Tag: Florida

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Florida: Pipe Bomb Suspect Identified

Prior mugshot of Cesar Sayoc, Jr. (via NBC News)

NBC News reports that 56-year-old Florida resident Cesar Sayoc, Jr. has been identified as the suspect who sent a dozen pipe bomb packages to prominent critics of President Donald Trump.

Sayoc’s white van, which had pictures of Trump and the presidential seal plastered to the windows, was seized by the officials and hauled off to a secure facility.

For those who will ask, according to records, Sayoc is a registered Republican.

Far-right Trump supporters like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity have suggested in the past couple of days that the bombs might have been sent by Democrats as a ‘false flag.’

Sayoc’s Facebook page has apparently been identified. It’s quite the shrine to Donald Trump.

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Florida: Mayor Andrew Gillum Leads Rep. Ron DeSantis In Governor’s Race

A new CNN poll is energizing Florida Democrats as two of their top candidates are beginning to pull out significant leads.

The CNN poll, conducted Tuesday through Saturday, shows Tallehasse Mayor Andrew Gillum garnering support from 54% of likely voters versus 42% for Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis.

In the U.S. Senate race, CNN shows incumbent Democrat Sen. Bill Nelson leading current Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott among likely voters, 50% to 45%.

RealClearPolitics’ average of polls shows Gillum leads DeSantis by an average of 3.7%, and Nelson has an average 2.4% lead over Scott.

So, this is by no means a done deal. Make sure you get out and vote, folks.

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Florida Judge Dismisses Charges In Phony Police Sex Sting

In August, I reported on a police sting operation that resulted in the arrests of 13 men having consensual sex in a private area of the Pleasure Emporium Adult Boutique in Hollywood, South Florida.

Now, Judge Ginger Lerner Wren has dismissed all the charges against two of the defendants.

At the time of the arrests, police officers had gone to the trouble of paying $25 to enter locked, private rooms at the back of the Pleasure Emporium in South Florida where men were masturbating and engaging in oral sex.

The state had argued that an unsuspecting patron of Pleasure Emporium could accidentally observe the sexual activity.

But the judge disagreed.

“The Court finds that the Pleasure Emporium is not a public place under F.S. 800.03 where the patrons who access the private viewing theaters where consensual sexual activity occurs in the presence of other consenting adults objectively and subjectively possess a reasonable expectation of privacy,” Judge Wren wrote in her ruling.

Following the raid, the police department released the names and photos of those arrested to the media. Several major media outlets published that information which, in effect, outed some of them to their coworkers and families.

One man was apparently fired from his job due to the public outings.

Rhonda F. Gelfman, a lawyer who represented one of the defendants, told South Florida Gay News, “We are quite pleased with the court ruling, and justice was appropriately served,”

Unfortunately, some of the other defendants have already pleaded guilty to their charges.

Gelfman said that while it might be difficult to get their guilty pleas thrown out, “We may be able to assist them.”

Meanwhile, the Sun-Sentinel reports that while the Hollywood Police Department is spending it’s time busting gay men for consensual sex, the HPD is none too worked up about investigating actual sex crimes.

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Florida Church Fights Homophobic Vandalism With LGBT Messages Of Inclusion

(image via Facebook)

A church in Florida responded to homophobic vandalism with its own message of love.

Over the weekend, the Allendale United Methodist Church in St. Petersburg, Florida, found the words “gay pastor” spray-painted across the church’s sign.

But, instead of immediately removing the graffiti, Rev. Andy Oliver decided to leave the spray paint surrounded by a rainbow of hearts (in a nod to the LGBTQ community) and the phrase, “LOVE ALWAYS WINS!”

“This is just one example of the type of hate crime and hate message the LGBT community goes through regularly,” Oliver told The Tampa Bay Times. “It certainly isn’t great our sign got vandalized, but we want to surround that message of hate with a message of love, and that’s what we’ve received since.”

Additionally, Oliver posted on the opposite side of the church sign the statement, “Vandalism is a felony that shouldn’t take away your vote for life! Vote yes on Amendment 4.”

Folks in the Sunshine state will soon vote on Amendment 4 which would restore voting rights to most felons after serving their time in prison.

The church has a history of using its sign to share progressive messages.

In July, a brick was thrown through the sign after a quote by civil rights leader Congressman John Lewis had been posted. That damage was significant enough that funds had to be raised to purchase a new sign set to be installed next month.

According to a St. Petersburg Police Department spokesperson, the authorities are investigating the vandalism.

St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman chimed in via his Facebook account writing, “Amen, Allendale UMC – St. Petersburg. And this shows that we still have work to do, and why we fight every single day to create a climate of inclusion.”

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Florida Man Pleads Guilty To Secretly Recording Hookups And Selling To Porn Sites

Bryan

Earlier this summer, I reported on the arrest of Bryan Deneumostier, a Florida man who tricked men into being blindfolded for sexual encounters he secretly filmed for a porn website.

According to the Miami Herald, the victims would connect with Deneumostier via Craigslist and then head to a home in South Miami-Dade for an anonymous sex-capade with a ‘bored military housewife.’

The men apparently agreed ahead of time to be blindfolded or wear blackout goggles. What they didn’t realize was the ‘bored housewife’ was actually 33-year-old Deneumostier who, once the men were unable to see and had their hands tied to a chair, would perform various sex acts like oral sex and record the episodes for a website called ‘Straightboyz.’

Over the course of four years, Deneumostier was paid $3,000 a month for video content by the porn site.

The Miami New Times now reports that Deneumostier admits that more than 80 of the men didn’t know they were being recorded.

In June, Deneumostier was charged with two felony counts of recording people without their consent, as well as three counts of keeping improper records for his porn site.

However, on Thursday, he agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors which only included charges of recording two victims in May and July 2015.

Deneumostier now faces up to ten years in prison.

That’s not the end of legal woes for Deneumostier, though.

In May, police arrested the 33-year-old in a hotel room with an underage boy who had been reported missing.

After seeing leather handcuffs, lubricant and other sex toys in the room, Deneumostier copped to spending two days having sex with the boy after giving him alcohol and drugs.

He was charged in state court for having sex with a minor.

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Convicted Murderer: “Homosexuals Are A Disease To Mankind And Must Be Put Down”

Peter Avsenew

 A 33-year-old Florida man, who was convicted of the 2010 double homicide of a gay couple in the gay-centric neighborhood of Wilton Manors, will receive the death penalty.

While a court-appointed lawyer asked for mercy saying Peter Avsenew had been sexually abused by his stepfather as child and lost his sister to murder, Broward County Circuit Judge Ilona Holmes upheld the unanimous recommendation of the jury that he be put to death.

Avsenew was convicted last fall of the murders of Kevin Powell and Stephen Adams, a gay couple who had been together for 30 years.

According to prosecutors during the trial, Avsenew met the men through a sexually suggestive ad on Craigslist. After killing the couple, he stole their car, belongings and money.

At his sentencing hearing in January, the convicted killer flipped off members of the family in the court room after hearing the jury’s recommendation for the death penalty.

He told the judge at the time of sentencing he had no regrets and he was “proud of the decisions” he’d made in his life, according to the local ABC news affiliate.

While the judge could have spared his life, Avsenew sealed his own fate by writing a letter to the Holmes saying “It is my duty as a white man to cull the weak and timid from existence.”

“Homosexuals are a disease to mankind and must be put down,” he added. “These weren’t the first and won’t be the last.”

Missy Badget, a family member of one of the victims, said at the time, “After what happened in that courtroom just now, I’m happy that he’s being put to the death penalty.”

Avsenew is the first convicted felon to receive the death penalty since a new law went into effect requiring a jury to be unanimous in its recommendation for execution.

(h/t Sun-Sentinel)

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Florida: GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Says Voters Shouldn’t “Monkey This Up” Voting For HIs Black Opponent

Ron DeSantis (L), Andrew Gillum (R)

Check out the dog whistle from Florida’s newly-crowned Republican candidate for governor, Ron DeSantis, who says Floridians shouldn’t “monkey this up” by electing his “articulate” Democratic opponent, Tallehasse Mayor Andrew Gillum, a black man.

Now, racists have used the term “monkey” for decades to refer to black people.

DeSantis’ campaign claims “monkey this up” is a phrase he uses all the time and it has nothing to do with race.

I’ve personally never heard the phrase in my life, and I tend to get around.

And what’s with acknowledging Gillum as “articulate?”

#dogwhistle

Fox News apologized for DeSantis’ comments a short time later.

The mayor of Tallehasse would be the first African-American to lead the state.  

Gillum clapped back with dignity:

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Florida Press ‘Outs’ 13 Men Arrested In Back Room Raid

Last week, police in Hollywood, Florida, raided an adult book store and arrested 13 men who were having consensual sex in a private back room.

Undercover police officers went to the trouble of paying $25 to enter the private back rooms at the Pleasure Emporium. Finding men engaging in oral sex and masturbation, 13 men were arrested.

In the aftermath of the arrests, news outlets reported on the incident revealing the names, ages and mugshots of the men to the public.

From The Miami New Times:

Abbie Cuellar, a lawyer for one of the 13 men, told New Times her client has already been fired from his job in the medical field after his arrest at Pleasure Emporium.

Even worse, her client fled Cuba 20 years ago after being persecuted there for being gay. Since moving to the States, he had not come out to his co-workers. Cueller said the arrest — and the local media’s lurid coverage — outed her client and has pushed him into depression. New Times is not naming Cuellar’s client because of the harm the arrest has already done.

“He was persecuted in Cuba because of his sexuality,” Cuellar says. “He was thrown out of his home and thrown out of school because he was gay. He fled as a result and thought America was going to be this beacon of ‘freedom.’ He now basically has lost everything he has worked for… He is horribly suicidal.”

In a statement, a Hollywood police spokesman defended last week’s raid, calling the locked, private rooms that you have to pay to get into at Pleasure Emporium a “public space.”

As LGBTQNation points out, “indecent exposure in Florida has to occur in a public place or somewhere that can be viewed from a public place.”

Anyone who drives all the way to the Pleasure Emporium, enters the adult bookstore, and purchases a $25 ticket for the backroom could hardly be “worried” that other people would have sex around them.

“Clearly, this was a private setting within a private setting — you would have to pay to get into it,” Cuellar says. “It’s not in a residential neighborhood. There’s no danger a kid would ever walk past, even. The fact that they’ve been made out to be these sexual deviants, I feel like I’m back in the 1960s! I don’t understand the point of this arrest other than smearing and humiliating these men.”

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Miami Beach Gay Bashers Charged With Aggravated Felony Battery

Four men accused of a violent gay bashing after Miami Beach Pride this past Sunday have been released on bond after being arrested and charged with felony aggravated battery.

Miami’s local ABC affiliate WSVN reports that the young men accused of a violent gay bashing after Miami Beach Pride this past Sunday have been released on bond after being arrested and charged with felony aggravated battery.

The four men — who police identified as 20-year-old Luis Alonso, 21-year-old Adonis Diaz, 21-year-old Juan C. Lopez and 21-year-old Pablo Reinaldo Romo — bonded out of jail on Wednesday. According to a Miami Beach Police spokesperson, all four men are facing aggravated battery felony charges.

Each of the four men were being held on $7,500 bond.

Surveillance cameras outside the Miami Beach bathroom, located near the beach along Ocean Drive and Sixth Street, recorded the assault on Sunday night.

Investigators said the subjects yelled an anti-gay slur in Spanish before the brawl ensued.

The State Attorney’s Office is still deciding whether the suspects will be charged with a hate crime.

You can find my original reports on the attack here and here.

Florida State Attorney Kathy Rundle promises all hate crime aspects of the attack will be evaluated throughly.

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Update On Florida High School Shooting

Accused Florida shooter Nikolas Cruz

The latest news regarding yesterday’s hideous gun massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which left 17 dead.

That death toll could rise.

• The shooter, identified as 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.

• According to Dr. Evan Boyer, Broward Health North received a total of nine patients, including the suspect who was treated and released to authorities. Two patients died, three have been discharged, while another three remain in the hospital.

• Doctor Menendez of Broward Health Emergency told reporters that out of the seven patients they received, two remain in critical but stable condition and the other five have been a released.

• Gov. Rick Scott of Florida told the press he plans to meet with state lawmakers to secure more funding for school safety and the treatment of mental illness. “If we have somebody that’s mentally ill, they can’t have access to a gun,” Mr. Scott said.

• A leader of a white nationalist group has confirmed Cruz was member of his organization and participated in organized drills. #VeryFinePeople

Nothing I can say about these tragedies can express the sheer pain and frustration as the words of this mother can:

And then there’s this: