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Letter to the editor

Candidate had case sealed

Curtis Holmes pleaded no contest to a felony charge in 1976.

By LORRI HELFAND, Times Staff Writer
Published October 14, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Curtis Holmes

LARGO - City Commission candidate Curtis Holmes, an outspoken critic of what he sees as a lack of transparency at City Hall, has kept sealed from the public for two decades an arrest that resulted in probation.

The charge was lodged against Holmes by the Pinellas State Attorney's Office in 1976, when he was working as an insurance agent. He pleaded no contest to selling an unregistered security, a third-degree felony.

Holmes, then 27, was not convicted. Instead, the judge withheld a formal finding of guilt, ordered him to pay restitution and placed him on 18 months probation.

Because of the plea, the state insurance commissioner moved to revoke Holmes' agent's license, but later agreed to a fine and administrative probation.

Holmes, 58, said last week he was a victim of circumstance.

"No. 1, I was dumb 30 years ago," he said. "I was brand-new in the business. I had no earthly idea what was going on with these people."

As a first-time offender who was not convicted, Holmes could have his case sealed under Florida law. He did that in 1983.

Since then, he has taken other steps to keep the matter sealed. In 2002, he sued the state Department of Insurance after it disclosed the charge to a company doing a background check on him. Holmes lost the case.

When asked last week about the charge, Holmes told the Times, "You want to print that, be my guest."

"Be careful," he added. "That record has been expunged, so you might be in violation of a court order."

* * *

Holmes has been a licensed health and life insurance agent since 1975. He currently owns First Southeast Insurance Services on Belcher Road.

The case against Holmes grew out of a state attorney's investigation of a company called National Systems Inc. Investigators determined the company bilked more than 50 investors out of more than $350,000. Four company officials were found guilty of defrauding the largest investor of $150,000.

Holmes pleaded no contest to selling a man named Guy Perkins a $10,000 National Systems promissory note.

Last week, Holmes said he recalled selling Perkins a medical insurance policy. He said he had no involvement with the company's investment scheme.

"That's why they didn't mess with us," he said. "I had nothing to do with the thing. If I had anything to do with it I would have gone to jail."

Holmes said his probation was terminated early, and his restitution order was for $500.

"So what?" he said. "It was 500 bucks. Big deal."

He was charged only because everybody at the company was charged, he said, adding, "there were two or three of us who just walked away."

But a year later, the insurance commissioner pressed Holmes to show why his license should not be revoked because he pleaded no contest to a felony charge.

The following month, insurance officials ordered Holmes to pay an administrative penalty of $100 and receive two years of administrative probation.

* * *

Holmes moved from Clearwater to Largo in 1979. In 1981, he made his first run for elected office, losing to City Commissioner George McGough. Holmes' case didn't come up in the Times' coverage of the race.

Two years later, Holmes asked a judge to seal records of his case. The court's order directed the court clerk's office, the Sheriff's Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the state attorney to remove and seal records of his arrest.

The order also allowed Holmes to lawfully deny events in the sealed records. His case was to remain sealed unless he petitioned to seal another criminal record, was a defendant in another prosecution, became a candidate for the Florida Bar or applied to work with a criminal justice agency.

In 1985 and in 1987, he was arrested on DUI charges. The second resulted in a fine and his driver's license being revoked for six months. He quit drinking after that, he said.

In early 2000, the Florida Department of Insurance disclosed Holmes' criminal charge during a background check for Banner Life Insurance, where Holmes had applied to contract as an insurance agent.

Banner denied Holmes' application. In January 2002, he sued the insurance department, complaining that releasing information about the charge cost him "substantial commissions." His suit said Banner Life told him it rejected him because he had not disclosed a felony charge.

In response, the department argued it had not received the court order sealing Holmes' case until February 2000.

In 2004, Leon County Circuit Judge Nikki Ann Clark ruled that Holmes could not show that the insurance department "was under a legal duty to not disclose his criminal record."

* * *

Woody Brown, Holmes' opponent in the Nov. 6 election, called Holmes' past "interesting" but said he did not plan to bring it up in the campaign. Most of Holmes' ideas are probably pretty good, Brown said, but his approach is bad.

"Frankly, I think the voters don't want somebody like him in office," he said.

* * *

A frequent speaker at commission meetings, Holmes has repeatedly demanded full disclosure and criticized city officials:

-Last year, the state Ethics Commission dismissed a complaint he filed against Mayor Pat Gerard when she was a commissioner. The commission did so chiefly because Gerard relied on advice from the city attorney. Holmes said she should have understood the law on her own.

-In June, Holmes asked all commissioners to take voluntary drug tests to prove their minds are clear.

-This spring, Commissioner Rodney Woods told police Holmes threatened to expose "dirt" on him if he didn't resign. Holmes denied that, and police closed an investigation because no third party could corroborate either man's account.

-And for four months after former City Manager Steve Stanton was fired, he called for an investigation of City Hall's "culture" and who knew about Stanton's plan to become a woman.

"It's in the best interest of the city of Largo to take care of the dirty laundry," he told city commissioners in April. "Don't let it sit in the hamper. Don't let it fester. You need to air these things."

[Last modified October 13, 2007, 20:22:52]