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© St. Petersburg Times, published January 29, 2002
LUTZ -- Jim O'Neill, an abusive husband, may have been inadvertently led to his wife's hiding place by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
Two years ago, O'Neill called his wife's cellular phone and threatened her with a shotgun, she said. The wife, Danita O'Neill, called the Sheriff's Office.
A deputy came to the Lutz apartment where she was hiding out. She lived there because it was shrouded by oaks, set back from Hanna Road and concealed behind another house.
She begged the deputy to keep the address out of his report, she said. "He said, "Don't worry. This is all confidential,' " she said.
In fact, it was a public record, and remains today on Page 1 of that deputy's 2-year-old report, available to anyone who asks for it. Danita O'Neill believes that's how her husband found her.
She didn't know that, as a victim, she could have kept her address private by making a request in writing, pursuant to state law.
Lt. Rod Reder, the sheriff's spokesman, said deputies know that but are not required to tell crime victims about it. In part, that's because the law covers six categories of crimes and applies to old records as well as the most recent. A recordkeeping nightmare could occur if hundreds of victims made the request, Reder said.
Deputies are trained to give out a victim's rights brochure, Reder said. Last year, information about the privacy exemption was added to the brochure.