13 years later, sex predator a free man

7-23-2010 Florida:

TITUSVILLE — Thomas Spioch, a Titusville man once sentenced to more than 300 years in prison, is a free man.

Spioch was convicted in 1997 of 28 counts of molesting a 14-year-old boy and plotting to kill seven witnesses in the case, but appeals whittled down his sentence.
By the time his sentence was reduced in 2007, Spioch already had served most of it.

The state then invoked the controversial Jimmy Ryce act, a civil law for violent sexual predators, to hold him at a treatment facility in Arcadia.

Spioch, 52, had been at the facility since 2007 until Thursday's decision.

Though held under the act, he was awaiting trial and a final decision on the civil commitment issue had not been made.The decision to release Spioch came about because of a routine psychological and sexual evaluation, according to Assistant State Attorney Veronica Brace.

"The report also looked at recidivism, the risk to re-offend," she said.

Brace said the state constantly received updated reports from experts and looks at new research and findings. One factor in releasing Spioch, she said, was new research on recidivism showing that the capacity of re-offend decreases with advancing age.

"DCF (The Florida Department of Children and Families) no longer opines that he meets the criteria (to be held under civil commitment)," Brace told Judge John Griesbaum at the Titusville courthouse.

Spioch, who was not at the Titusville courthouse Thursday, will not be returning to Brevard County and will live in Orange County, she said.

He will serve about 12 more years of probation and will be registered as a sexual offender.

"He will be continuing sex-offender treatment," Brace said.

Griesbaum said Thursday he was concerned that there was nothing in the probation order about GPS monitoring or restrictions on the use of the Internet.

Brace and defense attorney Sonny Kutsche told him it wasn't possible to add to the probation conditions because it would constitute double jeopardy.

"If commitment is dismissed by the judge today (Thursday), Mr. Spioch will be released today," said Suzonne Kline, the director of the state's sexually violent predator program.

Kepler Funk, a defense attorney who represented Spioch when his sentence was reduced, said his client did not get a fair shake during his original trial.

"Things are not always what they appear at first blush. When my office looked at this case, we realized how unfair his original trial was. Mr. Spioch has paid his debts to society," he said.

Spioch has 24 hours from the time of his release to report to his probation officer in DeSoto County, where the civil commitment facility is located.

The Brevard-Seminole State Attorney's Office began notifying Spioch's victims a week ago about his possible release.

News of the impending release of the man who molested the 14-year-old boy between March 1992 and September 1993, has already led to one victim leaving Brevard.
The victim, whom FLORIDA TODAY agreed not to identify, was a witness in the molestation case and was on Spioch's hit-list. Court records show Spioch paid the hit-man $2,500 as down payment for the planned killings, but the operation was foiled sheriff's office investigators.

"It is not right. I have to leave the state I was born in," she said earlier this week. ..Source.. KAUSTUV BASU • FLORIDA TODAY