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

Alex Sink Cites "Religious" Reasons For Not Supporting Gay Marriage

On Thursday June 10, speaking to a group in St. Petersburg, Gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink contradicted her pro-equality image by saying “I don’t support gay marriage. I think that is entirely a religious decision that individuals can make. I do support civil unions.”

“That’s not good news for gay marriage proponents hopeful that a new governor would make changes,” writes Christina Silva who broke the story for the St. Petersburg Times.

This is in contrast to what the LGBT community might expect from the winner of Equality Florida’s esteemed “Voice of Equality” award for the year 2009. At the reception gala she garnered standing applause from about 200 of South Florida’s gay community leaders. She spent approximately 10 minutes giving a stump speech about how “every American deserves to be treated equally” but mostly she gave the audience her resume from her days at Bank of America. She did not, however, talk about Florida’s controversial ‘Amendment 2’ which bans LGBT persons from participating in both marriage and civil unions.

At the beginning of that November 2009 gala, director Nadine Smith introduced Alex Sink by saying “when you look around at these galas… you see the backbone of the gay community.” Alex Sink took to the podium soon after where she made a total of eight pleas for campaign money while saying nothing about specific actions she would take as Governor in favor of the LGBT community

“I know that together, we can make equality for ALL Floridians a reality,” Sink said to the guests at the 2009 Equality Florida event, “that is - with the right officers in place."

“Tonight I stand before you as a candidate for Governor – a position for which no woman has ever been elected. And in 2010, with all your support and encouragement, and maybe some of your money, I intend to put Florida under new management.”

Update: Director of Equality Florida, Nadine Smith issued the following statement: "I disagree with all candidates of both parties who do not respect full legal equality for LGBT families including equal protection under our country'smarriage laws. "

Darrin McGillis, also a candidate in the Democratic Primary has expressed that his position is for FULL Marriage Equality. His campaign website is McGillis4Governor.com

Sink Is Running... And The Drain Is Open

"Voice For Equality" Singing The Same Old Song...

UPDATE: Sink has finally made her position against the adoption ban solid. She can be seen in this video saying the same thing that the Herald quoted her as saying at the Equality Florida event. But it should be considered that this video was made after Sinks appearance in Broward, not before and that Sink really was misquoted by the newspaper... Therefore, I am not an asshole, she just didn't tell the crowd what she obviously told individuals. And the rest of the following post still stands true as well. However, it must be known that she DOES stand on the right side of the adoption ban and that she has now been willing to discuss it specifically.

I have condensed this post to its raw points, since it was getting way too long and boring to deal with:

1. Alex Sink (D), is a candidate for Governor of Florida in 2010.
2. She had not, until recently, been firm nor clear on any gay rights issues.
3. She was recently given an award by Equality Florida called "The Voice of Equality" where she gave a campaign speech even though, supposedly, Equality Florida was only giving her an award as CFO and not technically as a candidate for Governor (read as: an endorsement without the red tape of having to ask her to commit to her stance on the issues).
4. I went to the gala to get her opinion on the gay adoption ban and hopefully a statement of how she would work to remove it.
5. She did not specifically support repealing the ban in her speech at Equality Florida's gala even though a Miami Herald reporter wrote a misleading article which claims she did.
6. Her campaign staff ordered me not to record her on my digital video recorder and blocked my access to her. They did not want me to get her on record and made it known that I would not be able to ask the candidate any questions. (of course, I have all of this on video).
7. I raised a big stink about that.
8. Later, Alex Sink told a Florida TV news channel that she does support repealing the gay adoption ban in Florida.
9. So far, Alex Sink has specifically and verbally supported just that one agenda item for gays and lesbians, and I give myself some amount of credit for that because I really put pressure on her campaign and Equality Florida to be more specific and to actually express support on repealing the ban and not just let Sink get by with saying that she "looks forward to working with Nan Rich".
10. I am not really impressed with Alex Sink (D) and think of her as a noncommittal, political chameleon. Therefore, I will still be voting for Michael E. Arth (D) for Governor of Florida in the primary election.

Queer As Broke

I feel the need to explain why I’ve been such a bitch lately: cigarettes are too expensive and I don’t wanna quit.

Ok, let me explain.

I’m broke – not broke as in “OMG, I really shouldn’t have bought those $100 jeans” but more like broke as in “wow, am I really digging between the couch cushions for change to fill my gas tank?”. And if you only know one thing about gay people, it should be that we get really ugly when we don’t have any money. My financial demise started a long time ago but it recently came to a head when I was fired from a gay retail outlet, in part, because I took the weekend off to go to the National Equality March and fight for my civil rights. I’ll just let the irony of that sink in for a moment… yeah.

Now, add to that that I’m a college student and something of a local political activist and you have a recipe for disaster. I’m not completely unlike those teabaggers on the right – the ones with mullets and high-top basketball shoes that beg the question “what Aerosmith concert in Indiana did you just escape from and how did you afford to get to Washington DC?”

While I have no moral objection to prostitution, something tells me that the high earners in this arena spend a little more time at the gym than I do. So that leaves me with getting a real job – which I will probably boast on my facebook feed when it finally happens.

I suppose that I can take some comfort in the fact that I’m not alone. State funded services are tapped out and you can always spot some other “fabulous” folks in line at the unemployment offices. My friend Gordon rides his bike 7 miles a day to work as something just above apprenticeship at a local tattoo parlor. He found that there are cigarettes which market themselves as “cigars” that only cost $2.50 per pack!

But the biggest problem with being out of money is that it marks the end of your political voice. My Live Feed on Facebook is littered with invitations to pricey dinner parties where our pandering political candidates are expected to solicit our votes in upcoming elections and I can’t go to any of them. So, for the most part, I have to hope that the South Florida Blade will ask the tough questions at these events and not become as easily waxed & wooed as they have in the past.

Let’s take for example, the upcoming gala for Equality Florida where Alex Sink is expected to speak. This was announced on my Facebook Live Feed as “a chance to meet Florida’s Next Governor” (for $175). There was supposedly an opportunity to attend the gala for free by volunteering for the event, but those links all lead to a dead end. Now, I really like the people at Equality Florida and they do some very important work but I have a real problem with this because not only does it blur the lines between an endorsement and a speaking engagement, but Ms. Sink has not really said anything about gay rights or why gay people should vote for her. (Update: Equality Florida has recently removed the “Florida’s Next Governor” tagline from their invitations.) Are we expected to wait for second-hand information to trickle down to us from those who frequently pay extravagant amounts of money to listen to bullshit? The worst part of this situation is that there is an incredibly nice guy who is running for Governor against her who clearly states on his website that he is all for gay rights. But the Gay Democratic Establishment has decided that Michael E. Arth is a “fringe liberal” and therefore we must accept a career politician (as usual) who has “republican appeal” according to Equality Florida.

Then there was the Dolphin Democrats Awards reception ($75) at which I could have interviewed Sheriff Lamberti about why Craig Cohen’s murder was not charged as a hate crime if I had the money. That way, I could have avoided 5 interviews with less connected persons and 2,000 words of blather on my blog. We should not have to pay for information from our political leaders. It’s so sanctimonious and pompous the way these organizations assist politicians in collecting funds and to avoid stating their positions on important matters.

Pam Spaulding, on her blog, recently came under fire for suggesting that gay people stop playing this game of giving up their political dollars and then waiting to see what the results might be. She advocates only donating to candidates and organizations that you truly believe in and who have given you definitive results and specific promises. Spaulding brilliantly subtitled this new approach as “GayTM out of order for Democrats”. But it seems that some people are really addicted to the kool-aid that the Democrats have been selling lately.

In Florida, this has become extremely problematic because we have created an environment where it’s “too dangerous” for a Democrat to discuss Amendment 2 in their campaign. Amendment 2 is far worse than Proposition 8 because it has far-reaching effects like the absolute ban of civil unions and the enhancement of the gay adoption ban – things that California will probably never have to deal with. Yet the gays with means in Florida are so easily hornswaggled that they practically piss their pants if you give them a rainbow button and tell them to have a nice day. And I should know – because that is exactly how we got Barack Obama elected in Florida. I worked on the campaign for change and it was my task to go around convincing Hillary’s voters that Obama was gay-friendly too by handing them “Obama Pride” propaganda and talking about repealing DADT and DOMA. We’ve now seen the President (and other Democrats) do a 90 degree turn on those issues and I’ve learned my lesson: No more Mr. Nice Gay.