hello Everyone,
Evelyn here,
With an Attorney General "News Briefs" on the the OAG plans for the coming year.
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December 28, 2007
Message from Attorney General Bill McCollum
As your Attorney General, I’m looking ahead with great anticipation to
a new year of opportunities to serve the people of our state. Among my
top priorities will be to reach our goal of taking my CyberSafety
education initiative to every high school and middle school in Florida.
More than 16,000 students have already participated in this informative
program to learn about potential dangers lurking online, and how to
protect themselves from internet child predators. But we need to reach
thousands more, and I’m pleased that our new partnerships with the
Florida Association of District School Superintendents and the Florida
School Board Association among others will help make that happen.
This new year will also bring the opening of several additional offices
of my Child Predator CyberCrime Unit. With bureaus now operating in
Jacksonville and Orlando, I’m looking forward to offices in Fort
Lauderdale, Tampa and Pensacola opening soon. The unit has already
arrested well over 50 people for internet crimes against children,
including one just this week. Joaquim Enrique Santana faces up to 20
years in prison after soliciting someone he believed was a 13-year-old
girl online and traveling to meet her in a Central Florida parking lot
on Christmas Eve. Additional offices and trained personnel will give
us even more resources to pursue these predators.
My office will have a full legislative agenda this spring as part of
our mission to help make Florida a safer place to live, work and raise
a family. In 2008, our top legislative priority will be to address our
state’s growing, deadly gang problem. I am anticipating innovative,
proactive proposals resulting from the Statewide Grand Jury organized
by my Office of Statewide Prosecution to look into Florida’s criminal
gang crisis.
I am working with the Legislature as well to pass the Marijuana Grow
House Eradication Act of 2008, which targets the increasing threat that
these grow houses pose to Florida’s neighborhoods. The hydroponic
marijuana cultivated by the organized criminals who operate the grow
houses is extremely potent, containing up to 15 times the amount of THC
- the addictive chemical found in marijuana - than the marijuana common
20 years ago. It trades pound-for-pound with cocaine, and attracts
violent drug dealers motivated by big profit margins. The bill targets
the for-profit growers by increasing penalties for growing 25 or more
plants, and contains powerful child protection provisions including
tougher penalties if a child is present at a grow house.
Our other legislative priorities will include cracking down on the
growing crime of mortgage foreclosure rescue fraud, creating tough new
anti-counterfeiting/anti-piracy measures, and making Florida among the
first states in the nation to compensate victims of child pornography.
I also expect recommendations next month on policy changes and
proposals from the Council on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys
to have a positive impact on Florida’s families.
We have a busy year ahead, and a wealth of opportunities to continue to
improve the quality of life in our beautiful state.
Thank you.----------
Evelyn out.
