Seems to me, if a person is found or plead guilty for exposing themselves to a child, they should no longer be allowed to be in office. But of course, there are loopholes, and Mayor Lino Donato of the small south Texas town of Poteet has squiggled his way through one. He recently plead guilty to two counts of indecency and one count of improper touch, but some judge thought it would be okay for him to get deferred adjudication (which allows him to keep his job as mayor), but he is now a registered sex offender. Under those provisions he cannot be within 200 feet of a location in which children congregate. Well within 200 feet of city hall is a Youth center (I wonder if children hang there... hmmm.) so, Mr. Mayor can't go to work lest he violates the terms of his plea deal, and will have to go to jail for his crimes.
No city law is there for him to be ousted, the only option is for him to resign, but here is the truly ironic point. He refuses to resign because he says he is not guilty. (Why did he plea guilty then? There's something he didn't want to get out) So... he gets paid, and doesn't have to show up for work. I feel for the people of Poteet. There should be something in place to allow the citizens to remove such a criminal from office.
To read the whole story, see here --> http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/5322503.html
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2 comments:
I know it's a million-dollar question, but anybody know this dude's political affiliation? And, except for the holiday, why is this getting so much more attention in interational press and blogs? Thanks - Andrew
I was unable to determine the Mayor's political affiliation. Usually those things aren't drummed up during a mayoral race, but it usually gets out what side of the line each candidate is on. I did a search on google for his name, and I've seen a couple of blogs with the information on it. The San Antonio paper has been following the story since it broke. National news looks like it picked up the story post-plea deal.
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