86-004735 Department Of Law Enforcement, Criminal Justice Standards And Training Commission vs. Raymond C. Riddles Status: Closed Recommended Order on Wednesday, May 13, 1987.

Summary: Respondent's Certification should be revoked. Respondent lacked good moral character when he engaged in lewd and lascivious behavior.

STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

CRIMINAL JUSTICE STANDARDS AND )

TRAINING COMMISSION , )

)

Petitioner , )

)

vs. ) Case No. 86-4735

)

RAYMOND C. RIDDLES , )

)

Respondent. )

_________________________________)

RECOMMENDED ORDER

This matter came on for hearing in Pensacola, Florida, before Robert T.

Benton, II, Hearing Officer of the Division of Administrative Hearings on March

19, 1987. The Division of Administrative Hearings received a transcript of the

proceedings on April 16, 1987. Petitioner's proposed findings of fact and

conclusions of law were filed on April 21, 1987. Proposed findings of fact are

addressed by number in the appendix.

The respondent entered no appearance.

Petitioner was Joseph S. White

represented Post Office Box 1489

by counsel: Tallahassee, Florida 32302

By administrative complaint dated September 25, 1985, petitioner alleged

that respondent "certified by the Criminal Justice Standards and Training

Commission" on "or about September 12, 1984 . . . did . . . unlawfully

expose or exhibit his sexual organs in a public place in a vulgar or indecent

manner and engaged in open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior, to wit:

displaying his penis to another and mast[u] rbating in a public place . . .

[ in] violat[ion of] the provisions of section 943.1395(5), Florida Statutes, in

that Respondent has failed to maintain the qualifications established in Section

943.13(7), Florida Statutes, which require that a law enforcement officer in the

State of Florida have good moral character."

ISSUE

Whether petitioner should take disciplinary action against respondent for

the reasons alleged in the administrative complaint?

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Respondent Raymond C. Riddles has been certified as a law enforcement

officer since September 1, 1971. He holds certificate number 090171.

November 3, 1976

2. On November 3, 1976, Joseph A. Vi11ar, at the time a policeman with the

Pensacola Police Department, arrested respondent Riddles at the wayside park off

Gregory Street, near the northern end of Pensacola Bay bridge. In November of

1976, travelers, fishermen and other members of the public regularly made use of

the park and the public bathrooms there. The park featured a double picnic

table and ten or twelve other picnic tables. The old bridge across Pensacola

Bay had been halved, and the park was near the end of one of the halves used as

a fishing pier.

3. The park had also gained notoriety as a meeting place of homosexuals :

on two nights in 1974 police arrested 18 persons on various charges. On the

night of November 3, 1976, Mr. Villar, wearing blue jeans and a pullover to

disguise the fact that he was a policeman, entered the men's room in the park,

after respondent Riddles called him into the bathroom.

4. In the bathroom, Mr. Riddles beckoned Mr. Villar to a stall and, from

the adjoining stall, asked if he wanted to "fool around." The partition between

the toilet stalls had been to some extent removed; Villar's view of Riddles was

unimpeded. Riddles first addressed Villar with his back to him, then turned

around, penis in hand, continuing to masturbate. At this point, Mr. Villar

placed him under arrest. Eventually Mr. Riddles stood trial on charges arising

out of the incident, and was found guilty of lewd and lascivious behavior in a

public place.

September 12, 1984

5. In September of 1964, complaints that men were romping through the

woods in various states of undress at a place called the Old Chimney, an

abandoned steam plant site near the Scenic Highway, reached the Pensacola Police

Department. As a result, on September 12, 1984, Jim Leath, a supervisor with

the Pensacola Police Department, in charge of the vice unit, visited the site.

6. Numerous persons of various sexual persuasions had come to use the area

as a park. Vehicles were parked along the road, including one in which Mr.

Leath spotted a Florida Highway Patrolman Auxiliary cap. Walking down a

footpath, Mr. Leath came to respondent Riddles at about one o'clock in the

afternoon. He recognized Mr. Riddles as someone he had seen before and

remembered the cap he had noticed through the window behind the back seat in a

vehicle parked in the area in which he himself had parked.

7. Mr. Riddles stood next to a tree. A conversation arose between the two

men, during which Mr. Riddles rubbed his crotch. Mr. Riddles said that he came

to the Old Chimney on a regular basis to meet people, then turned away, withdrew

his penis from his trousers and turned back, displaying his semi-erect penis.

Only seconds had elapsed when Mr. Riddles heard someone else approach, left off

stroking his penis, tucked himself in, and zipped his trousers up. Mr. Leath

returned to the parking lot and made a note of the license tag number of the

vehicle with the cap.

8. He later determined that the vehicle was registered to Mr. Riddles, and

located a photograph of Mr. Riddles. Eventually he obtained a warrant and

arrested Mr. Riddles. In due course , Riddles pleaded nolo contendere to lewd

and lascivious behavior, and to exposure of sexual organs. He was adjudicated

guilty of these offenses and placed on six months' probation, on conditions

including that he pay $20 a month and stay out of the area of the Old Chimney.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

9. The Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission has authority to

revoke the certification of law enforcement officers whom it has certified,

Section 943.12(3), Florida Statutes (1986 Supp.), and who are "not in compliance

with the provisions of Section 943.13(1)-(10)." Section 943.1395(5), Florida

Statutes (1986 Supp.).

10. Section 943.13(7), Florida Statutes (l986 Supp.), requires that

certified persons [h ] ave a good moral character as determined by a background

investigation under procedures established by the Commission." The record is

silent as to whether the Commission has established such procedures and, if so,

what they may be.

11. Although petitioner pleaded only the 1974 arrest and conviction in the

administrative complaint, the proof established arrests and convictions in 1976,

as well as in 1974. Respondent was not present at hearing to object, or to

offer any other proof as regards to his moral character. Indeed, the only

evidence of record regarding respondent's character, aside from his originally

having been certificated, pertains to his arrests and convictions, and the

underlying circumstances, none of which reflect favorably on respondent's moral

character.

It is, accordingly,

RECOMMENDED:

That petitioner revoke respondent's certificate as a law enforcement

officer.

DONE and ENTERED this 13th day of May, 1987, at

Tallahassee, Florida.

_________________________________

Hearing Officer

ROBERT T. BENTON, II

Division of Administrative Hearings

The Oakland Building

2009 Apalachee Parkway

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1550

[phone]

Filed with the Clerk of the

Division of Administrative Hearings

this 13th day of May, 1987.

APPENDIX TO RECOMMENDED ORDER, CASE NO. 86-4735

Petitioner's proposed findings of fact Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11,

12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 have been adopted, in substance, insofar as material.

Petitioner's proposed finding of fact No. 3 has been adopted, in substance,

except that the area was known as "Old Chimney."

Petitioner's proposed finding of fact No. 7 has been adopted, in substance,

insofar as material, except that the evidence did not establish as a fact that

Sgt . Leath had seen Riddles as an auxiliary officer at the fairgrounds.

COPIES FURNISHED:

Rod Ceswell, Director Mr. Raymond C. Riddles

Criminal Justice Standards 65 North 71 Avenue

Training Commission Pensacola, Florida 32506

Post Office Box 1469

Tallahassee, Florida 32302

Robert R. Dempsey, Executive Director

Department of Law Enforcement

Post Office Box 1469

Tallahassee, Florida 32302

Joseph S. White, Esquire

Department of Law Enforcement

Post Office Box 1409

Tallahassee, Florida 32302