Three Strange Florida Criminal Law Stories
As a criminal law follower and writer, this author often reports on bizarre criminal law stories from the state of Florida. These are some of my favorite vintage stories that I would like to share with the wider world.
Orange County. Florida: Veterans Day weekend of 2010, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department became a national laughing stock when it was reported that sheriff’s deputies and members of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation carried out a series of warrantless raids against local Orlando barbershops that made history for arresting 35 people for the misdemeanor charge of “barbershop without a license,” after having investigated the matter for several months. A records check revealed that in the last ten years only three people in the entire state of Florida had been sent to jail on such charges. In the present cases, many of the warrantless raids involved officers breaking into hair salons that had children inside and handcuffing the hairdressers and “escorting” them to police vehicles. At least one felony arrest was made when one of the raids caught a barber with a handgun without a license. We further learn that all the barbershops were in the African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods.
This initial report makes one wonder if these neighborhoods are known to be hotbeds for “criminal barbershop.”
New Port Richey, Florida: This strange story is also from 2010. As many of you know, “Four Loko” is a caffeinated alcoholic beverage. A New Port Richey man drank four bottles and then stripped naked. Police report that the 21-year-old man ran barefoot from the back of his house to a house a few blocks away, broke a sliding glass door and ransacked the house. He then stripped off his clothes, deserted on the floor and ripped the oven door off its hinges, according to Pasco County deputies. In another house, a woman came to her house and found the naked man smeared with blood, sleeping on her sofa. She called 911. According to a report, when officers arrived, the man allegedly said, “Why are you arresting me? I didn’t steal anything.” He was charged with two counts of robbery.
The headline of this little story could have said: “Loko Gone Loco”. It’s probably best to stay away from this dangerous product.
Hernando County Jail, Florida: 2011. Strange things happen in jail. An inmate at the Hernando County Jail didn’t have enough honey buns to pay off a gambling debt and was paid with a punch to the face. The inmate admitted that he lost a soccer bet with a fellow prisoner. The loser of the bet said that he went to the cell of the bet winner to give him the bear claws that he owed him, but he was missing four honey buns. The winner of the bet was not happy about being rigid with the bet and he hit the loser so hard that he had to be hospitalized. Yes, the winner of the bet and the hitter. he was arrested on an assault charge.
If this had been a casino game, the loser of the bet could have gambled: I’ll see your one bear claw and raise you four honey buns…