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\u2019 signature.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Florida politics:<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Uthmeier said officers found children\u2019s underwear and hundreds of real and AI depictions of child abuse in McKinniss\u2019s house, located about a block from an elementary school. His charges are related to material, not actual abuse.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat law enforcement saw when they arrived left them speechless,\u201d Uthmeier said. \u201cThey entered into a house of horrors.\u201d<\/p>\n
McKinniss could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted.<\/p>\n
State Rep. Rachel Plakon, R-Lake Mary, sponsored the bill through the legislature.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo think that this level of alleged perversity was happening right here in our back yard is enough to make a parent\u2019s blood run cold,\u201d Plakon said. \u201cAs a mom, I want to tell every parent in Florida we are fighting for you.\u201d <\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 WCTV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV\/Gray Florida Capital Bureau) – A bill that would restrict where convicted sex offenders can live…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[90657,88651,1442,265,28,30,29,2161,4260,99,90579,15640,27135],"class_list":["post-195326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-child-molester","tag-child-predator","tag-cody-butler","tag-crime","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-government","tag-james-uthmeier","tag-politics","tag-rachel-plakon","tag-sex-abuse","tag-sex-offenders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}