Two Locally Led Bills Go Into Effect

Diane CostonTallahassee, FL – Senate Bill 294, or the "Florida Veterans Protection Act," goes into effect today (October 1st). It provides for enhanced sentencing for any person or persons who commit aggravated white-collar crimes against ten veterans or more and thereby obtains or attempts to obtain $50,000 or more, which will now be a first-degree felony. Florida State District 14 Senator Tom Wright, the Chair for the Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs and Space, says it’s important to protect our veterans. " What happens is, these scammers go after our veterans because their information is so easy to get because they are trusting individuals. Oftentimes, they have some sort of  guaranteed income for the rest of their lives, so they become easy targets." Wright says the scammers will contact veterans and convince them that they need to pay for something of benefit to them and get ripped off. "This will help us to have the teeth that the Attorney General’s Office needs to go after these bad people that think it’s ok to steal from our wonderful veterans. That’s really what it’s all about." One reason Wright said he wanted to see this bill get passed and signed by the Governor is because of an incident that happened to an 82-year-old DeLand veteran last year. Jessica Henry and Gregory Dushan scammed the man out of more than $50,000. Wright said a lot of veterans keep the problems to themselves when they get ripped off.  He said that the idea of the Florida Veterans Protection Act is also to make veterans aware that we stand with them and that they should let us know so we can go after these scammers.  The information on Senate Bill 294 has been sent to many veterans organizations, including the VFW, the American Legion, and DAV posts around the state. _________________________ Sean MooneyOver three months after it was signed by the governor, House Bill 333 (HB 333)—a piece of co-sponsored legislation made in regards to a particular and controversial case in Volusia County—goes into effect, alongside another bill with ties to Volusia (see above). The case in mind involved Mark Fugler, a former Volusia County professor, who was arrested and convicted of nine felony counts of sexual misconduct with a minor. He was sentenced to 15 years two months after his conviction, but was granted a bond of $200,000—which was granted by Senior Judge R. Michael Hutcheson—as his case was being appealed. Following his release, the State Attorney’s Office (SAO) filed a motion to reconsider Fugler’s bond on the grounds that he was a flight risk. In addition to the SAO’s motion, Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood called on Chief Judge Raul Zambrano to reconsider Judge Hutcheson’s ruling as well and urged angry residents to do so too. "If you feel half as strongly as I do about this, I recommend making your voice heard," said the Sheriff on Facebook. State Representative Tom Leek, who submitted HB 333 to the state House, told News Daytona Beach of a story where the victim’s mother ran into Fugler in public after his release. "The mother was in line at a grocery store and looked over a  couple of lines only to see this man standing there," said Leek. "After he had already been sentenced to jail and after he was convicted." Leek then teamed up with another local legislation, State Senator Tom Wright, and worked on the legislation that would become HB 333—which was also co-introduced by Representative Elizabeth Fetterhoff of DeLand. The legislation, initially filed in October of 2019, prohibited bail to "specified offenders pending review" following conviction of a sex crime involving a minor that required registering for an offender or predator status in the state. Following some time in the House and Senate, where it never received a nay vote, HB 333 was finally placed on the desk of Governor Ron DeSantis, who officially signed it in late June of this year. Now, 357 days after its first introduction to the House, HB 333 officially goes into effect. And, according to the Florida Department of Corrections, Fugler remains in a state facility and is expected to be released in 2034, a month after his 76th birthday.