Florida Banishes Man for Public Urination

It's no secret that some convicted sex offenders are guilty of nothing more than being a teenager and messing around with a slightly younger teenager. See here, and here, and here, and here. But as travesties of justice go, I just learned of an even more incredible one.

Juan Matamoros's full bladder is going to cost him. Twenty-one years ago, he had too much to drink, and was caught when he urinated on a street in Essex, Massachusetts. Matamoros was charged with "lewd and lascivious behavior" — which apparently got him classified as a sex offender. He currently lives in Deltona, Florida, with his wife and two young sons, but he's been ordered to pack up and move.

Deltona's ordinance, stricter than those of the state and neighboring cities, prohibits sex offenders and sexual predators from living within 2,500 feet of a school, bus stop, day-care center, park or playground. Matamoros lives on Brady Drive near three city parks, including Dewey Boster Park and a child-care facility.

The 49-year-old took the stand before Volusia County Judge Peter Marshall in DeLand on Monday to say he never molested anyone back in 1986, but just got drunk and urinated at the side of a car along a Massachusetts street when three people passed by and saw him. He requested he not have to move his two young sons to an area with a concentrated number of sex offenders. 

Judge Marshall claims there's nothing he can do — the law is the law. He found Matamoros guilty without adjudication (the man's record does not contain a finding of guilt) and ordered him to move no later than July 1.

The county's sheriff, Sgt. Erik Eagan, doesn't feel the least bit sorry for the guy, because Matamoros received prior notice of the sex-offender law's enactment, and besides, Matamoros allegedly violated probation for a drug offense. Never mind, apparently, that a probation violation has never been known to trigger an order to move.

It's worth noting that some actual child rapists are probably getting a better deal.

Sex offenders and sexual predators who lived within 2,500 feet of the restricted areas before the new law was enacted are grandfathered in.

Reason's Kerry Howley assesses the wisdom (such as it is) of using zoning laws to banish offenders in this memorable piece.

Comments

[GreginOz]

http://ladyliberty.wordpress.com/2007/03/07/teens-photograph-themselves-found-guilty-of-child-pornography/

[CJ]

That's Florida for you. I know-- I used to live in Deland, and I worked in Deltona. If he can, Matamoros should leave the state and never look back -- he'll be better off just about anywhere else in the country.

[Joy Kennelly]

Hi, Just found your blog Googling public urination so here I am. Although I think this sounds a little overboard, where I live, Hermosa Beach, CA, public urination on our downtown Pier Plaza is a nightly occurrence by drunks let out at 2am.

It's disgusting, too frequent, too prevalent and time to be pulled back in (so to speak.)

I'm hoping that the $800 fine and misdemeanor status my city imposes on those who flaunt it will be a strong deterrent. I'm also hoping that the fear of having sex offender status attached to their names will make them realize a toilet is in a bar for a reason.

Piss privately, or pay the fine is my motto.

[sidecarsally.com]

I had a girl cry rape on me when I was 15. She was 2 months younger and had a severe mental illness or something. This bitch was fucked up. It took two years to clear the charges and she pulled the same shit on FOUR other guys. I'm really glad you opened this article with that statement :D

[Damian]

What a really strange country the USA is! It pours forth the vilest pornographic material in the whole wide world and makes the most violent of films yet at the same time has the screwiest religious fanatics preaching all hell and damnation and hatred and goes into total shock and attack of the vapours at the sight of a woman's tits at a national TV event. And now they are penalising a guy who got caught short and pissed behind a bush. Is there no common humanity or sense in your weird country?

[Riftalope]

Finally hitting the bumps on the slope of body shame, aren't we? We villify the penis and make peverts out of people to the point of hating their own nuts. Make taking a normal whiz emergency into something about sex. Pull the same trick if you have to go in a crowded mensroom sink. Let stinky gym kids skip hygenic showers at school. Put cover up rules in Y men's lockers. ... Are you starting to get how stupid the country has gotten about nudity?

They would rather mistake every penis for a child molester than do a decent psych profile.

[Hats]

That last comment -- do a psych evaluation --- is what is missing today. My son is in prison for online chat. He knew she was 15 (he was 22) but didn't know consensual chat was illegal. She was chatting with at least 3 other boys the same way. Guess the dad hasn't caught the other boys yet, he will - because she's free to do what she wants while my son sits in prison and has to register as a sex offender when he gets out, sheesh.

[Anon]

to the above post.

If by consensual chat you refer to cybersex in full knowledge that the other party is a minor than by all means no.... no... why put him in prison. After all he was not actually having sex with a minor.

Sorry but I fail to see the relevance of your post to this blog.

[hermesten]

This is indeed the nuttiest country in the world, and Florida is just about one of the nuttiest states. I'll take the nuts in California over the whackjobs in Florida any day.

[Linsey]

My psych professor told us about a guy who was doing construction in an area secluded from the town and there was no bathroom nearby so he peed on the side of a tree where no one in the town would happen to see him. At that very moment a woman drove by, saw him, and went straight to the police station where she bitched and moaned about this man exposing himself in public. He had to register as a sex offender. Plus, he was made to see my professor on a regular basis AND he had to pay for the meetings. Problem is, his brother died and he agreed to take care of the nephews...I think my professor stated that the man either wasn't allowed to take care of them or he couldn't afford to because the psych interviews were sapping his money (I think it was the latter). But, my professor got so pissed about this and verbally smacked down the DA to get it so the guy didn't have to deal with a psychiatrist.

To Damian and Sidecarsally.com---You are incredibly right. Americans are such hypocrites. It's terrible how we sexualize the human body. Rather than seeing it as something beautiful and natural we see it as shameful. Yes, people urinating in public is annoying, but to lump it into the sex offender category? Only someone chemically imbalanced mentally could think of something like that.

[Brendan Fevola]

The demonization of public urination to the point of having it categorized as a sex offence is truly weird.

[suetiggers]

For anyone who recognizes how insane these laws have become under the Bush administration Dept. of "Justice", please help us change the laws. Go to: RSOL Reform Sex Offender Laws http://www.reformsexoffenderlaws.org/ and
SOSEN http://sosen.stormnow.net/ (Sex Offender Solutions and Education Network)

Few people know how very bad these laws have become under the Bush administration. The dangerous combination of unscrupulous, opportunistic politicians, drama-driven, sound-bite “news” people like Nancy Grace-types at Fox plus overly zealous states attorneys wanting to make a name for themselves all came together under the Bush administration. Then add in the mix one or two horrific child abduction/slaying cases and stir. There is no other crime where a few cases that everyone is angry about could be used to change the laws so that NOW the large majority of people on the sex offender registry are not dangerous, and especially are not dangerous to children.
The term sex offender is so diluted now, it's hard to know if the man (usually) who you see on the registry is a truly dangerous Gerrido or a guy who got caught urinating on the road, or a 19 yrs. old who have very consensual sex with his 15 yr. old girlfriend, or though sleazy, the man who had sex with an underage prostitute who lied about her age and looked and acted older. All (and more of these types) are on the registry along with the burgeoning numbers of teens or even adults who unknowingly downloaded porn that has child (15, 16 yr. old sex girls) porn included. Would most men care what age the girl is if they're looking at porn and she LOOKED of age and was enticing. There are so many of these on the registry, it is disgusting. And for those fanatics who ASSUME that anyone who downloads porn and it has sexy 15 yr. olds (or even younger Tracey Lord types) and they are just getting prepared to rape children, I say “hogwash”, you're nuts and get a grip on reality. There is a huge difference between looking at a 7 or 8, or 9 year old child sexually and a teenager who looks ready and posed voluntarily. These laws need to be changed !!!
They are just out of control.
For anyone who wants to learn more and especially to help, go to http://www.reformsexoffenderlaws.org/
or http://www.false-allegations-team.com/
and/or read “Sex Offender Laws Failed Policies, New Directions” edited by Richard G. Wright
You can also check out the film narrated and produced by Sean Penn “Witch Hunt” and see just some of the damage these laws have caused. There are too many innocent men in prison and on the registry because of the hysteria that's run rampant in the U.S. And the more who aren't dangerous who are on there, the easier it is for the truly dangerous to hide and not be paid as much attention to. This is how Gerrido escaped the attention he deserved. Not to mention the tons of money these laws have been costing us. So they cost more and do less of what they were set up to do.

[jim lundholm]

I hope i don't go to jail for peeing behind the "hi-ho" tavern back in '77. I did try to hide behind the dumpster, and I didn't see any kids back there watching. It didn't turn me on either. I just didn't want to squeeze the weasle and dance like an idiot with wet pants for three miles.......And charging children with child pornagraphy?!! WHAT VICTORIAN, HIPPOCRITIC, BASELESS STUPIDITY. Get a life!!

[jim lundholm]

I wonder if Joy Kennelly has ever breast fed in public. Many would call that a natural act also, when it "absolutely cannot wait" - right? How many people urinate next to the elderly couple in booth "13" at your favorite restaurant? Maybe we should stop discrimminating and start throwing the book at everyone who's behavior crosses our line of vision.