Hypocrisy and zero tolerance....Florida janitor could lose job over shoplifting..27 years ago. [View All]

Rhodes said that if the law was employed fairly, School Board member Frank O'Reilly would face the consequences of the Lunsford Act for his 1963 and 1967 conviction of public drunkenness and of relieving himself in public.

But School Board lawyer Wes Bridges said that bringing up O'Reilly's youthful indiscretions is a "red herring" in Belmares' case.

The Polk School Board chose not to include a provision in its adoption of the Jessica Lunsford law that allows school districts to grant exemptions for convicted felons whose crimes were committed more than three years ago.

...."Belmares, 52, was arrested in 1980 for felony grand theft. She was caught shoplifting clothing for herself and two daughters, then 6 and 2, from a Winter Haven department store. The clothing was valued at $110.38, which constituted grand theft in 1980. By today's standards, the same crime would be a misdemeanor because grand theft's threshold now is $300.

For her crime, Belmares paid a $500 fine and served two days in jail and three years of probation. Since then, she's had no other criminal convictions.

But the one-time offense is enough to fire Belmares, because the School Board makes little distinction between any of the felonies listed under the Lunsford Act and has no statute of limitations, Wilson said.

At the time of her arrest, 24-year-old Belmares said she was married to an abusive, alcoholic husband. She was caught shoplifting clothing for herself and two daughters, then 6 and 2, from a Winter Haven department store. The clothing was valued at $110.38, which then constituted grand theft.