Mandarin Man Shocked To Find His Address Listed For Sex Offender
POSTED: Tuesday, January 1, 2008
UPDATED: 5:51 pm EST January 2, 2008
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A man whose address was mistakenly listed as that of a sexual offender is worried that it could hurt his family and that the same thing could happen to others.
Claudio DiGregorio and his family live what he calls a normal life in a quiet Mandarin neighborhood. He was startled when he discovered his street number listed on a state Web site as the residence of a man was recently released from prison on a conviction of lewd and lascivious battery child under 15.
"My first impulse is that I was angry," DiGregorio said. "I was angry, I was shocked."
DiGregorio said things got worse when he got a mailing from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement asking sex offenders to verify their address.
"My son (is) happy in the community where I raise him, without dealing with something like this," DiGregorio told Channel 4's Vickie Pierre. "This right here blows my mind to no end."
DiGregorio said he contacted the FDLE, but is still waiting for them to remove his address. Channel 4 also contacted the Florida Department of Corrections and was told that the offender gave them the wrong address and they are not required to check up on him because he was not on probation.
"If someone uses my address to get out of prison and no one does a follow-up, I believe it could happen to anyone," DiGregorio said.
DiGregorio's address was removed on Wednesday from the offender's page on the DOC Web site.
"Your reputation and your character itself is very important. To me, that's the backbone of what this world is about," DiGregorio said.
The offender is currently in the Wakulla County jail on an unspecified immigration hold issued by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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