Mistakes again surface in Internet sex offender list

A computer glitch doubles convictions for about two dozen people listed on the state's Internet site.

By LISA GREENE

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 19, 2001

CLEARWATER -- Sex offender Jason Gallagher was relieved when a state list convicting him of a crime he didn't commit disappeared from cyberspace.

His relief didn't last long.

The extra conviction resurfaced on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Web site three days later.

And Gallagher wasn't the only sex offender hit with extra convictions. A computer glitch quietly doubled convictions listed for about two dozen people on the state's sex offender list earlier this month, FDLE spokeswoman Jennifer McCord said Friday.

Computer analysts discovered the problem and have fixed it, McCord said Friday.

It was the second time Gallagher's record has been incorrectly listed on the Web site. Originally, the site listed Gallagher with two counts of lewd and lascivious acts. But after inquiries by the St. Petersburg Times, officials changed the Web site to match court records in Volusia County, which say he pleaded guilty to just one count of an attempted lewd act.

The recent computer problem reinserted the mistake.

More than 17,000 Florida residents are listed as sex offenders on the state's Web site, http://www.fdle.state.fl.us. Their names, pictures, addresses and convictions are on the list, which can be searched by names, city, county, ZIP code and address.

"We've made changes to our system to ensure this won't happen again," McCord said. "We want to be sure the information we give out is accurate."

Bad information on this Web site could mean more than just further blackening an already tarnished reputation, said Clearwater criminal defense lawyer Denis de Vlaming. Some sex offenders have been harassed by angry neighbors. In 1999, an Apollo Beach man's home was torched twice after neighbors discovered he was listed as a sexual predator.

"Because of that potential, they should be extremely cautious in how they disseminate this type of information," de Vlaming said.

The Times began investigating Gallagher's record after he moved into a Clearwater retirement community. Neighbors were worried about having a listed sex offender in their condo building, but Gallagher and his friends said people fear him simply because he's on the list. He said he's trying to turn his life around and moved to Clearwater to be with his dying grandmother.

When he was 17, Gallagher pleaded guilty to a 1993 assault on a 16-year-old girl he knew. He says the sex in her bedroom was consensual; she said it was rape. Gallagher said he pleaded guilty because he was facing car theft charges anyway and was told he would only face probation on the sex crime with the plea. At the time, the state's sex offender registry didn't exist.

After it was created and Gallagher's name was added, the two incorrect charges were listed.

When the Times first contacted FDLE officials, they insisted their records were correct. They changed the Web site last month only after officials at the state Department of Corrections also reviewed local court records and said the Web site was mistaken.

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