TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV/Gray Florida Capital Bureau) – A bill that would restrict where convicted sex offenders can live in Florida is awaiting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature.
The legislation would require sex offenders to live more than 1,000 feet away from schools, parks, playgrounds and public swimming pools. An offender who moves within that zone could face felony charges. The law would take effect July 1 if DeSantis signs it.
Florida politics:
Attorney General James Uthmeier said his office has prosecuted more than 1,400 child predators since he took office last year. Among those cases is Blake McKinniss, 37, of Seminole County, against whom Uthmeier announced more than 100 charges during a news conference Tuesday.
Uthmeier said officers found children’s underwear and hundreds of real and AI depictions of child abuse in McKinniss’s house, located about a block from an elementary school. His charges are related to material, not actual abuse.
“What law enforcement saw when they arrived left them speechless,” Uthmeier said. “They entered into a house of horrors.”
McKinniss could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted.
State Rep. Rachel Plakon, R-Lake Mary, sponsored the bill through the legislature.
“To think that this level of alleged perversity was happening right here in our back yard is enough to make a parent’s blood run cold,” Plakon said. “As a mom, I want to tell every parent in Florida we are fighting for you.”
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