FL: DCF spokesman arrested in connection with sex crimes involving minors

[flashl]

DCF had no hint of spokesman's troubled history

He was a highly regarded Department of Children and Families spokesman with references in high places.

But the child pornography case against Al Zimmerman has revealed a past that includes charges for drunken driving and grand theft -- prompting DCF Secretary Bob Butterworth to review how the agency vets potential employees.

...

"We are reviewing our policies to determine, 'Are we doing adequate background checks?'" Butterworth said.

Details on the previous arrests won't be available until Monday, Butterworth said, but had the agency known of the arrests when Zimmerman applied, "That would have raised a red flag."

On the other hand, he said, "we had other public officers who gave him glowing recommendations, and reporters praised him to me before this. There really weren't any indicators in his background that he would do something like this."

Zimmerman, 40, was charged Friday with eight counts of using a child in a sexual performance, second-degree felonies that could send him to prison for the rest of his life.

He was released Saturday afternoon from the Hillsborough County Jail, where he had been held in lieu of $120,000 bail.

Tampa Bay

'We' have done a poor job as a society protecting 'our' youth trapped in 'our' protective custody. Florida's record of lost, missing, and abused children in its custody is a national disgrace.