IWA For Sunday 021708

Hey folks,

It's SUNDAY! Time for the IWA. This weeks winner is awarded the IWA for sheer stupidity. Not for his compassion. Not for attempting to give someone the benefit of the doubt. But for thinking that there would be no repercussions.

OK, as some of you know, I was in the Hotel business for ten years. 8 of those years I was a Manager in a major Hotel Brand. I have done lot's of interviews, and did A LOT of background checks. If someone came in to apply for a job, I would make sure I knew as much as possible about their background. So why would this MAYOR NOT know? Or Did he?

According to the Palm Beach Post - Mayor's hiring of sex offender causes stir

By ANA X. CERON

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Sunday, February 17, 2008

JUPITER INLET COLONY — Mayor John Zuccarelli hired a convicted sex offender, allowing the man to live at his Tequesta hotel until authorities arrested him last year for failing to register his new address.

Frank Boltri, 62, is a convicted sex offender who has been arrested and accused of exposing himself to girls. It is not illegal for Zuccarelli to have hired a sex offender, but offenders must register where they're living with local law enforcement.

After much consideration and with the advice of a pastor, Zuccarelli said he decided Boltri was a good worker and deserved a second chance.

"No good deed goes unpunished," Zuccarelli said last week.

Zuccarelli hired Boltri in 2006 to temporarily help him file insurance claims stemming from hurricane damage. Boltri worked as an accountant at the mayor's exotic-car dealership, Palm Beach Motor Sports in Tequesta.

As part of his payment, Boltri lived in the mayor's hotel, the Jupiter Waterfront Inn, in the Martin County part of Tequesta.

Boltri lived there for several months before the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office tracked him down in April. When they did, Boltri said he didn't register because Zuccarelli, 54, told him not to so there would not be media attention.

Zuccarelli says that's not true. He hired Boltri on two occasions and learned about his sex offender status after he first hired him. Zuccarelli said he decided to keep Boltri on because the man had "paid his debt to society."

Other than the April arrest, it does not appear Boltri committed any offenses during the time he lived at the Jupiter Waterfront Inn or worked for the Jupiter Inlet Colony mayor, according to Florida criminal records.

Boltri's arrest report recently circulated in the tiny oceanfront community, causing a stir.

"All of a sudden it just comes out," Zuccarelli said. "It's just one more issue to try to discredit me."

WHAT?

Zuccarelli, who has been mayor for five years, is embroiled in another controversy in the town. Last year, former Town Commissioner Marilyn Barfield filed a suit against Zuccarelli and the rest of the commission.

The paperwork claims that Zuccarelli has led a campaign of retaliation against her for questioning decisions he and the other commissioners made - lobbing code violations against Barfield and her husband, Richard, as revenge. Zuccarelli has denied those allegations.

People who know him know that in Boltri's case he was just trying to help someone, Zuccarelli said.

"I did the best I could with the information I had," Zuccarelli said.

The mayor acknowledged that he had not sought the details of what Boltri had done.

Well, let me help you Mayor. According to WPTV Channel 5, NBC Affiliate here in South Floria reports this.

Frank Boltri has been arrested four times, and convicted twice of lewd acts on a child under 16, once for performing a sex act on a four year old girl.

Boltri worked as a book-keeper at Palm Beach Motorsports, a business owned by John Zuccarelli. Zuccarelli is also the mayor of Jupiter Inlet Colony, a high-end sea-side community.

The mayor did not want to go on camera Wednesday, but told us he knew Boltri was a sex offender and hired him to give him a second chance. "I'm the kind of person to give a person a chance, and want to help people," Zuccarelli told us by phone.

The Problem is Mayor, you KNEW. It was not just flashing some 16 year old girls. He performed a sex acct on a FOUR YEAR OLD! Back to the PB Post.

A cursory review of Palm Beach County criminal records showed that Boltri was accused of exposing himself to 10 girls ages 4 to 14.

Boltri once admitted to authorities he suffered from a "compulsive" problem he thought he had under control.

According to state criminal records, Boltri was arrested six times from 1979 to 1991 in Palm Beach County on charges of lewd acts in the presence of children.

He was placed on probation twice, and charges were dismissed in one case and dropped in two others. He was convicted in a 1983 case, records show.

In April, a sheriff's deputy got an anonymous tip that Boltri was living at the Jupiter Waterfront Inn and hadn't registered his address.

Boltri told deputies that Zuccarelli "told him to keep a low profile and not to disclose his sex offender status," the arrest report said.

The mayor denies the allegations. He says he told Boltri to do "the right thing" and to "keep his nose clean."

Why did you, a Mayor, NOT report him to the authorities? At the least, why did you not find out if he was registered?

The sheriff's office found no evidence of wrongdoing and declined to charge Zuccarelli. Boltri failed to register his address other times last year after his April arrest, records show.

Boltri is at the Palm Beach County Jail for violating his probation in August.

Congratulations Mayor Zuccarelli, for failing to think about the consequences for hiring a convicted sex offender, hiding him from authorities, failing to force him to register, then blaming others? You are NO doubt the Idiot of the Week.
Peter

Sources:
Palm Beach Post - Mayor's hiring of sex offender causes stir
WPTV 5- Mayor has ties to sex offender