Flagler Beach is right up the coast from us, so local news has been covering this pretty extensively - yuck, these men are sick
I told my DH that these guys also are so stupid - why do they think sending photos of their privates would do anything for them? Gross! I know that men are visual creatures, but I dunno, I don't think most girls/women, especially young ones, are impressed by these old geezers "specimens" like the men seem to think they would be
Here's an article that was in our paper today, about the cars that were seized during the arrests and about the guy in the red car:
FLAGLER BEACH -- The Dateline NBC "To Catch a Predator" installment airing tonight is getting panned by Charles Green, who police said is one of the men who drove to Flagler Beach to try and have sex with a minor.
But the Florahome resident is also unhappy that the Flagler Beach Police Department has seized his car. Green said Monday he is innocent and he wants his hand-built "cruising" car back.
"I don't think it ought to be forfeited until after you commit a felony," he said. "I'm pleading not guilty, and I'm pretty sure I can back it all up."
"To Catch a Predator" will air at 8 tonight on NBC's local affiliate, WESH 2. The program is scheduled to recap a Flagler Beach sting at 1223 N. A1A in which 21 men were arrested -- including three locals and a former Alabama police officer. It's the first of a two-part show.
The three locals were Samuel Ray Harrison, 32, of Flagler Beach, Anthony Sorrentino, 39, of Bunnell and William Roach, 31, a former South Daytona karate instructor. The vehicles they were driving are no longer impounded.
Also arrested in the sting was Todd Monroe Spikes, 41, who was at the time a Florala, Ala., police officer. Spikes, of DeFuniak Springs, Fla., was fired after his arrest.
All the men have pleaded not guilty.
Green said he planned to watch the show.
"I'm not real thrilled with the whole concept or the whole deal," he said.
He said he didn't want to give details about his arrest over the phone but said: "It's not a really fun outing."
Green said he worries about salt air, vandalism and maintaining the worth of his homemade, 2002, red Cobra prototype, pieced together from parts, which was valued at $5,000. He said protecting a car he drove primarily for "cruising" should not only be for his benefit, but for the city if the car sells at an auction.
Green, along with six other men, is waiting to find out whether or not Judge Raul A. Zambrano will order a return of seven impounded vehicles or award them to police. The total value of the vehicles is more than $38,000, according to forfeiture reports. Police department administrative assistant Donna Kearney said the values were based off of the Kelly Blue Book appraisal guide.
If the judge awards police the vehicles, the department can keep them for work, give them to other city personnel or auction them off. Some of the forfeiture hearings are slated for April 24.
Police Chief Roger Free said the department might keep sport utility vehicles or pickups that could be used for moving equipment, as well as anything that would make an excellent undercover car.
"The car seizing started the minute we made the arrests," Free said, later adding, "They committed a crime merely by coming here to pick up the children."
Under the Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act, police may confiscate vehicles attempted or intended to be used in a felony.
Most of the cars seized in December had a lien or belonged to someone else, like a relative, so the city couldn't keep them, Free said.
Robert Batey, a criminal-law professor at Stetson University College of Law in St. Petersburg, said the seizure of property, such as vehicles, is a common practice among law enforcement when conducting investigations such as stings. Defendants who are acquitted are entitled to get their vehicles back, but if convicted, they lose them, Batey said.
"Forfeiture law has been very popular, especially as part of the war on drugs," he said.
Batey said sometimes seized property can be used as a leverage tool during plea bargaining, "but probably not in a case like this."
Attorney Theodore F. Zentner is representing two of the men the city is suing in the vehicle forfeiture cases. Spikes had a 2000 pewter-colored Chevrolet Tahoe valued at $12,620, and Daniel Peter Kelly of Clearwater had a pewter-colored 2001 Pontiac Aztec valued at $5,000.
Zentner said the city offered to sell the vehicles back to the owners -- Spikes' for $10,000 and Kelly's for $4,500 -- but his clients felt the asking prices were more than they are worth.
The city sold back one car for $2,500, a 1995 Honda Civic valued at $4,620, to Stephen Michael Holt of Orlando.
