“Reasons for Delay” in reporting the ILLEGAL phone block by Lakeland Police Dept.:

Reasons for my delay in reporting that the Lakeland (Florida) Police department had ILLEGALLY blocked my phone from calling their regular (non-emergency), and then, we later discovered, had also ILLEGALLY blocked me from making 911 calls from my home phone number, which they had already blocked from non-emergency calls – Hashtag: #NeverAgain

Author: Gordon Wayne Watts (GordonWatts.com or: GordonWayneWatts.com) Date: Saturday, 13 July 2019

Narrative:

On Monday, 23 January 2006, when I tried to call the Lakeland Police Department (863-834-6900) from my home phone number (863-688-9880), I discovered that it was blocked. Later, in a very slow, and difficult manner, I obtained copious damning evidence to this ILLEGAL block to both regular and 911 calls.

As you can see from the date of this statement, it is now Saturday, 13 July 2019, and you might wonder why I waited so long in reporting this in a formal matter. Here is my explanation of the delay:

** Monday, 23 January 2006: I called the non-emergency number to report a bus was parked dangerously close to the roadway (see video 1 of 9, in a 9-part series), and I had to call from my cell phone: My home phone was blocked. EXPLANATION: Actually, if you listen to the call, you'll hear that I **did** report to the dispatcher that my phone was blocked. So, any lack of reporting afterward is, legally, not my fault: Both the morons who blocked my phone AND the dispatcher (who was charged with reporting it to her supervisor, and so on) knew of this, and so—legally—I'm off the hook, so to speak. (But, as I'm a Christian, I have a higher moral standard.) However, since I had no “smoking gun” evidence of this, as it had “just happened,” I couldn't report it any further than this.

** Tuesday, 24 January 2006, approximate date: Looking ay my notes, contemporary to that event, I see notes that I immediately visited the Police Department (remember: I couldn't call them from my home phone, and my cell phone had “Limited Minutes.”). When I asked for assistance, Detective Elisa Martin, accompanied by PSO (Public Safety Officer) Ryan Christopher Schuck, came out to the lobby. (Note: It's standard security & good common sense, for officers to be accompanied by someone when speaking to unknowns, but in light of the bizarre corruption that often lands LPD in the local and national news (Google: Lakeland Florida Police Department Corruption if you didn't get the note), I don't blame Det. Martin for asking PSO Schuck to accompany her: Had I been anyone else, I might have punched her for what she later told me.) EXPLANATION: I actually did notify her that my phone was blocked. But her response (to which Mr. Schuck was a witness) was that they were “only blocking my non-emergency calls” or to that effect, and that my 911 calls were not blocked. She refused to offer any explanation or justification, and asked me if there were “any other” problem that I needed help with. I told her that I had evidence that police had committed perjury in a report they wrote about me, when doing a false arrest. She said that Internal Affairs had “already” looked at that, and I'd better get off the property and implied I'd get falsely arrested a second time if I didn't. Only problem with that was that I had **not** told Internal Affairs about the perjured police report in my Fri. 06 Jan 2006 complaint: What I told them was about different (unrelated) problems (like their ILLEGAL refusal to release my call to police to my public defender under the court's “discovery” rules). When I saw that the police were not going to take me seriously, no matter how 'valid' my concern, I gave up complaining to Detective Elisa Martin about the ILLEGAL phone block: I would've gotten falsely arrested had I continued to try and report my ILLEGAL phone block.

Note: Det. Martin said my phone wasn't blocked from 911 calls, but how could I “test” that claim? Make a “test 911” call? Of course not: I'd be arrested for abuse of 911. So, if my phone as 911-blocked, also, I had no way of knowing, and thus couldn't report this, at that time.

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** Tuesday 31 January 2006: Verizon, our phone company at the time, sent me an official letter documenting that it wasn't a mere “accident,” or “technical difficulties,” but rather, that the Lakeland Police Department's phone had UNAMBIGUOUSLY, and obviously intentionally, blocked me from calling their number. (See video 2 of 9, in a 9-part series, or see an image or PDF version of their letter on my websites: GordonWatts.com or GordonWayneWatts.com) I was about to go and report this to the Lakeland City Counsel and local news media, but intuitively knew that the **only** 'defense' that the corrupt Police Dept had was to 'allege' that I'd made harassing phone calls. (And this suspicion was later borne out to be true as shown by a private memo dated Friday, 20 January 2006, from Attorney Roger Mallory basically saying as much, in an email to the entire police department. I don't know how I was so lucky, but I eventually got a copy of this memo under Public Records Laws.) Since I had **not** made any harassing phone calls to the police department (accepting what they told me, good or bad, and either accepting their corruption or appealing to a higher authority—no more), I then made a public records request for the last “unblocked” call to the police department, in which I called to report perjury in the police report, and asked to speak to the chief. The operator refused, and instructed me to call I.A. (Internal Affairs). I told her that I felt “uncomfortable” calling I.A., because of how they mistreated me, but she insisted that I call them. I called I.A., and left a message for the office of 2 detectives, one of whom I think was Det Elisa Martin. That call was sometime around mid-day, Thursday, 19 January 2006. The very next time I called LPD, the following Monday (1-23-2006), I discovered my phone was blocked—obviously retaliation for the voice-mail message I'd left the previous Thursday. EXPLANATION: Since I had not, as yet, received a copy of the public records I'd requested, and was unable to prove that I was only “following orders” to call I.A. (and, thus, not making a harassing phone call), I felt very, very, very uncomfortable considering going before City Counsel, or reporting this to anyone, such as the news media or city elders.

** Monday, 27 February 2006: I wrote to Assistant State Attorney, Mike Cusick and informed him that LPD had ILLEGALLY blocked me from calling them, as well as their ILLEGAL perjury in a report they'd written (where their report put words into the mouth of a dispatcher, but listening to the call, she didn't warn me to get out of the area as they'd falsely claimed). EXPLANATION: Since I had made continued attempts at both getting the public records (the call showing that I was only “following orders” to call I.A., and thus not making “harassing phone calls” to LPD) as well as reporting to the State Attorney's Office, here, that my phone was ILLEGALLY blocked—and they did nothing, for either, I can not be faulted for any delay in this regard. (Even had they given serious consideration to my illegal phone block complaint, I still had **NO** way of proving that I wasn't making harassing phone calls to LPD, and, during this corrupt era, the citizen was “guilty until proven innocent,” so I needed the extra proof that I was NOT guilty of harassing phone calls—to show that LPD's illegal phone block was also unjustified.)

** Friday, 28 April 2006: I went to LPD's Public Records department, and made some request (probably the one above, which kept getting ILLEGALLY denied), and not only did they dis me and not grant said request, but also ILLEGALLY requested my photo ID as a requirement. (Note: I'm not afraid to show my ID, as I haven't broken any law, but it is still the law: The agency can't request your ID when you go in to make the records request. Gladly, however, they provided me a photocopy of my Driver's License, which I then redacted and am including here. EXPLANATION: They still keep denying my records request for the phone call, which proves a dispatcher had asked me to call I.A., and that I was “only following orders,” and not making “harassing phone calls.”

** Wednesday, 25 October 2006: I formally request an audio copy of my non-emergency call to LPD for the mid-day period of Thursday, 19 January 2006: See my Public Records request dated 10-25-2006. [Note: Although LPD later went to a “6-month” retention period, they still retained these records for up to 1 year, as evidenced, and admitted, by their response—see below, so they definitely, and unambiguously, had a copy of the phone call I had made that year.] EXPLANATION: Since I had made continuous, contiguous, attempts at getting this public record, any delay by me, here, is excusable.

** Friday, 27 October 2006: In response to my very simple, straightforward Public Records request for ONE

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(1) SINGLE call from my number (863-688-9880) to the police dispatch number (863-834-6900), on a particular date, Attorney Roger A. Mallory (the LPD “General Counsel”) tells me that it would cost TWO THOUSAND ($2,000.oo) DOLLARS, with half paid “up front.” EXPLANATION: These morons have caller-ID, meaning that the call on the date I requested (Thr. 19 Jan. 2006) would have been easy to locate. Moreover, even in the “worst case scenario,” a search for all calls made from the 17^th to the 23^rd, the “boundary” dates I gave, would have yielded only a few calls. EXPLANATION: Atty. Mallory obviously remembers the **last** time I made a public records request of this type: I had been falsely arrested, and the police report claimed that the dispatcher told me to get out of the area where I was, a basis for supposed interference in a police investigation. However, if you listen to the call, and compare it to the report, you'll see that the dispatcher made NO SUCH statement. So, Mallory apparently recalled that LPD was “burned” by my last Public Records request (which proved perjury and thus corruption), and was, thus, reluctant to grant any further records request, and placed an unreasonably-high “price tag” on this one. PROOF: You ask ANY police department tech if my request was “that hard,” or see subsequent records requests (on “non-embarrassing” matters) I've made—and which were granted for little or no cost.

NOTE: Since my records request – for a call to LPD, proving that I had only been “following orders” to call I.A. – and not making harassing phone calls – was denied, I had NO way to prove that I **wasn't** a harassing phone caller, and thus felt very, very, very uncomfortable approaching the Lakeland City Counsel to report my illegal phone blocking. [Note to self: Add references for my claims, above.]

Friday, 19 January 2007: I wrote the FDLE (the Florida Department of Law Enforcement) and informed them that LPD had ILLEGALLY blocked me from calling them, as well as their ILLEGAL refusal to release a simple public records request on one phone call to them (right before I was blocked.) EXPLANATION: They refused to do their job, so I can't be faulted for any delay in this regard: See below for their admission that they weren't going to do their job and enforce the Public Records laws.

Thursday, 15 March 2007: The FDLE wrote me back about my complaints against LPD, and said that simply because LPD said it was OK, that it must be OK, and to write the State Attorney's office, if I disagreed (which I had already done: See above in 27 Feb. 2006 entry). HOWEVER, they neither acknowledged, addressed, nor fixed the call-blocking issue. (And, they absconded their duty to ensure enforcement & compliance of the Public Records laws: See above.) EXPLANATION: Since I had made continued attempts at both getting the public records (the call showing that I was only “following orders” to call I.A., and thus not making “harassing phone calls” to LPD) as well as reporting to the FDLE that my phone was ILLEGALLY blocked—and they did nothing, for either, I can not be faulted for any delay in this regard. (Even had they given serious consideration to my illegal phone block complaint, I still had **NO** way of proving that I wasn't making harassing phone calls to LPD, and, during this corrupt era, the citizen was “guilty until proven innocent,” so I needed the extra proof that I was NOT guilty of harassing phone calls—to show that LPD's illegal phone block was also unjustified.)

Wednesday, 01 September 2010: I wrote Sam Cardinale, Director, Polk County, Fla., State Attorney's Office (863-534-4800) asking for help in enforcing the law about three (3) areas where LPD broke the law: (1) Perjury in their police report (2) Them blocking my calls to the police department, and (3) their refusal to comply with the Public Records law (as discussed above). EXPLANATION: As my letter shows, he'd promised to look into the perjury issue, but changed his mind (read: lied to me) when I brought him the audio I'd gotten under a previous public records request (showing that the police report ILLEGALLY misquoted the dispatcher in its claims of what she allegedly told me to do or not to do), and, as discussed above, this is not my fault, and so any delays I had in reporting the ILLEGAL phone blocking are excusable.

Friday, 01 October 2010: I wrote the Florida Attorney General and informed them that LPD had ILLEGALLY blocked me from calling them, as well as their ILLEGAL refusal to release a simple public records request for

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one phone call to them (right before I was blocked.) EXPLANATION: Since I had made continued attempts at both getting the public records (the call showing that I was only “following orders” to call I.A., and thus not making “harassing phone calls” to LPD) as well as reporting to the FDLE that my phone was ILLEGALLY blocked—and they did nothing, for either, I can not be faulted for any delay in this regard. (Even had they given serious consideration to my illegal phone block complaint, I still had **NO** way of proving that I wasn't making harassing phone calls to LPD, and, during this corrupt era, the citizen was “guilty until proven innocent,” so I needed the extra proof that I was NOT guilty of harassing phone calls—to show that LPD's illegal phone block was also unjustified.

Wednesday, 09 April 2014: I make another public records request to Charles March, IT, LPD (Information Technology Department), for my brief, but important, phone call to LPD on Thursday, January 19, 2006. While I don't have a copy of his response, I seem to recall him telling me that they no longer had the audio recordings of those incoming phone calls to LPD. EXPLANATION: Since I was making reasonable efforts to get a copy of this phone call, proving that I wasn't a “harassing phone caller” to the LPD, and was still denied, and delay is excusable, here. I also notified him of the ILLEGAL phone block, but LPD was still quite corrupt during that era, and “good luck” at getting an embarrassing Public Records request, or any public admission that they'd been ILLEGALLY blocking calls and/or denying chapter 119 Public Records Requests – and/or committing perjury in official police reports.

Monday, 03 August 2015: I filed a sworn affidavit in GMAC v. Daniggelis, when I discovered provable mortgage fraud (Case No.: 2007 CH 29738, IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT – CHANCERY DIVISION), in which an elderly friend had lost his house due to admitted forged signature felony fraud photocopy forgery, and because I was afraid a false arrest by LPD would jeopardize my involvement in this case, I was afraid to pursue LPD's corruption any further at that time. EXPLANATION: Since my friend was / is elderly, and loss of his house places his life in jeopardy, I did not feel comfortable risking having a false arrest over obvious LPD corruption interfere with my opportunity to possibly save my elderly friend's life, which was placed in jeapardy by him being an elderly man ILLEGALLY made homeless. Since I nearly won in court on the Terri Schiavo matter ALL BY MYSELF, I felt that I had a chance to “make a difference,” here. – PROOF:

[1] In Re: GORDON WAYNE WATTS (as next friend of THERESA MARIE 'TERRI' SCHIAVO), No. SC03-2420 (Fla. Feb.23, 2005), denied 4-3 on rehearing. (Watts got 42.7% of his panel) http://www.FloridaSupremeCourt.org/clerk/dispositions/2005/2/03-2420reh.pdf

[2] In Re: JEB BUSH, GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA, ET AL. v. MICHAEL SCHIAVO, GUARDIAN: THERESA SCHIAVO, No. SC04-925 (Fla. Oct.21, 2004), denied 7-0 on rehearing. (Bush got 0.0% of his panel before the same court) http://www.FloridaSupremeCourt.org/clerk/dispositions/2004/10/04-925reh.pdf

[3] Schiavo ex rel. Schindler v. Schiavo ex rel. Schiavo, 403 F.3d 1223, 2005 WL 648897 (11th Cir. Mar.23, 2005), denied 2-1 on appeal. (Terri Schiavo's own blood family only got 33.3% of their panel on the Federal Appeals level) http://media.ca11.UsCourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/200511556.pdf

NOTE: I have been deeply involved in this case, subsequently directly intervening, to protect interests of monies owed me by my friend, and the case is now in Federal Court: 1:19-cv-03473 ** Watts v. Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois et. al. (N.D. Illinois, Federal District Court), and thus too busy to take any further time to address LPD's bizarre ILLEGAL behaviour, but at some point, I must “make time,” because we've waited too long for justice on the various BIZARRE and ILLEGAL behaviour: Illegal call-blocking, illegal perjury in official reports, illegal denials of reasonable Public Records requests, and that's not even counting their sordid history of corruption. Google: Lakeland Florida Police Department corruption, if you doubt:

https://www.Google.com/search?&q=Lakeland+Florida+Police+Department+corruption

Thursday, 03 May 2018: My father (Bobby Watts) unexpectedly passed away, and so, when I was planning on finally addressing LPD's corruption, I had to quickly postpone it. EXPLANATION: If I were trying to sell

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dad's shop inventory and clean out the shop (for the landlord, so we could avoid additional rental fees and do right by the landlord), and then had LPD falsely arrest me, I would have lost ALL the inventory my father had worked a life to accumulate, and would have seen my meager inheritance thrown into a trash bin by the landlord (who would have been unable to do anything else, as he is not a car parts salesperson), so any delay here is excusable.

Wednesday, 06 June 2018, or thereabout: I nearly bled to death due to food poisoning, and possibly a bad reaction to OTC (over the counter) pain meds I took in response to the food poisoning. EXPLANATION: I was quite obviously incapacitated for a number of months, and unable to embark on ANY new projects—including, of course, wide-spread corruption in the Lakeland Police department—especially, given how corrupt their misdeeds were. Lakeland Regional Medical Center (and family & friends) can confirm this.

Monday, 20 August 2018: My mother and I, who were living at 821 Alicia Road, Lakland, FL 33801, got an eviction notice from the landlord. EXPLANATION: We had to be out of the house by December 01, 2018, but my mother (and father) were hoarders and packrats, and moving was a VERY difficult and tedious event. Suffice it to say that no new project—of any sort—was possible at that time, and risking a false arrest by LPD would have allowed all our life's belongings to be trashed, as I would've been unable to move them from House-A to House-B.

December 01, 2018 to present: The house which my mother won from my father in a divorce settlement (the “family” homestead) was packed full of junk, and unlivable because my mother, who was and is a hoarder and packrat, crammed it full of stuff. —It became unable to live in it—she moved in with me and dad, doing the same to the Lakeland house (before we got evicted). We were moving back in to our “homestead,” and repeatedly repairing or replacing many broken things (water pump, air conditioner, refrigerator, both of our vehicles, which are hanging by a string, etc.). EXPLANATION: Suffice it to say that there was no way I could take on any new project, while I was far, far, far too busy repairing everything under the sun here at our broken-down “homestead” house: I couldn't risk getting falsely arrested by LPD for exposing such embarrassing fraud and corruption when so busy with all this.

ADDENDUM: Moreover, when LPD began all it's BIZARRE fraud and corruption (illegal phone blocking, easily-provable perjury in official reports, illegal refusal of simple chapter 119 Public Records Requests, etc.), I had NO camcorder or “smartphone” to record & document things like an illegal phone block, I still was illegally denied my one key public records request (which would show I wasn't making harassing phone calls), and it is on record that the department was STILL VERY corrupt for many years afterward. So, any attempts by a “small” person (without political mojo or gravitas) to expose such embarrassing corruption would have without any doubt resulted an a second false arrest. Plus, documenting all this (given I had an old Windows XP Computer with sometimes dialup speed connections), and coding it into the proper format, and copying, publishing, and distributing it to news media, and the proper state agencies, was –and is– not easy. (Proof: If you think it's hard for you to **read* *all this, imagine how difficult it was for a poor, 'small' person to **write**, organize, and collate – and publish, and distribute – all this – all the while, proofreading it to make sure I don't make a fool of myself by exaggerating – or diminishing and overlooking – and key claims.)

CONCLUSION: However, after finally moving in, and getting a “slight” reprieve in all the repairs –and other distractions – I feel that I have a moral obligation to report this (and other) long-standing corruption by LPD.

Gordon Wayne Watts

( https://GordonWatts.com / https://GordonWayneWatts.com )

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