Authorities in Florida are sending convicted sex offenders to jail for violating the terms of their probation by having men’s magazines such as Maxim.
Andrew Calderon, 23, was jailed for six days before a judge ordered his release after officers found a racy poster and calendar and copies of Maxim in his home earlier this year.
A judge will decide next month whether Calderon’s probation should be revoked or extended and whether the materials were innocent.
Corrections officials said Calderon, who was on probation for the sexual battery of a mentally disabled relative, committed a violation by having “sexually stimulating” material.
But in court papers, Calderon’s lawyer, Mel Black, described Maxim as far from obscene.
“This is beyond schoolmarmism here. It’s really mind-blowing,” Black said.
In another case, sex offender Joseph Conte, 56, was arrested when authorities found a copy of a sex manual in a drawer next to the bed the former schoolteacher shares with his wife. A judge later dismissed the probation complaint.
Florida authorities have increased their surveillance of sexual offenders since two young girls were slain earlier this year, both of them allegedly attacked by sex offenders who were free on probation.
