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Judge Reverses Sex Offender Gaffe

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By KYLE MARTIN

Hernando Today

Published: June 20, 2008

  Thomas Wolverton

BROOKSVILLE - An oversight that let a man convicted of molesting children dodge a sex offender label was corrected in an emergency hearing Friday.

Thomas Wolverton, 24, was convicted in 2004 for charges related to his sexual abuse of three children, ages 4, 5 and 7. He finished his four-year prison stay in April and moved in May to 16142 Sarasota St. to begin his nine years of probation.

But a mistake at his sentencing in Pasco County allowed him to avoid a designation as a sex offender, so neither neighbors, nor the schools a half mile away from his house, were notified by the sheriff's office.

It wasn't until the mother of the victims saw Wolverton in a Hernando County parking lot this week that she contacted authorities to report him. He was arrested Wednesday on a charge of failure to register as a convicted felon.

When he was originally sentenced in Dade City, part of his plea deal was that Wolverton did not qualify for the more serious designation of "sexual predator." But Judge Daniel Diskey accidentally said that Wolverton did not qualify as a "predator or offender."

Assistant State Attorney Michael Halkitis did not put the blame on the judge Friday, but the prosecutor who didn't speak up and make the correction.

Diskey was back on the case Friday and promptly corrected the mistake. Wolverton's state-appointed attorney objected on the grounds that there was an implied agreement between his client and the state that a sex offender designation would be avoided.

Halkitis strongly disagreed but, even if there was such an agreement, Florida law clearly states plea bargain conditions cannot include erasing a sex offender designation.

Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com.

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