My Complicated Situation & How Allen West Might Be Able To Help

The Situation
For any of you who have been following my blog or are my friends on facebook, you should already know a little bit about the issue at hand.

The short version of it goes like this: During a tough time in my life, I became friends with some unsavory characters, a gay couple that I met up with for sex. In the course of my friendship with them, I discovered that they collected, dealt and possibly even produced their own child pornography. After some serious consideration, I decided to take this issue to the FBI. The FBI launched an investigation and I was considered a “CI” (confidential informant).

Since that time, the case has seemingly been dropped. But this is over a year after I risked everything (and lost) by stealthily soliciting a DVD/CD with over 30 disgustingly hardcore videos and images of children being abused in ways that I will not describe on this blog. The FBI and Fort Lauderdale Police raided the men’s home while they were supposedly away on vacation as part of the investigation and recovered even more evidence against these men.

Since then, week after week and month after month went by and nothing else happened. The FBI stopped being as forthcoming with information as they had been. They changed my contact agent on me two different times and returned my calls less frequently. I have not been contacted by the FBI in about 4 months. I feel like I was basically hung out to dry.

I went before the Broward Human Trafficking Coalition and told of my case to anyone there who would listen to me. The Dolphin Democrats invited me to speak at one of their monthly meetings so that I could direct people to my blog and give them more information about the case.

I spoke to child safety advocates from around the country online and on the phone about the issue and discussed it with the Broward County Sheriff’s Department as well. An interesting conversation with an anonymous (only because I can’t remember his name) Sheriff’s Office employee, revealed something that I think everyone should know. Evidently, according to this unnamed source, there are only 6 or 7 “processing centers” in the United States where law enforcement can take recovered computers and electronics to have them probed for evidence in child pornography cases. These places are supposedly like warehouses and they are all back-logged for years because child pornography is THAT prevalent in our society and they just don’t have the manpower or funding to process all of these computers!

That being said, this particular case is probably NOT being held up for that reason. The FBI officially released me from CI status in a phone call a few months ago and told me that their investigation was complete. My contact agent told me the same thing: “The investigation is over and we have plenty of evidence to convict at least one of the two men. We know we have enough to get David [, the one who handed you the disc.]”

The question remains: Why would it take YEARS longer to indict one or two men for AT LEAST the possession of child pornography when there is plenty of solid evidence against them AND eye-witness testimony that can be used in court?

The Media

I’ve also spoken to reporters and publishers about this issue. The first person I discussed this issue with was my publisher, Norm Kent. At that time, I was the News Editor at South Florida Gay News. I was on thin ice with him at the time because of another issue and he seemed concerned that I was showing up to work sporadically and not performing at full capacity. I explained to him that I wasn’t getting any sleep and told him why. I even offered to write the story up for the paper when the investigation was complete. He responded by bringing in my replacement, Jason Parsley, and then firing me.

I can’t pretend to know exactly why Norm fired me. I have my suspicions but this is just the nuts and bolts of it.

The next reporter that I discussed the case with (after I was told the investigation was complete) was a woman who showed up at the Broward Human Trafficking Coalition meeting. Her name was Lisa Lucas and she claimed to be writing an in-depth article for Boca Magazine. She said she had written extensively about Human Trafficking and child abuse and that she was very interested in covering my story and that it had to be done quickly. My experience with her was rather ridiculous and unhelpful.

First Lucas said she wanted to interview me – I agreed to be interviewed at any time. Then she said the magazine would let me write my own story as a sidebar and that since I was previously a News Editor, it could lead to a permanent job at the publication. Speaking from her illustrious experience as a member of the “Society of Professional Journalists”, she told me that in order to get some press (and in turn, advocacy) around this issue, I would have to go into all the gory details and write a heart-wrenching piece for her. So that’s exactly what I did… and then she disappeared.

It was only later that I found out that Lisa Lucas was not operating as a writer for Boca Magazine as she claimed, but rather as a friend of Jason Parsley – the guy who replaced me at SFGN (South Florida Gay News). When I finally got her to call me back and respond to what I had written for her, she claimed that she was recovering from an aneurism and that my story would go to press very soon… Of course, it never did. If Ms. Lucas was indeed suffering from an aneurism, I apologize and hope she makes a speedy recovery.

Lastly, I spoke to Jay Weaver at the Miami Herald. He had written an article about the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for South Florida who was discovered to have received child pornography via email on his home computer. I remembered that the two men whom I had reported to authorities told me that they had “friends everywhere” and could take trips to Cuba and Prague where they could “pay little boys five dollars to do whatever [they] wanted”.

When Mr. Weaver called me back, he seemed more interested in the fact that AOL had reported this ICE agent to authorities. He was interested in whether or not I knew anything about AOL’s method of intercepting illegal emails. What Mr. Weaver was apparently NOT interested in was the likely possibility that my story and his could share a connection.

So, the Miami Herald has a story about a man who’s only known to have received 4 pictures via email and this is “big news” to them. Meanwhile, they neglect a story about two men who owned hundreds of high quality videos of children, toddlers and even infants being sexually abused when I’m telling them that I was a witness to these events… The news is apparently not the news until the government says it is…

The Government

So far, Government has been about as helpful as a sharp stick in the eye. I’ve spoken to Congressional Aides, Sheriff’s Officers, FBI Agents, State-Level leaders of efforts to combat Human Trafficking, and City Police and have come up empty-handed on all counts. The ONLY thing I NEED TO HAPPEN is for the two men that I turned in to authorities to see the inside of a courtroom. Once that happens, my good samaritan task is completed and I can go on with my life… Until it does happen, I am left wondering what happened to my country and my faith in humanity.
After I coaxed a response from the offices of Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) I received a call from Jon Pyatt, Mrs. Schultz’ Deputy Chief of Staff. I was pleasantly surprised that he took time out of his hectic schedule to discuss my concerns with me. The congresswoman sits on the Intelligence Oversight Committee and her district is right next door, so this, in my mind, makes her the person who could see to it that whatever went wrong goes right. To further identify Mrs. Shultz as the perfect candidate to help me resolve my issue, child safety and the capture of predators is an issue that she has introduced legislation on and sought funding for.

Mr. Pyatt explained to me that if the congresswoman were to look specifically at my case - or to “cherry pick” as they say – it could be perceived as a lapse in ethics. Evidently, members of an oversight panel in congress can only look at an aggregate of investigations or Federal cases and can’t ethically zone in on a specific case… unless of course, the issue is specific to THEIR constituents. This brings me to my next attempt at ensuring that justice is served.

I contacted the offices of Allen West (R-FL) who was freshly elected in 2010 as part of the Tea Party revolution. Anybody who has been reading my blog or following me on facebook will know how I feel about conservative Republicans and thus what a stretch it is for me to go to these lengths. But as I explained to my friends – I refuse to draw a political line in the sand when it comes to the safety and protection of children. I need help from Mr. West because the criminals that I reported and helped to investigate happen to live in his district.

The offices of Allen West directed me to their website where I downloaded a form that authorizes him to investigate me and my situation as it pertains to the US Attorney’s Office. If he looks into this case and can determine that an indictment should have been handed down to these two men – we may finally have this ball rolling…

I have filled out Mr. West’s advocacy request form and he should be receiving it shortly. I only hope that my incessantly partisan blogging for Team Obama will not prejudice him against me. I hope at least that his desire to create a safe environment for kids in South Florida will rise stronger than any disfavor of liberal Democrats he might harbor.

Wish me luck – and as always, I’ll keep you updated!
-Jarrett Terrill
floridasqueezed@gmail.com

UPDATE (01-08-2012): DAVID BARCENAS GUILTY PLEA! (Now how about Stephen R. Morse?)

Uncomfortable Silence - Why Won’t Obama’s Miami Attorney Indict Child Pornographers like Stephen M0rse* and his partner David?

[There are more recent posts related to this one - click here to read newer information.] I have always been a big supporter of President Obama. I campaigned for him in 2008 and registered over 500 new voters on behalf of him and Hillary Clinton. But shortly after that, I got myself into a bit of a mess…

And now I find myself wondering why Obama’s appointed US Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer seems not to want to put the consumers/distributors of child pornography (and possible human traffickers) behind bars.

Starting at the beginning…

My blog was never really supposed to be about me… I intended to use it to spout off about politics and government but now I find that it will begin to have more use in bringing to rest an issue I’ve been struggling with for a couple years now.

* UPDATE 8-15-11 - DISCLAIMER - The name Stephen M0rse is a very common name, even with his middle initial R. included. If you know someone by this name, please don't jump to any conclusions as it could very likely be a mix up. I've already heard from two other Stephens with the same full name and they understandably do not wish to be confused with the subject of this blog post. I have taken measures to limit the circumstances that this post pops right up in Google - but if you accidentally got here that way anyway, please do not be alarmed. Like I said, it's a very common name. Sorry for any confusion.

I am gay and I had been having a discreet sexual affair with a gay couple who lived in one of the wealthier areas of Fort Lauderdale. It wasn’t until the 5th or 6th time that I met up with them that they revealed their appreciation for child pornography. They showed me digital videos of horrible things being done to young children. These images still haunt me to this day.

In early May of 2009, I drove down to the Miami Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigators and reported what I had seen. The FBI took my report and sent two agents to my house to collect every detail I could remember about the situation. Based on my eye witness account, they began an investigation.

The FBI went back and forth with me for about six months and they encouraged me to go back to the men’s home as a “CI” (that stands for confidential informant) and gather hard physical evidence of what I had seen there… They told me that I was going to be their “star witness” in this case and they insinuated that they would pay me reward money for my good Samaritan reporting. I told them that I reported the case for the sake of the kids involved and I didn’t care if it would earn me any money (and that I would rather not get “famous” this way)…

One evening, I secured over 30 digital videos on a DVD data disc for the agents and they came to my house to pick it up the next morning. About two months after that, they (along with a squad from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department) raided the house that belongs to the two men off Bayview Drive.

An agent called to inform me that the house had been raided and that there was enough evidence on hand to prosecute. Her voice was chipper and she sounded like this was good news.

“So are they in jail?” I asked…

“No, not exactly,” she replied. “You see, we didn’t know that they were on vacation at the time and we raided an empty house that was overflowing with evidence against them but nobody was inside.”

“But you’ll arrest them when they get back, right?”

“Well, we’re talking to their lawyers and the lawyers are being very cooperative,” she replied with less conviction in her voice.

I think it occurred to both myself and the agent that I was dealing with at that time that this was not good news she was calling me with… These events were out of order. Since when do we negotiate with the lawyers of criminals before handing down an indictment or an arrest?

After that conversation it would be 6 months before the FBI would contact me again. It was a call from some kind of secretary at the FBI office in Miami to tell me only that I had been “released” from my CI status and my services were no longer needed.

Since that time, I have been trying to piece things together and conduct my own personal investigation into what went wrong and why these men are still free - and I'm not getting much help. The whole process should not need to take years, especially in this case.

Oh, the FBI has sure been back to visit me... They have promised that an indictment is on its way but have refused to say when. When I've asked them how I can get in touch with the attorneys who are supposed to handle the case, the answer does not come. When I ask them to verify my story with journalists, the answer is "we can't". When I ask them if there's a psychologist I can go to because I can't sleep at night, they don't know of any... This has been going on for over TWO YEARS now...

The US Attorney’s Office, who is supposed to prosecute cases like this has not issued an indictment against these men and they will not return any of my numerous phone calls.
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz who claims to care about abused kids has not responded to me either and neither has Senator Bill Nelson or Congressman Alan West.

UPDATE 04-18-11 : Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz' staff has returned my call and assures me that they are taking the issue seriously and looking into it. Nobody from her office removed my facebook post from her page either - it's still there. Evidently facebook was acting up when I posted it and it only appeared as though it had been removed. I'm taking this opportunity to apologize to Mrs. Schultz, her staff and my readers for that error in perception on my part and thank her and her staff for their interest and advocacy in matters like these.

But most of all, US Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer should be very concerned about all of this because as long as these two men are free to molest children (as they have admitted to me that they’ve done), I expect Florida parents to stand up for their kids and demand his resignation. I have done my part… In fact, I’ve done way more than most people would.

Let this be a lesson to people in Law Enforcement and Government everywhere. When you fail to do your jobs, the people will learn about it - there are photos, videos, audio recordings and documentation of all of these events too. The only way I feel that I can keep myself protected is to make sure that all of this is in the public domain so that there is little incentive to "hush me"... or moreso, to make sure that people never confuse which side of this terrible situation I am on (the side of safe kids and law enforcement that works quickly and efficiently).

I need to get on with my life... I have lost my job, my best friend hasn't called me in months, and even my own mother is hesitant to talk to me about this because she's afraid for my safety. If the US Attorney's office can't make an arrest or issue an indictment, they are putting my safety and reputation at risk after I've done everything within my power to do the right thing.

Did I mention that these guys live less than 1 mile from a school? I sure hope nobody lets their kids hang out the parks and schools in THIS neighborhood.

Now would be a good time to issue that indictment.

I can be reached at FloridaSqueezed@gmail.com