the Sunshine State.

Bell is just one of many conservatives who have claimed that Book's push for fairer representation is harmful to how Florida elects its leaders. Many Floridians believe that women are already fairly represented, given the fact that every single female voter in the state had the opportunity to vote for someone who would, then, represent them.

Bell went on to offer a piece of advice to Book and other Democrats who want to alter how laws are enacted in both chambers.

"I would encourage them to take a civics course," she said.

Bell currently serves are the President of Florida Right to Life, a non-profit public service organization dedicated to protecting and fostering life itself.  The pro-life organization seeks to be the catalyst that will bring about change in public opinion as well as the laws that govern the state.

Senator Lauren Book's bogus restraining order against political activist Derek Logue tossed out by Florida Appeals Court

Lauren Book tried to silence her largest critic, and for a time, she succeeded, but the appeals court concluded what we knew all along-- saying mean things about someone is not stalking.

Derek Logue is a contributor to this blog so it is also a win for us. This would not be possible without a huge assist from Jamie Bemjamin's law firm and from Florida Action Committee.

Read the appeals decision here:

https://floridaactioncommittee.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Logue-v.-Book.pdf

News story:

https://miami.cbslocal.com/2019/08/14/court-voids-stalking-injunction-involving-florida-senator-lauren-book/

Court Voids Stalking Injunction Involving Florida Senator Lauren Book
August 14, 2019 at 12:43 pm

FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami/AP) — An appeals court has overturned a stalking injunction placed on a man who disagrees with a state senator’s view on sex offenders.

The 4th District Court of Appeal ruled Wednesday that the injunction violated Derek Logue’s free speech rights and did not meet other Florida legal requirements.

The injunction barred Logue from several forms of contact with or proximity to Democratic state Sen. Lauren Book, a well-known supporter of strict offender laws involving child sexual abuse.

Logue had protested Book’s appearance at a children’s march in Tallahassee. He also criticized her publicly at a New York film festival and through social media and blog posts.

A lower court granted the injunction, but the appeals judges found Logue’s conduct fell short of the legal definitions necessary for one.

Below is the "Offensive" song that Book claims is about her.

By the way, Lauren, NO VOTES ABOUT US WITHOUT US!

Lauren Book is both delusional AND Paranoid, and her latest attention-seeking news report proves it

Only thing missing from this fugly thing now is for her to shave the
sides of her head and dye the rest blue. 

Lauren Book is a pathological liar. She thinks peaceful protesters against her are "violent stalkers." She told the press last year she was a target of the MAGAbomber when she wasn't.

Book is also a professional victim. Only someone as narcissistic as this spoiled princess can turn a case having absolutely nothing to do with her into it being all about her. She should be in a rubber room, not a legislative chamber.

But she's getting the cheap publicity all she wants thanks to his latest publicity stunt.

https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2019/07/26/lawmaker-says-she-was-warned-to-back-off-jeffrey-epstein-case-little-girl-you-dont-know-what-youre-getting-into/

Lawmaker says she was warned to back off Jeffrey Epstein case: ‘Little girl, you don’t know what you’re getting into’

Sen. Lauren Book said she had asked the Capitol police, who handle security for state lawmakers, to look into claims made on a Russian website alleging that the Palm Beach County sheriff was behind an effort to access her phone and emails.

Florida Sen. Lauren Book has reached out to Capitol police after receiving an anonymous warning connected to her demand for a state inquiry into Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw’s handling of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s lenient work release program, the Miami Herald has learned.

Book, a vocal advocate for child sexual assault survivors, said she also received more than a dozen calls from Bradshaw’s political supporters asking her to back off on her call for an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement into Bradshaw.

On Monday, Book, a Democrat, wrote a letter to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis asking him to authorize a probe into how Epstein, accused of molesting dozens of underage girls and a registered sex offender, was permitted to leave the Palm Beach County Jail and spend much of his 2008-2009 incarceration in an office in West Palm Beach.

RELATED COVERAGE: Florida lawmaker seeks investigation of Epstein work-release

Multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein charged with sex trafficking

Acosta exits: Trump’s big Cabinet turnover keeps growing

DeSantis said Thursday after a Cabinet meeting that he would “certainly consider” an investigation but that he has yet to decide how the state should respond.

“I saw someone sent me a letter. I looked at it,” he said. “I’ve got to figure out what the proper role of FDLE [is]. I know they are investigating it down in Palm Beach. ... Clearly when you look at how that happened, if even like 10 percent of the things about him are true, then that whole agreement was obviously suspect and willfully below what he should have faced.”

While the governor was still weighing the merits of the senator’s request, the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office issued a new statement that its previously announced internal affairs investigation of the deputies who guarded and supervised Epstein during his work release had become a criminal investigation as well. No further elaboration was provided.

Meanwhile, Book, in an interview with the Herald, said she had asked the Capitol police, who handle security for state lawmakers, to look into claims made on a Russian website alleging that Bradshaw was behind an effort to access her phone and emails by using the pretext of “imminent danger’’ to obtain her personal information.

“I’ve received countless phone calls saying ‘Little girl you don’t know what you’re getting into,’ and telling me that I should just stop,’’ said Book, a child sexual abuse survivor herself who has worked to pass strict sex offender laws in Florida.

In a statement, the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office said it had no knowledge of anyone trying to threaten or pressure Book.

“Nor has (the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office) made any effort to access her phone or emails as alleged on a salacious website run by a disgruntled former employee,’’ the statement said.

Pbsotalk.org, the website in question, is a blog tied to a former Palm Beach sheriff’s deputy who moved to Russia after starting the site, which claims it is dedicated to exposing corruption in the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office. The former deputy, John Dougan, fled to Moscow in 2016 following an FBI raid on his Palm Beach home that he claims was politically motivated.

The pressure against Book came on the same day that Epstein, 66, was found injured in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, where he is awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges brought earlier this month by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. His arrest stemmed from alleged behavior with underage girls dating back more than a decade in New York and Florida. Epstein was taken into custody July 6 after arriving at New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport from Paris on his private jet.

Epstein was found unconscious in his cell Wednesday evening amid speculation that he may have tried to commit suicide or been attacked by another inmate. Jail officials said he was in the lockup Thursday.

Last Friday, Bradshaw announced the internal affairs investigation after reports emerged that Epstein — while on work release in Palm Beach — was allowed female visitors to his office, including at least one visit that led to a sexual encounter. The terms of Epstein’s incarceration were detailed by the Herald as part of a series published last year about Epstein’s case, Perversion of Justice.

Jack Scarola, who represents several of Epstein’s victims, said it is ludicrous to think that Bradshaw is able to investigate his own department.

“The allegations are against the sheriff and there’s no way a credible investigation can be conducted by the sheriff’s office when the allegations extend to the very top of the organization,’’ Scarola said.

Book, whose father, Ron Book, is perhaps the most powerful lobbyist in Florida, said she intends to pressure the governor for a full and thorough investigation.

“The privileges that Epstein received in Palm Beach County were outside the scope of what anyone else would receive. We need an independent body to identify whether this was an issue of individual failures or systemic failures. And if it was an individual failure, we need to hold those individuals accountable,’’ she said.

Bradshaw, who is running for his fifth term, wields tremendous power in Palm Beach, where the agency has also been the lead law enforcement detail assisting the Secret Service during President Donald Trump’s visits to Mar-a-Lago. The Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office spent $5.6 million for Trump’s 2017-2018 trips, the Palm Beach Post reported in April. The department is reimbursed for the work.

Epstein was found on the floor of his jail cell with injuries to his neck, according to a report from NBC New York late Wednesday.

The television station said another inmate had been questioned and that Epstein is on suicide watch. A source told CBS News the injuries were not life threatening. The New York Post reported that Epstein was taken to a nearby hospital and may have intentionally hurt himself in order to win a transfer out of the federal facility.

Quoting unnamed law enforcement officials, The New York Times said prison officials were treating the incident, which left Epstein with “bruising around the neck,” as a possible suicide attempt.

The jet-setting financier was denied bail last week after a federal judge said he posed a danger to young women. His lawyers have filed their intent to appeal, saying he should be released to his palatial Upper East Side Manhattan townhouse.

Epstein, who has pleaded not guilty, roamed the halls of power before dozens of underage girls accused him of sexual assaults. After preparing a 50-plus-page indictment on sex trafficking charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida shelved the charges and allowed Epstein to plead guilty to minor charges in state court. That’s how Epstein ended up in the Palm Beach County Jail — and then on work release approved by Sheriff Bradshaw.

A fixture on the high-society social circuit, he was known to associate with figures such as Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Prince Andrew of Britain. He owns homes around the world, including a mansion in Palm Beach. His lawyers pegged his wealth at $559 million in court documents.

In an email, the Bureau of Prisons said Epstein was currently at the federal jail Thursday morning, not a hospital, but did not address his condition or whether an incident had occurred.

“As with all inmates, for privacy and security reasons, we do not share information on an inmate’s medical status or their conditions of confinement,” the Bureau of Prisons said.

The federal detention center where Epstein is locked up has been described by The New York Times as “less hospitable than Guantánamo Bay.” It has also held Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the Mexican drug lord known as El Chapo, Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff and Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, who plotted the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, according to the Times.

This story was written by Miami Herald staff writers Julie K. Brown and Nicholas Nehamas. Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau staff writer Elizabeth Koh contributed to this report.

Lauren Book claims to "support free speech," but we all know better than that

Lauren "The Irresponsible Whore" Book claims she supports free speech, but we all know better than that. This public school teacher should be grateful that he did not call Lauren Book an irresponsible whore, because even though Lauren Book IS an IRRESPONSIBLE WHORE, we know that calling Lauren Book an IRRESPONSIBLE WHORE will cause her to file a restraining order on you AND possibly get one of her paid supporters to file a bogus complaint against you to silence your activism.

Lauren told the Miami New Times back in 2015 said she wished critics "would speak directly to me so I can show them the amazing work we are doing on behalf of children." When a group of protesters tried doing that a month later, she called the police to try to have them arrested.

When an online critic protested Lauren Book, she filed a restraining order to silence him.

When anyone dares to question Lauren Book on her questionable fundraising efforts, she hides behind her abuse narrative, as noted in the Miami New Times in 2015:

"Political points?" Lauren asked incredulously. "I want to be clear about one thing. I was raped every day for six years, and they were the six most horrible and horrific years of my life. I felt guilty, ashamed, invisible, bad, dirty, hurt, and afraid every single day from the time that I was 11 until I was 16... Children in every community on the planet are also enduring the pain I suffered. I am trying to turn my personal pain into something positive and hopefully prevent this from happening to others."

But they have no problems calling people creeping crud, monsters, ticking time bombs, SOBs, and other vile names:

https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=uDwrL_1526695160

Lauren Book needs to understand free speech is a two way street. She should stop acting surprised when a critics calls Lauren Book a CUNT or an IRRESPONSIBLE WHORE, because she IS both.

Stop me if you've heard this song before: Homeless Registrants in Miami must move again

Where have we heard this before? It is like a music tour, the cities change but the names remain the same. Julia Tuttle, Shorecreast, Allapattah, Hialeah, and now apparently Brownsville.

Honestly, when can we stop citing Ron Book as if he's helping with the solution?

If there is a hell, Ron Book will have his own circle of it after his passing.

https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/homeless-sex-offenders-booted-offered-shelter-by-frank-diazs-united-we-all-can-11191829

Homeless Sex Offenders Must Move Again
JESSICA LIPSCOMB | JUNE 11, 2019 | 9:00AM

Ever since the Julia Tuttle Causeway became an encampment for sex offenders more than a decade ago, officials have been trying to shoo the group away from the rest of civilization. Thanks to stringent requirements mandating that child predators live 2,500 feet from schools, parks, and daycare centers, the offenders have struggled to find legal housing, leaving many effectively homeless. For years, the roving offenders have been shuffled from one place to another, angering unlucky neighbors and nearby business owners.

After a 2017 New Times report about unsanitary living conditions at the group's tent city near Hialeah, county commissioners booted the group. It split into smaller factions across the county; some members even left the state.

Now the county is preparing to break up a growing colony of sex offenders living on NW 48th Street in Brownsville. An official notice posted in the area says the state has declared the encampment a sanitary nuisance, and the county considers those living there to be in violation of Miami-Dade code. The county "will be forced to take appropriate enforcement action including, but not limited to, civil penalties and/or arrest" of those who do not vacate by June 20, the sign warns.

"They put up a notice saying, 'Kick rocks — you've got to get out of here.' The question is, to where?" says Frank Diaz, a local pastor who ministers to offenders at the camp.

Diaz says he and his nonprofit group, United We All Can, already care for homeless people in faith-based shelters across Miami-Dade. He'd like to further his outreach by dedicating an entire "restoration home" to displaced sex offenders.

"What we're asking is the county give us a place in an industrial area where it's away from parks, schools, and communities,” Diaz says. “We can build that place up and house them there. We'll minister to them, but the county's gotta help us find the property."

Ron Book, the ultrapowerful lobbyist who chairs the Homeless Trust, sees merit in the idea. It could help rehabilitate some sex offenders and make it easier for law enforcement and probation officers to keep track of the population.

"If somebody wants to build something away from the general population, we would certainly encourage that," Book says.

But he says he can't seriously entertain a proposal until it's fully fleshed out. And he's uncertain about using the Trust budget for such a project.

"Taking significant funds to fund the building or the renovation — you know, that remains to be seen as to my willingness to do that," Book says.

Without any clear direction on legal homes, the offenders now rely on word-of-mouth suggestions for places that fit the county's narrow criteria. Diaz says the law actually makes residents less safe in some ways because the sex offenders can't find steady housing or work.

"The only thing they're doing is getting angry," he says, "and what we want to do is restore them so they become productive and they don't recommit these types of offenses."

In the meantime, the group on NW 48th Street will be forced to find a new home, which, Diaz says, "is not a solution that works. They're just sweeping bodies under the rug and saying this is not a problem."

Surprise! Lauren Book "sprinkles" herself with $500,000 more Floridiot taxpayer bucks

"Woo hoo! More money for ME!"

According to the Florida Bulldog, 37 of 45 bills introduced by Lauren Book didn't even make it out of committee.

In case you want to keep score, these are the only bills she helped pass:

1. The sex doll ban
2. An administrative bill changing agency names for the state's elderly care department
3. "Andrew's Law" yet another named law, this time targeting school hazing
4. Creating a new bureaucracy, the "Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission"
5. A bill revising rules for Stroke Centers

The rest died in committee or failed to pass later.

Remember the Progressive Ad "Only Winners Get Sprinkles"? I don't think Senator Bimbo earned her sprinkles this year.

https://www.floridabulldog.org/2019/05/legislative-sprinkle-extra-half-million-dollars-to-state-senators-nonprofit/

Legislative ‘sprinkle’ adds extra half-million dollars to state senator’s nonprofit, quietly doubling state payout to Lauren’s Kids

MAY 22, 2019
AUTHOR: FRANCISCO ALVARADO

In the waning days of the most recent Florida legislative session, it appeared the nonprofit agency founded and run by Plantation State Sen. Lauren Book would walk away with only half-a-million dollars in taxpayer funding after consecutive years of receiving seven-figure sums.

Then came the April 30th meeting of the budget conference chairs. That’s when Lauren’s Kids got sprinkled.

The so-called “sprinkle list” is used to describe how legislators shower favored organizations with additional dollars near the end of session.

Toward the end of the hearing, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Sen. Rob Bradley, R- Green Cove Springs, announced that the children’s cancer awareness foundation Live Like Bella and Book’s organization, Lauren’s Kids, had been erroneously left off the list. He said each would receive an additional $500,000.

With a stroke of a pen, Bradley made sure his colleague’s nonprofit walked away with $1 million for its educational outreach program aimed at preventing sexual and physical abuse against children, as well as encouraging the reporting of child-abuse cases. Book later voted to approve the budget bill containing the allocation for Lauren’s Kids.

But according to ethics watchdogs, the large allocation of public funds to a senator’s nonprofit  raises concerns about whether Book, a Democrat, properly disclosed her ties to Lauren’s Kids. Likewise, they question the legislative practice of doling out public dollars to private groups after legislative committees have already voted on how much money the groups should receive.

Subversive sprinkle

Peter Cruise, executive director of Florida Atlantic University’s LeRoy Collins Public Ethics Academy, said the sprinkle list subverts the committee process. “It becomes more concerning if it involves a legislator and the organization has her name on it, even if it’s for helping abused kids,” said Cruise, who is also a Palm Beach County ethics commissioner. “Things like this should not happen, no matter how worthy the cause is.”

Ben Wilcox, research director for the watchdog organization Integrity Florida, said legislators only have to disclose a possible conflict of interest if the appropriation directly benefits them. “She can argue that it is not a direct benefit to her because the allocation is to the nonprofit,” Wilcox explained. “But it is a really gray area. If I were her, I would err on the side of full disclosure.”

Furthermore, Book should have sought an opinion from the Senate’s general counsel before voting on the state budget, Wilcox said. “If you don’t take some steps to fully disclose what could be a potential conflict, it doesn’t look good to the public,” he said.

Since its inception in 2007, Lauren’s Kids has sought and received grant funding from the state, collecting more than $13 million in the last five years alone. The senator, a rising Broward Democrat whose father is powerhouse lobbyist Ron Book, receives a $144,250 salary as Lauren’s Kids CEO, according to the nonprofit’s 2016 tax return, the most recent available. The same document shows that government grants represented 68 percent of Lauren’s Kids 2016 $4.1 million revenue. Book’s Senate salary is $29,697.

In a 2017 interview before the start of her first year in office, Book told Florida Bulldog that she consulted the Senate’s general counsel about voting on issues relating to Lauren’s Kids. She said she was advised “that I do not abstain on these matters unless the funding directly inures to my benefit, which it will not.” Book insisted that her CEO salary was restructured so that is not paid with state funds and that she derives no personal benefit from public tax dollars.

During her first term, Book has quickly risen up the ranks in the Republican-controlled Legislature. She is chairwoman of the Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee and is a member of the Appropriations Committee and two appropriations subcommittees that oversee education, health and human services. However, she has been mostly ineffective in passing her own legislative agenda.

According to her Senate website, 37 of 45 bills Book sponsored died at the committee level, including measures to establish trust and compensation funds for victims’ families of the Feb. 14, 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High mass shooting.

A ‘scrivener’s error’

As a member of the Appropriations Committee and subcommittees, Sen. Book was at the April 30th budget conference. When Bradley said a ‘scrivener’s error’ had mistakenly left off funding for Live Like Bella and Lauren’s Kids, Book was a few feet away from the Senate appropriations chairman, according to video footage of the meeting.

“As an appointed member of the overall Joint Budget Conference Committee and a member of both the Education and the Health and Human Services Budget Conference Sub-Committees it was my duty to be there,” Book said in an emailed statement. The senator said the $500,000 sprinkle for Lauren’s Kids was requested by Democratic Sen. Bill Montford of Leon County, who also is the CEO of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents. Bradley and Montford did not respond to phone messages and emails requesting comment.

Book said she became aware of the scrivener’s error during the budget conference, but that she did not discuss Lauren’s Kids funding with any of the legislators or Senate staff in attendance.

Lauren’s Kids spokeswoman Claire VanSusteren told Florida Bulldog that Book has not been involved with any legislative funding requests related to the nonprofit.

“She does not lobby her colleagues on the budget, and does not participate in foundation-related legislative updates as she is no longer a member of the Lauren’s Kids board of directors,” VanSusteren said. “The only exception has been to vote on a final state budget as is required of her as a state senator.”

Cruise, the ethics commissioner, said having a colleague like Montford sponsor funding for Lauren’s Kids puts some distance between the senator and her nonprofit, but that the sprinkle list subverts the vetting process undertaken by the legislative committees.

“The appropriations process is extremely political,” Cruise said. “It is hard to get on an agenda and organizations can get knocked out at the last minute. To have something come out of left field is not the way the process is supposed to work.”

Controversial agencies GEO Group and Correct Care Solutions are among the sponsors of Lauren's Kids

I remember when GEO Group denied giving their blood money to Senator Lauren Book in an article discussing their plans to sue Dream Defenders, a pro-immigration group that protested GEO Group's treatment of immigrant detainees.

The Florida Democratic Party also banned candidates from accepting GEO Group funds, but Lauren Book STILL received money from them.

Well, guess who is still taking GEO Group blood money? You guessed it-- Lauren Book. Below is a screenshot from her organization dated today.

Am I the only one finding it interesting that Lauren Book has accepted over $100k from a private prison group responsible for some of the worst cases of physical and sexual abuse in a juvenile detention in American history?

While we're on this subject, what about the fact Correct Care Solutions (which merged with Correctional Medical Group Companies to form a new company, Wellpath) also sponsors Lauren's Kids? They're the subject of a major lawsuit where neglect and abuse have led to miscarriages, stillbirths, and dangerous prison births. Remember the recent story of the mentally ill woman in Broward County who gave birth in her own jail cell after no one would come to her aid? That was Correct Care Solutions.

Why is it the media won't grill self-professed victim advocate Senator Lauren Book on the fact she continues to accept blood money from groups that have abused women and children? Am I the only one that finds it odd that her acceptance of this money is hypocritical of her as well as unethical? As the Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase once said, "Everybody's Got a Price." We all know the Books have a price, and it is paid with GEO Group blood money.

Despite knowing her Backpage law backfired, Senator Lauren Book pushed ahead with the Prostitution Registry

Senator Bimbo obviously doesn't understand how the Internet works; she thinks if this registry backfires, then it can just be taken offline and all will be fine.

https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/7xgx7a/florida-bill-soliciting-for-prostitution-public-database

SEX WORK
|
By Samantha Cole
|
May 10 2019, 9:30am
A Government Database for People Who Pay for Sex Is a Terrible, Dangerous Idea

A set of bills pass this month in Florida that, if they become law, will build a “Soliciting for Prostitution Public Database."


A set of bills passed the Florida House and Senate earlier this month that would build a database of people convicted for soliciting sex, and which sex workers and advocates say will ruin lives and put them at more risk.

Senate Bill 540 and House Bill 851, when signed into law, will set up a database that includes anyone convicted of “soliciting, inducing, enticing, or procuring another to commit prostitution, lewdness, or assignation,” according to the Senate's bill, which was drafted by Democratic senator Lauren Book. The “Soliciting for Prostitution Public Database” would filter everyone convicted of soliciting sex into one database. According to a spokesperson for Book, it would include already-public information from clerk of court including full legal names, date of birth, a mugshot, and the offense committed.

The database is aimed at clients, but advocates say it will harm sex workers and trafficking survivors by making it more difficult to screen for dangerous clients and increasing the probability of police stings and violence.

“Upon the person’s conviction, the clerk of the court shall forward the criminal history record of the convicted person to the Department of Law Enforcement for inclusion in the database,” the bill states.

“It becomes impossible to tell the difference between somebody who is scared and somebody who is scary.”

Publicly shaming clients for soliciting sex, and attempting to reduce demand for sex work, will only make it harder for workers to screen for bad dates, experts told me. Screening dates usually involves giving a provider personal information—something clients might be less willing to do if they’re worried about ending up on a database.

“When you make clients afraid, it becomes harder to screen out predators,” Kaytlin Bailey, communications director for advocacy group Decriminalize Sex Work told me in a phone call. “It becomes impossible to tell the difference between somebody who is scared and somebody who is scary.”

Now that the bills have passed, they’re headed for Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s desk to be signed into law. I’ve reached out to co-sponsor Florida Republican Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen, and DeSantis, and will update if I hear back.

Like the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), which passed last year and immediately started hurting sex workers, this bill is written under the guise of combating human trafficking.

“When we curb the demand for the illegal sale and purchase of sex, we will also curb the profitability of human trafficking,” Book said in a press release. In a statement sent to me via email, Book said that the goal of the database is “to curb the demand for paid sex, and therefore impact the supply.” She said that the database will also be studied by Florida’s state research arm, the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, for three years, to determine its effectiveness in curbing human trafficking.

“We don’t want to create the type of issue we saw with the well-intentioned elimination of Backpage, which only forced trafficking deeper into the shadows,” Book said. “So if it doesn’t work, the database will cease to exist.”

But activists, harm reductionists, and years of research into policies that aim to end demand for sex work say otherwise. Studies show that sex offender registries can increase recidivism and cause more harm than good.

Even though the bill is allegedly aimed at stopping sex trafficking, its opponents—several of them survivors of trafficking or abuse themselves—say that this will be catastrophic for people working in the consensual sex trade, especially those already engaging in survival sex: to procure a place to sleep, food, or safety. Several studies have shown that criminalizing sex work increases violence and health risks for workers.

Read more: A New Zealand Woman Was Charged for Doxing a Sex Worker Online

“The causal relationship couldn’t be clearer: When you increase criminalization, you increase violence against sex workers,” Bailey said. “This is true whether you’re talking about criminalizing sex workers themselves or criminalizing clients. Everywhere we’ve see end-demand policies enacted, such as Sweden and the Netherlands, you see violence increase against sex workers. Because it diminishes our negotiating power.”

Under sex work criminalization laws, sex workers working or living together for safety can be charged with solicitation. Because the database will include anyone convicted of soliciting sex, sex workers will likely end up on this list alongside clients—effectively revealing their personal information to predators via government public records, leaving them even more vulnerable than before.

"If the representatives aren’t listening to the people the laws are going to affect, what are they doing in that position"

According to all of the sex workers and activists I spoke to about this bill, trying to lower demand by publicly shaming clients is not going to stop sex work, but it will make it more dangerous. Some of the repercussions for lowered demand within an already criminalized industry include being more likely to work longer, more dangerous hours; being more likely to be pressured into acts they don’t want (like being bullied into not using a condom); taking on clients they are uneasy about, or unable to properly screen; and being pushed back into homelessness, substance abuse, or abusive relationships with partners or managers out of need.

Alex Andrews, lead organizer at advocacy organization Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP) Behind Bars, told me in a phone call that to see this bill pushed through to the detriment of already-marginalized communities is deeply disheartening.

“It’s frustrating because these things are impacting our community big time,” she said. “They’re very harm-causing, they displace a lot of workers, they mess up lives.... to add a registry to it makes it even worse.”

Some of the legislators working on this bill have made it clear that they aren’t interested in hearing feedback from sex workers. In a Florida subcommittee hearing in March on bills that would require hotel staff to be trained to profile women who might be trafficked, database bill co-sponsor Fitzenhagen told the committee, “In case it was lost on you, a consensual sex worker, AKA a prostitute, is committing a crime. It is not my intent to work with them moving forward."

Kristen Cain, a sex worker and activist at SWOP Tampa Bay who testified at the March hearing, said that she and other sex workers have presented their concerns to legislators, but they don’t seem to be listening.

Read more: Sex Workers Don't Trust Kamala Harris

“I already have friends that are attacked and assaulted during sessions—they can’t go to the police and say, ‘I was assaulted and need some help,’ because all of their info is entered into public record,” she told me in a phone call. “This makes it even harder to say, 'hey I was assaulted,' because not only is it public record, but it goes on a database specifically for this.”

Cain told me she expects the bills to be signed into law by DeSantis, whose voting record includes making it more difficult for ex-felons to vote, and arming school teachers instead of implementing sensible gun law reform.

“To be honest with you, if the representatives aren’t listening to the people the laws are going to affect, what are they doing in that position,” Cain said.

This article originally appeared on VICE US.

Ron Book thinks sex offender laws should continue to torture elderly, invalid individuals on the registry

The mentality of Ron Book doesn't surprise me, given that Book allowed sick,elderly registrants rot in homeless camps throughout Miami-Dade County.

By the way, a drunk driver is a drunk diver, doesn't matter if he's 18 or 98. Lock his ass up already!

https://www.wftv.com/news/florida/housing-elderly-sex-offenders/945769719

Housing elderly sex offenders

By: MERYL KORNFIELD of Fresh Take Florida news service, Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida

Updated: May 2, 2019 - 3:39 PM
Facebook
Housing elderly sex offenders

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Since 82-year-old Leonard Bailey hit his head in a fall eight months ago, he can't remember to take his medicine.

His ex-wife, Marianne Devita, calls him 11 times a day to remind him about his appointments.

At that stage of dementia, many families would consider admitting him to a nursing home, but Devita said she has a list of assisted living homes that have rejected Bailey. The pages lined up are as tall as Devita's grandson - whom Bailey has never seen.

"Nobody wants him," she said. "Nobody wants a sex offender."

Bailey is among a growing number of elderly sex offenders: People on Florida's list of 73,000 registered offenders who are 65 and older jumped 2 percentage points between 2015 and 2016, according to the state's legislative auditors, the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability. Florida's registry has about 10,200 elderly offenders.

The problem is sparking a national crisis of social and justice policy: How and where do we allow the most-reviled class of citizens to survive their silver years - especially those with serious age-related medical problems - after they have served their prison terms, while striving to protect children who may be living nearby?

For offenders like Bailey who can't live without assistance, nursing or retirement homes are not a guarantee. Even if the retirement home isn't within 1,000 feet of schools and parks, as required the state's sex offender residency restrictions, managers of nursing homes often reject elderly felons.

The state policy for long-term care homes is this: Management can choose to accept or reject applicants. Some other states, and Hillsborough County, have residency restrictions within 1,000 feet of places where seniors live, including nursing homes. States, counties and cities have different rules limiting where offenders can live.

In Iowa, the 2017 legislature considered a bill that would have created a committee that studied the feasibility of building a long-term care facility for offenders.

Privately owned assisted living homes have reasons for rejecting offenders. They may be financially responsible for lawsuits if a resident is assaulted by another resident with a criminal history. A Pennsylvania nursing home agreed to pay $6.75 million in damages to the estate of a resident who was assaulted there. The home knew the resident who assaulted her was a registered offender.

Oak Hammock, a University of Florida-managed retirement community in Gainesville, said it prioritizes resident safety and screens for sex-related criminal histories. It does not accept predators.

Assisted-living homes may also face reputational damage and lose other prospective clients if their commercial addresses show up on sex-offender registries.

Living at home isn't always an option for offenders either. When offenders' families are unable to move from areas near school or parks, offenders seek housing elsewhere.

Bailey was arrested for touching a minor in Florida while he was on vacation with Devita from their home in Long Island, New York.

Devita is still in New York, driving her 14-year-old grandson to school in the mornings, helping her daughter-in-law with chores. Bailey remains near where he was in prison. He is driven to court-mandated therapy and the sheriff's office.

When Bailey put a girl's hand in his pocket and asked her if she felt his "little leg," he was 74. Now Devita said Bailey, who uses a cane, can't live on his own anymore. After he hit his head in the bathroom, it took her calling him 37 times before he was able to reach for the phone.

"Help me" is all he said.

Since then, he often forgets his "black box" that pairs with the bracelet around his ankle to monitor his location. He's already been sent to prison for misplacing the device before and his parole officer has warned him the next time it happens he will be sent back.

Bailey can't help but forget.

"I'm getting too old to fight about this," he said. "I don't care."

For some victim advocates, any risk that a sex offender might lapse back into criminal behavior is too high. Ron Book, a former legislator, lobbied for Florida's restrictions after his daughter, who is now a state senator, was assaulted by her nanny in the late '90s and early 2000s.

He said he has met elderly offenders and is aware of cases when they committed new crimes. He does not think the state should change laws to account for the aging offender population.

"Sex crimes are sex crimes," he said. "Doesn't matter if they're 18 or 98."

Researchers have found that the chance of recidivism decreases by half every five years an offender is out of prison, said Jill Levenson, professor of social work at Barry University and an expert in sex offender treatment and policy.

She predicts that offenders will live together and provide care to each other.

This is already happening, according to sheriff's offices responses in the state's accountability office survey.

Residency restrictions are the most common hurdle for offenders searching for housing, with unwilling property managers a close second reason. Both contribute to the growth of enclave communities where offenders live together, usually in mobile home parks.

There are no known, comprehensive lists of communities or neighborhoods that accept sex offenders. Some in Florida include a St. Petersburg trailer park that was the subject of a 2016 documentary called "Pervert Park."

Lori Nassofer, who helps sex offenders 55 and older find housing in Central Florida, owns three mobile home parks near Orlando. "NO CHILDREN" signs are posted at the driveway.

The business of finding offenders housing is booming. There are no vacancies in Nassofer's parks.

Ron Johnson manages Overland Village for Nassofer, a mobile home park in Apopka. He said he receives 30 to 40 calls a week. He is kept busy coordinating housing for sex offenders recently released from prison.

Sex offenders in Florida must already have an address they will live at before they can leave prison.

"It's taking calls all the time," Johnson said. "Taking phone calls, dealing with probation, prisons, release coordinators, hospitals - you name it."

Finding housing is considered one of the biggest barriers for sex offenders recently released from prison. Federal rental assistance in public housing is not available to sex offenders.

Johnson said sex offenders risk being gouged for rent when they have no other options. At Nassofer's parks, most offenders already own their trailers or rent from each other. She charges $350 for land rent and covers utilities.

Many of the offenders have Social Security benefits, Medicare and Medicaid. Some get financial help from family or friends. Few have jobs.

Bailey receives $1,200 a month for Social Security and pays his roommate, Paul Casey, $500 for a room in his trailer.

Most of the elderly offenders in the park have relatively younger roommates who take care of them. Johnson takes care of elderly in his park, including a man in a wheelchair.

"I shouldn't have him because I can't care for him," he said. "But what is he going to do?"

When Bailey's doctor told him he could no longer drive because of the dementia, Casey started using Bailey's Lincoln to take him grocery shopping.

Gail Colleta, an advocate for sex offenders, has asked lawmakers to consider lifting the state's residency restrictions if an offender is a certain age or has ailments.

"This is a humanity issue," said Colleta, president of Florida Action Committee. "We're more concerned about stray animals than we are about people with issues, that need to have medication, that need to have oxygen, that are just human beings."

Bailey has given up trying to take control. Sitting in a fold-out chair at the picnic area of his mobile home park, he pointed at the ground. He said he'd rather be under it.

"I'm just so tired of hanging around."

___

This story was produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.

A Reminder that Ron Book was once shouted at by REAL homeless Activists, and that time he was suspended from practicing law

Ron Book is still an "advocate" for the homeless, yet those who actually try to help the homeless at the street level know Ron Book is truly no friend to the homeless.

This story appears to be fro 2014 judging by the year the comments were made.

https://www.browardbeat.com/lobbyist-homeless-advocates-in-shouting-match/

Lobbyist, Homeless Advocates In Shouting Match

BY BUDDY NEVINS

Ron Book just wants some respect.

After all, Book is the best known, most durable and best paid lobbyist in Florida. He reported $5.6 million in income from 81 clients in Tallahassee alone last year.  That figure doesn’t included his work in Miami-Dade and Broward.

For the past two decades, Book has spent thousands of hours working to end homelessness.

So when he was booed and yelled at during a town hall meeting on the homeless earlier this week in Fort Lauderdale, Book took it personally.

He shouted back.

“I have a history on this subject. I’m not going to be intimidated,” Book explained later to Browardbeat.com

Book was attempting to speak at a meeting called by Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Dean Trantalis. The meeting’s goal was to find common ground that would cool the city’s homeless controversy.

There are two sides to this homeless crisis:

* Fort Lauderdale City Commissioners in October limited the feeding of homeless in public. They contend the homeless are threatening the lifestyle of residents.

* Homeless activists ignored the ban.  Several have been arrested, resulting in negative worldwide publicity for Fort Lauderdale

Trantalis’ meeting was packed with activists who want to continue feeding the homeless in parks and at the beach.

Book was not popular because he agreed with commissioners.

“The homeless have rights, but so do the people of Broward County,” Book later told Browardbeat.com. “You have to balance both in establishing programs for the homeless.”

Street feeding does not contribute “to ending homelessness. It continues it,” he contends. The homeless should be fed in a controlled setting so bathrooms and social services can be offered.

“The object is to get the homeless indoors where they can get cleaned up and see people who can get them off the streets – mental health professionals, social workers,” Book said.

The activists didn’t want to hear that from Book.

Trantalis’ meeting degenerated into a shouting match between the scrappy lobbyist and activists.

It got nasty.  Really nasty.  Book was screamed at.  He screamed back.

The atmosphere was so bad that Book had to be escorted to his car by a police officer. Said Book, “It is the first time in 21 years dealing with this that I felt uncomfortable.”

Ironically, Book was attacked in 2008 by a homeless man as he left a Broward County Commission meeting in downtown Fort Lauderdale.  The story is here.  It never dampened his work for the homeless.

He was one of the original promoters of Broward County’s 230-bed homeless shelter on Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, which opened in 1999.  He rounded up many of the first big contributors to the project.

Before that, Book pushed a food and beverage tax though the 1992 Legislature that raises $12 million annually for homeless services in Miami-Dade.

Miami-Dade Commissioners apparently like his volunteer work for the homeless,  Commissioners have repeatedly waved the residency requirement for Book, who lives in Plantation, to allow him to chair the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust Leadership. The trust administers the tax and raises millions more in federal and state funding.

Book said that the current debate is an “opportunity. Broward County should use this time when all this attention is focused on the homeless to formulate a plan for the future.”

He called for a summit between cities like Fort Lauderdale and Broward to discuss a realistic strategy that would help get the homeless off the street.

Book’s proposal is perhaps the most constructive suggestion to surface during this homeless hullabaloo.

It is too bad nobody wanted to listen.

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In the comment section, a poster added an article from the 1997 Miami Herald. It is a bit of overlooked history from Rom Book.

HIGH COURT SUSPENDS LOBBYIST’S LAW LICENSE
Miami Herald, The (FL) – Friday, July 11, 1997

Author: TYLER BRIDGES Herald Capital Bureau

Lawyer-lobbyist Ron Book will lose his right to practice law for 75 days under a ruling handed down Thursday by the Florida Supreme Court.

The punishment was recommended by the Florida Bar Association, which disciplines lawyers. The Supreme Court must approve its recommendations for disciplinary action.

Book is being punished for violating state election law by funneling campaign contributions through his secretaries in order to exceed the maximum contribution limits.

Having to suspend Book’s law license won’t hurt him much in the pocketbook because he devotes only 10 percent of his work to legal matters. The rest of the time he lobbies for such clients as H. Wayne Huizenga, Metro-Dade County and the Tobacco Institute.

But the punishment is an embarrassment to Book, who is one of the state’s most influential lobbyists.

“I’m anxious to close this chapter in my life and put it behind me for good,” Book said Thursday.
Caption: photo: Ron Book (a)

Edition: State
Section: Local
Page: 2B
Dateline: TALLAHASSEE
Record Number: 9707120298
Copyright (c) 1997 The Miami Herald

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This story was also alluded to in the link below, and thus confirms this was a real repost from a Miami Herald article. I'd like it if someone would like to find full articles from the list below and send them to me, I'd love to have them all.

http://floridakeysjournal.com/journal/2009/030109.htm

February 19, 2009 - Monroe County - Kay Thacker: Ron Book History Part 2 "Dream Team Other Occasional ContributorsLobbyist" With permission to share. Ed. -- Ouch!

The History Of Lobbyist Ron Book, Part 2 One member of "Dream Team Lobbyist"

1786. *Miami Herald* - July 11, 1997 - 2B Local

*HIGH COURT SUSPENDS LOBBYIST'S LAW LICENSE*  Lawyer-lobbyist Ron Book will lose his right to practice law for 75 days under a ruling handed down Thursday by the Florida Supreme Court. The punishment was recommended by the Florida Bar Association, which disciplines lawyers.

The Supreme Court must approve its recommendations for disciplinary action. Book is being punished for violating state election law by funneling campaign contributions through his secretaries in order to exceed the maximum contribution limits. Having to suspend...

1765. *Miami Herald* - June 18, 2006 - 1B Metro & State

*PAYING LOBBYISTS PAID OFF WELL*  With a 30-day grace period about to run out, professional lobbyists who had initially refused to disclose how much money they get paid to shepherd legislation through the halls of the state Capitol have decided to comply with a tough new law. Among the late filers revealing how much they got paid: Aventura lobbyist Ron Book, whose firm earned more than $1 million in the first three months of 2006 to lobby the Legislature. Book's firm, according to the disclosures, is among the...

1717. *Miami Herald* - April 14, 2001 - 1B Local

*CLIENTS UPSET WITH LOBBYIST*  Several of lobbyist Ron Book's taxpayer-supported clients say they plan to change the way they do business with him, following a Herald report this week. Many of Book's public clients paid him thousands of dollars for expenses - in addition to his retainer - without asking for any documentation of how he spent the money. ``We're not paying any more expenses, effective immediately,'' said Frank Sacco, CEO of the South Broward...

1696. *Miami Herald* - November 2, 1998 - 2B Local

*INFLUENTIAL LOBBYIST WORKS ON BOTH SIDES*  Powerful South Florida lobbyist Ron Book works for the South Florida Regional Planning Council, ensuring that it and the state's other Regional Planning Councils receive money from the Legislature each year. Book also represents development projects that come up for council review. Is that a conflict of interest? The attorney for the Regional Planning Council has said no.

But at least a few council members say the situation makes them uncomfortable. ``I have some...

1707. *Miami Herald* - June 5, 2007 - B3

*NORTH MIAMI BILLBOARDS: 3 rivals used 1 lobbyist,  The same influential lobbyist worked for all three sides in a high-stakes fight over billboards in North Miami.*  In the fight over building billboards in North Miami -- a fight complete with legal arm-twisting and lots and lots of money -- the three sides had one thing in common: The same lobbyist was working for all of them. Ron Book, one of Florida's most powerful lobbyists, said he did nothing improper and even improved the outcome for all concerned. But even some of the story's central players had no idea Book was working all three sides. Book advised and later...

1808. *Miami Herald* - October 15, 1995 - 1B LOCAL

*FDLE: CONTINUE PROBE OF LOBBYIST*  Everyone agreed -- the prosecutor, his boss and the defense team: Lobbyist Ron Book would plead guilty to four misdemeanors for funneling illegal campaign contributions to the politically powerful. Everyone agreed -- except the agents who spent months investigating Book for using office workers' checkbooks to conceal his election law violations. Now, in a rare public split in the ranks of law enforcement, Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents have persuaded their boss to...

1802. *Miami Herald* - March 23, 2000 - 3B Local

*LOBBYIST CROSSES COUNTIES ON TAX*  Where was lobbyist Ron Book, who is paid more than $100,000 a year by Miami-Dade and Broward taxpayers, just a few hours after both county commissions unanimously voted to oppose a bill that could tax cruise-ship passengers to pay for a new Florida Marlins ballpark? He was promoting the bill with state lawmakers in Tallahassee, handing out dozens of Marlins caps and hustling two former All-Stars between Capitol offices to pose for pictures and autograph baseballs. Book says conflicts of...

1802. *Miami Herald* - June 16, 1999 - 9B Broward

*LOBBYIST APOLOGIZES FOR HIS ROLE IN TRYING TO PASS BAIL-BOND BILL*  Broward County lobbyist Ron Book apologized Tuesday for his role in pushing a bill that could have cost the county millions, County commissioners accepted his apology and told him everyone makes mistakes

- just don't do it again. ``I appreciate his apology,'' Commissioner Chairwoman Ilene Lieberman said, echoing the sentiments of many of her colleagues. ``Hopefully, you don't make the same mistake again.'' Book was...

1795. *Miami Herald* - December 16, 1988 - 34A EDITORIAL

*FIT THE PUNISHMENT \*  THE DADE County School Board commendably has said "Thanks, but no thanks" to a circuit court's plea-bargain deal requiring Miami lawyer Ron Book to teach 200 hours of high-school civics. Nothing personal, said the board. Nobody doubted that Book, once an aide to then-Gov. Bob Graham and now an influential lobbyist, knows a lot about how government works -- that is, how it really works, not the civics-textbook version. It's just that the board...

1787. *Miami Herald* - February 13, 1986 - 1A FRONT

*LAWYER TIED TO BRIBE PROBE OPA-LOCKA OFFICIAL SAYS $4,000 WAS OFFERED*  Miami attorney Ronald L. Book, a close adviser and Dade County fund raiser for Gov. Bob Graham, is under investigation in a bribery probe in Opa-locka, The Herald has learned. Opa-locka Vice Mayor Brian Hooten told The Herald he accepted a $4,000 cash payment on Dec. 3 from a man who he understood was working for Book. At the time, Hooten was wearing an electronic listening device and participating in an undercover police investigation. Book, a partner in the firm of Sparber, Shevin, Shapo,...

1735. *Miami Herald* - October 4, 1995 - 2B LOCAL

*DELAYS ALLOW HUIZENGA FIRMS TO SKIRT SCRUTINY*  Days after serving subpoenas, Dade prosecutors got their hands on the lobbying contracts of most everyone that employs Ron Book. But they never got a single document from Book's best- known client: Wayne Huizenga. None of Huizenga's companies -- among them, the Dolphins, Marlins, Florida Panthers, Joe Robbie Stadium Corp., and Blockbuster Entertainment Group -- provided prosecutors copies of their contracts with Book. Nor did they turn over copies of checks written...

1695. *The Miami Herald* - May 11, 2001 - 2B Local

*OFFICIAL ACCUSES LOBBYIST OF MISHANDLING BALLPARK EFFORT*  Miami City Commissioner Arthur Teele Jr. called super-lobbyist Ron Book on the carpet Thursday, accusing him of mishandling the parking surcharge bill that was part of a financing plan to build a Florida Marlins stadium in Miami. Speaking at a City Commission meeting, Teele said Book had a conflict of interest representing Miami-Dade County, Miami and the Marlins - then demanded a timeline of every change to the bill as it made its way through the legislative session that ended last week....

1688. *Miami Herald* - September 23, 1995 - 1B LOCAL

*BAR TO LOOK INTO LOBBYIST'S ILLEGAL CONTRIBUTIONS*  The Florida Bar is opening an inquiry into Ron Book, the lawyer-lobbyist and political fund-raiser who pleaded guilty this week to charges he funneled illegal campaign contributions through secretaries to dozens of Florida politicians. "When a lawyer is convicted of a crime, the Bar is interested," said Arlene Sankel, assistant staff counsel for the Bar's Miami office. "There will be an investigation if a lawyer is convicted of a...