Homeless felons bounced from Everglades and Cooper City camps

2-20-2008 Florida:

Homeless felons, including registered sex offenders, have been forced by deputies to move from a campsite near the Everglades in Southwest Ranches and from an eight-acre site in Cooper City.

Late last week, eight men were evicted from a wooded site near U.S. 27 and Griffin Road that is owned by the South Florida Water Management District. The district did not want them there, said Broward Sheriff's Office Commander George Jarboe.

On Tuesday, four men were told to vacate a private, eight-acre site near the 5000 block of Flamingo Road in Cooper City. The site was too close to a place where children gather, said Gretl Plessinger, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections.

Some of the men have been forced to move several times because state law requires that registered sex offenders live at least 1,000 feet from schools, parks, bus stops and places where children congregate. Many South Florida cities have similar or stricter ordinances.

The men's presence set off alarms in Southwest Ranches, where a mass email circulated over the weekend.

"They had tents, barbecue grills, generators. Quite an elaborate campsite," said Jarboe, who did not know how long the men had been living there.

"We contacted them and their probation officers and told them they were trespassing, and they needed to move. They said, 'no problem.' When we went to check on them [ Saturday], they were gone," Jarboe said.

Plessinger said it is not the state's responsibility to find housing for the offenders.

"It's their job to find a residence. It's our job to approve the residence," said Plessinger, who said there are less than 40 registered sex offenders statewide who are homeless and on probation. The majority live in South Florida, including 16 who live under the Julia Tuttle Causeway bridge in Miami Beach, she said.

"It is becoming increasingly difficult for them to find a place to live," Plessinger said. "Some of these offenders have looked at a dozen different residences, and each has been too close to a school or a bus stop or a place" where they are banned.

State Rep. Martin Kiar, D-Davie, who received an email from a Southwest Ranches resident complaining about the Everglades camp, has filed a bill for the upcoming session that would require sex offenders and predators to list their cell phone numbers. Now, they are required to give addresses and email, but not phone numbers.

"These are residential communities where you have families and young children and we really need to keep track of these individuals to keep people safe," Kiar said. ..more.. by Robin Benedick -and- Kathleen Kernicky can be reached at kkernicky@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7907.