Agencies partner to fight crime in the forest

OCALA NATIONAL FOREST — When Rick Lint came to work as head of the Ocala National Forest in January 2005, he could not believe what he was hearing about crime in the area.

"My employees were saying that there are beautiful places on the Ocala that we would not take our families to," the district ranger said.

One day he saw a woman manufacturing illegal drugs in one of the campgrounds.

"Why would this woman feel at ease cooking [methamphetamine] inside her tent in a national forest?" Lint asked. "The first time I drove into one of those places, they actually said to me, ‘What are you doing here?' "

There were about 600 squatters in the forest, resources were being damaged, trash was being dumped, and there were stabbings, beatings and rapes.

"This is not the business we are supposed to be in," Lint said.

Then, in January 2006, came the biggest shocker of all. Leo Boatman fatally shot Amber Peck and John Parker, both 26.

The Santa Fe Community College students, who had gone camping in the forest, were strangers picked at random, and Boatman had traveled by bus from Largo to commit the murders.

"Why did he choose us?" Lint asked. "Do we have the setting making it right for this behavior?"

Lint had seen more than enough. Shortly after the murders, he held a week-long seminar, "Reshaping the Ocala," aimed at improving the forest by this November, the 100th anniversary of President Theodore Roosevelt establishing the Ocala National Forest.

It's been a tall order, and at 384,000 acres, a lot of ground to cover.

The law

"We see anything you will see in a city," said Chris Crane, one of two U.S. Forest Service officers assigned to protect the forest when Lint arrived in Ocala.

There is drug and alcohol use, driving under the influence, domestic abuse, abandoned and burned vehicles, weapon offenses, missing people, stolen property including plants and timber and, of course, murders.

"We can do the job of a deputy sheriff, a park ranger, state game warden, a [Drug Enforcement Administration] agent, and a U.S. marshal," Crane said.

Although they can and do perform all these duties, armed U.S. Forest Service officers work closely with other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, including the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission; the Marion, Lake and Putnam county sheriff's offices, the Department of Environmental Protection; and the DEA.

They need to work together, not only because there are so few forest officers, but also because both federal and state laws control in various aspects of the forest.

With 3.5 million to 5 million visitors a year, forest officers are kept busy, especially in some a areas.

Buck Lake, for example, had become known as "Bum Lake" and a campground for homeless people, some running from the law.

"We had at least one meth lab blow up in Buck Lake," Crane said. "Eighty percent of the people that we were contacting out here were on inmate release status, probation or parole or on a protection order, where they assaulted somebody, a wife or girlfriend," he said.

Officers have since cut down on the number of homeless people living in the forest.

When there is a criminal offense, the Forest Service officers often turn the case over to local authorities.

"The Sheriff's Office has more resources," Crane said. "We help them. We know the area. That's the biggest thing."

Many times, state charges and penalties are more severe. And, if the person arrested is from the area, local law enforcement officers can keep an eye on them.

Also, there generally is only one district judge and one magistrate judge for misdemeanors in the federal court system, far fewer than the county and state systems.

There are other advantages, too, to having a choice of which agency gets involved.

"I can arrest someone in Lake but take them to the Marion County Jail," U.S. Forest Service Officer James Willett said.

He also said that the hefty fines issued by forest officers can be a good deterrent to crime.

And, if the Forest officers make an arrest for anything besides drunk driving, there is no bail. The person arrested will sit in jail until a federal judge can see them.

"All our offenses are criminal offenses," Crane said.

For instance, illegal parking in the forest is a federal offense and a violator can be sent to prison for that, although that is not likely, Crane said. Instead, heavy fines are levied.

Homicide cases

There have been some grisly homicides in the Forest, with unique challenges for detectives.

"The National Forest is so remote," said Marion sheriff's Maj. Tommy Bibb. "Someone may commit a crime in there and it may not be detected for a long, long time."

Of the 278 murder cases in Marion County since 1992, 21 were in the forest, according to sheriff's records.

Four of the 21 murders remain unsolved. Jose Garcia was shot in the head in November, 1987. Jorge Sulsona-Maitin was shot near a vacant field in December 1995. And both Javier Huerta and Gustavo Rivas were shot in the back of a vehicle in November 2006. Huerta and Rivas are believed to have been killed in Volusia County but their bodies were found in the forest.

Amy Amber Braccio, who was found dead of an overdose of heroin and was dismembered in January 1998, also is believed to have been killed elsewhere. Her case has been solved.

"Most of our homicide cases are one of two things: domestics or drug related," said Maj. Chris Blair, who heads the Marion sheriff's Major Crimes Unit.

Perhaps that is why the Boatman case and another homicide case stand out by stark comparison.

In February 1994, 18-year-old Florida State University student John Timothy Edwards was stabbed and beaten to death and his then 21-year-old sister, Pamela Jane Edwards, was raped while camping in Hopkins Prairie. They were attacked by Loran K. Cole and William Christopher Paul, two strangers they met and befriended.

Cole is now on death row. Paul is serving a life sentence.

Why do these heinous crimes occur in the forest? Sheriff's spokesman Capt. Jimmy Pogue said people may drop their guard in the forest,

"You kind of get lost in nature out there," Pogue said. "You can't do that. When you get out there, it's like being in a city. You need to be aware of your surroundings."

Crimes against wildlife

People are not the only crime victims in the forest.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers have the authority to enforce all the state's laws, although their main responsibility is protecting the wildlife. They often come across criminal activity while checking hunting and fishing licenses.

"We make a lot of narc (narcotic) cases in the forest," said commission Capt. Gregg Eason.

Commission officers also are on the lookout for poachers, particularly people who are hunting deer at night with a spotlight.

Eason's officers assist other agencies, and do search and rescues for hikers and boaters who have broken down. They also help hunters who fall out of deer stands.

"We have boats, off-road vehicles, helicopters and airplanes, and we utilize that equipment," Eason said.

Improvements

In his cleanup efforts, Lint took his bosses into the forest so they could see for themselves the effect crime was having.

"I said, ‘We are not managing this place, They are — the damage, the crime, the drugs,'" he said.

As a result, three more law officers were assigned to the forest and regular employees got additional training to become Forest Protection officers and write tickets. Lint has an agreement with the sheriff to fund off-duty officers for additional patrols. And citizens have stepped forward to run a volunteer patrol program.

Lint decided to take an approach that New York City used in the 1990s to restore order: Start with the smaller infractions.

"Get rid of the disorder," Lint said, pointing to what was happening in the campgrounds. "That's disorder. Fear is used to drive other people away, and then crime ensues."

Lint also got the rules changed to get rid of squatters, many of whom were up to no good. Originally, people were allowed to spend 14 days in a 30-day period and then they could move a mile away in the forest. Now, after 14 days in the 30-day period, one must leave the forest.

He also developed off-road-vehicle trails to stop the damage to the land, and instituted heavy fines for violators. U.S. magistrates have banned some violators from the forest for six months to 1 to 1 1/2 years.

Lint put up sensors that are moved around to track people who enter areas they are watching, and added host sites at campgrounds, and those folks keep an eye on what is happening there.

The Forest Service has begun restoring damaged areas by planting native trees and shrubs. Alcohol has been banned at trouble sites and other areas have been closed.

"Violent crime is way down," Lint said. "We are still getting a lot of stuff dumped on us."

But citizens are stepping forward to help with clean-ups, too. Lint still is looking for more people to take a leadership role.

"Some things we had to correct and correct quickly to get ready for the next 100 years," Lint said. "People are very proud of what we have here. They need to be."

Susan Latham Carr may be reached at susan.carr@starbanner.com or 352-867-4156.