News
2007-07-13
Florida
representative charged with peddling oral sex
Florida
legislator charged with sexual solicitation
Florida state
representative Bob Allen hel
Florida state
representative Bob Allen held a tearful press conference
after being arrested and charged with peddling oral sex
for $20 to an undercover officer, the Orlando
Sentinel reports.
Bob Allen, a
married Republican from Merritt Island, was charged with
solicitation to commit prostitution. He was later released
after posting $500 bail.
"I am filing a
not guilty plea," Allen said at a press conference
Thursday. "I am going to vigorously fight this. I am not
resigning my office, because the people who elected me
want me to do a good job, and I am going to do a good
job for them in finishing this term.... This is an
ugly and unpleasant situation that has been thrust on me and
my family. It is not true. It is inaccurate, and
therefore [I'm] not guilty, and I will be standing
strongly for that."
Allen and his
attorney did not take questions from the press and urged
members of the media to be accurate in following the case.
"People tend to
take the fast news and make fast conclusions,” Allen
said. “I would ask people not to jump to any
conclusions on this and to be fair and slow down and
look at it."
Allen is also
cochair for the John McCain presidential campaign in
Florida. The McCain campaign could not be reached for
comment.
He was
first elected to the Florida house in 2000 and is
currently chairman of the house committee on energy. In
March, Allen cosponsored HB269, the Lewdness and
Indecent Exposure Bill, which outlined enhanced
penalties for “offenses involving unnatural and
lascivious acts or exposure or exhibition of sexual organs
committed within specified distance of certain
locations." The bill would also have authorized
warrantless arrest for specified violations. The
measure, however, never made it to a vote.
Allen also signed
a resolution, adopted in April, that encourages
educating parents and children about the dangers of sexual
solicitation and abuse.
About six years
ago, he was one of 21 Florida legislators to sign Gov.
Jeb Bush's friend-of-the-court brief supporting the state's
ban on gays adopting children, Rainbow Democratic Club
secretary Carol Bartsch told Gay.com.
The ACLU had sued
to challenge the ban, which is still on Florida's
books.
"Practically as
soon as he got into office, he wanted to go on record
as being antigay," said Bartsch, whose Orlando-based club
gave him its worst possible rating.
Local police were
on burglary detail at Veteran’s Memorial Park in
Titusville, Fla.—about 40 miles east of
Orlando—when they noticed a suspicious man,
walking in and out of the public bathroom. An undercover
officer went into a bathroom stall, and moments later Allen
approached the stall and offered to perform oral sex
on the officer in exchange for $20, according to
the report.
The officer took
Allen into custody after identifying himself. Police
lieutenant Todd Hutchinson told the press that Allen did not
mention that he was a state legislator until after he
was arrested.
According to the
Sentinel, Allen, who has a teenage daughter,
was a Little League volunteer and has donated time to
the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida. (The
Advocate)
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