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Release of candidate's record a mistake
By BARBARA BEHRENDT, Times Staff Writer CRYSTAL RIVER -- Crystal River police should have destroyed arrest paperwork it kept on former School Board candidate Don Bates after a judge expunged the case from Bates' record, according to a ruling by the Florida Attorney General's Office. That ruling, released Tuesday, confirmed Crystal River police Chief Jim Farley's initial reaction: The release of the arrest information was a mistake. Farley had sought confirmation from the attorney general because he said laws covering expungement conflicted. Farley said a larger question -- whether another part of the law compels School Board candidates to reveal their arrests because they seek work in a school district -- remains unanswered. When people with expunged records apply for certain jobs, such as jobs in law enforcement or school districts, they cannot hide past arrests even if their records have been expunged, according to the law. The arrest record became public when the Citrus Times requested it in August after hearing that Bates had a record of lewd behavior. Bates was arrested in 1994 and accused of exposing himself, masturbating in his car and calling someone over to the car to watch him in the parking lot of the Crystal River Mall. When confronted with the arrest information, Bates, then a candidate for the District 1 School Board seat, admitted the offense but said he thought the record had been expunged. He withdrew from the race, leaving his only opponent, Louis Miele, to win the race unopposed. Several days after he left the race, Bates said he was thinking about pursuing legal action against police for releasing his file. On Wednesday, Farley said he had never heard anything from Bates or received any notice the city was facing a lawsuit. Bates could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Immediately after Bates left the race, Farley said he wasn't sure how the Bates file could be found in the computer system that contains all public records of arrests. Expunged files were kept in a separate cabinet and were accessible only to law enforcement officials as allowed by law. Since the arrest report was released, Farley has changed procedures for handling expunged cases to ensure all public copies are destroyed. No one was disciplined for the release of the records. "We know that something happened here eight years ago. It's almost impossible to determine what happened here eight years ago and why," he said. Still, Farley said he wanted the attorney general to review the statutes regarding expunged records to clarify what had to be destroyed. "A law enforcement agency that has been ordered to expunge criminal history information or records should physically destroy or obliterate information consisting of identifiable descriptions and notations of arrests, detentions, indictments, informations of other former criminal charges and the disposition of those charges," the opinion states. Other records, however, such as criminal intelligence information and criminal investigative information, are not included in that list. Farley said the opinion told him what he needed to know but he is still curious whether the other part of his question will be answered in another opinion from the Attorney General. The law states that someone with an expunged criminal history can deny the history unless they are seeking certain jobs, including work with "any district school board." School Board members are not considered employees of the school district, but the district has traditionally fingerprinted new board members as they take office to be sure they have no criminal record, according to personnel director Steve Richardson. He said that has been done after the election but not with candidates. Farley said he still would like to have his question answered. "I still maintain that this was just an honest mistake made years ago," Farley said. "I still think that the most important question yet to be answered is part two: Can they exempt themselves to public disclosure if they're going to be employed by a school district?" -- Barbara Behrendt can be reached at behrendt@sptimes.com or 564-3621.
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