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Prison may loom for federal defendants, but first pass the sunscreen

 
Federal judges in Tampa consider — and often approve — defendants’ requests to visit destinations such as Aruba. 
Federal judges in Tampa consider — and often approve — defendants’ requests to visit destinations such as Aruba. 
Published Aug. 3, 2015

TAMPA — It's summer. Everyone wants to get away. And nothing rouses wanderlust quite like the threat of prison.

At times, the federal criminal docket in Tampa looks a bit like a list of outbound flights at an airport, what with all the travel requests sprinkled amid the otherwise serious business of U.S. District Court.

Aruba! New York! The Poconos! New Orleans! Las Vegas! They are among the recent destinations of defendants free on bail pending trial, sentencing or imprisonment.

Call it an eccentricity of America's criminal justice system, or an extension of the presumption that people are innocent until proven guilty.

Defendants may be accused of drug trafficking, money laundering, child pornography, defrauding the government or an array of other crimes.

But federal judges commonly trust them to leave town and, more importantly, to come back.

• • •

Jeffrey F. Bohn, a U.S. immigration officer indicted in a case alleging lies about sex with a foreign national, just got approved for a family vacation to Aruba, off the coast of Venezuela.

He had already been released on his own recognizance, with no requirement of bail.

"We would note that Mr. Bohn is still considered innocent until proven guilty and has no travel restrictions based on the pending charges and thus it is permissible for him to travel as he desires," his federal public defender, Dionja Dyer, said.

Elliot Kahana, 69, about to be sentenced for stealing $29,400 in VA benefits wrongly deposited to his deceased mother's account, was permitted to visit Colorado Springs, Los Angeles, Vancouver Island and Las Vegas.

When first arrested, Kahana reported that he lived on $2,000 a month in Social Security and was broke, which is how he qualified for a public defender. He didn't respond to recent requests for comment.

Neither man's travel requests approach those of Rets Griffith, a former Tampa pharmacy operator convicted in an oxycodone conspiracy.

Since her 2011 arrest, 17 trips have been approved, including a bereavement journey to the African country of Lesotho after the loss of a close cousin. Court records show additional travels to Puerto Rico, New York, Miami, Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, Michigan, Colorado and North Dakota.

She assisted law enforcement in other cases and was rewarded in 2014 with a reduced sentence of four months, not yet served.

Her surrender date was bumped from July to October so she would be available to help prosecutors in a state case. The rescheduling also left time for a church retreat in New Orleans and a wedding in Rhode Island.

• • •

Travel for defendants on pre-trial release is typically restricted to the 35-county Middle District of Florida, which stretches from south of Naples to north of Jacksonville, unless defense attorneys file travel motions.

Magistrate judges or district judges rule on the requests.

Prosecutors don't usually oppose them unless the person is a flight risk, said Amy Filjones, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa.

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Bohn's was opposed.

Little has been made public about the charges against him. Court records mention the existence of DNA evidence and tell of an investigation that spans several years, without explaining how the government came to suspect that he lied.

Prosecutor Sara Sweeney cautioned a judge against allowing the upcoming Aruba trip, writing that it "poses too great a risk of nonappearance for any defendant facing such serious charges."

The immigration officer is accused of initially making a false statement on a national security clearance questionnaire and lying three times when interviewed about it. A conviction on any of four counts could be punishable by up to five years in prison.

He paid for a family vacation before learning of the indictment, court records state.

A magistrate judge, Thomas G. Wilson, approved the trip.

He also signed off on travel for oncologist Dr. D. Anda Norbergs, who is accused of selling unapproved cancer drugs. She'll spend some time in the Poconos.

• • •

Now and then, one goes away and doesn't come back willingly.

Prosecutors recall Carroll Tessier, the Canadian who kept extending a business trip and had to be extradited from Rome. He and the 12th Duke of Manchester were convicted in a 1990s scheme to defraud the then-fledgling Tampa Bay Lightning.

But usually, defendants come home, where they otherwise may stand to lose money or property for skipping bail. Even relatives may be on the hook.

Defense attorney Jeffrey G. Brown of St. Petersburg can recall defendants fleeing while on bail but not while on court-approved travel.

"I have had many clients where I thought for sure, no way he shows up for court because he knows he is getting 20 years or even life," Brown said, "but every time they do."

Contact Patty Ryan at pryan@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3382.