PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. — Action News Jax is following up on a story from Friday when Putnam County deputies broke up what they called a “sex offender cesspool.”
A large group of registered sex offenders were found living in the CCM Trailer Park before it was shut down.
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Now, Putnam County deputies said about a dozen of them are living in tents on property outside the Putnam County jail.
This is after they were transported there by law enforcement.
Action News Jax Shanila Kabir spoke to several registered sex offenders and predators who said they are now looking for new homes. They said their first choice was not to live in a tent behind a jail, especially after already spending years in prison.
“This was like a dream you never thought could happen.”
One man living in one of those tents believes this is another sentence on top of just being released from prison back in October after serving 8 1/2 years. He asked to remain anonymous since he is sleeping feet away from the Putnam County Jail.
“People aren’t showering here. There are food problems. The living arrangements are bad and it’s just rough living in a tent.”
RELATED: Putnam County Sheriff’s Office: ‘Cesspool of sex offenders’ cleared out of local trailer park
They feel they were targeted by the community to get them out of that trailer park.
However, the CCM Trailer Park on Balsam Street in Putnam County exclusively houses registered sex offenders. The owner, Julie Martin, said she began offering housing to these people back in July 2024.
Martin said all 14 registered sex offenders were legally living on the property, with up-to-date mapping and frequent visits from their probation officers.
“I don’t understand why the sheriff thought it was so important to make them vacate homes and put them in tents so quickly instead of giving us time to correct the issues,” said Marin.
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The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office said 11 out of the 14 mobile homes on the property had code violations.
Several sex offenders told Action News Jax this trailer park was the best option in the area for people like them. They called it a “safe haven” and said law-enforcement was included, never called to this park.
“We’re sex offenders and predators but here, we didn’t go by that. We go by we’re human and we’re making a restart of our life.”
They relied on the CCM Trailer Park because there are so many restrictions on where sex offenders are allowed to live, which includes living a certain distance away from schools and churches.
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In addition, they said it is often difficult to find landlords like Julie Martin who are willing to rent out to registered sex offenders.
Registered sex offender Arnold Marchione said he lives in one of the three trailers that were not condemned at the CCM trailer park on Friday.
“Because of the sheriff, the community put a target on our back and put us in harm’s way even though we are rightful citizens here in Putnam County,” said Marchione.
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Marchione adds he refuses to live in one of the tents if he is asked to leave as well.
“I have been down that road and it is not a pleasant life to live to be homeless and to be living in a tent. That is not a life to live. It’s very depressing,” said Marchione.
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office said there are currently 13 sex offenders living inside the tents on the property.
On Tuesday, PCSO posted a Q & A about CCM Park on its Facebook page. Here is the text of that post:
“MORE CONTEXT ON BALSAM STREET TRAILER COMPLEX
March 4, 2025
Since Friday there were a lot of questions posted on different pages and groups, we’re here to provide more context ...
Below you will see who was registered in the Balsam Street complex. We’ve included the charges and where each of the sexual predators and offenders were convicted so the community is fully aware of who chose to reside in that park.
Here are the assumptions and facts we’ve seen to date:
1. Not all of the sex offenders/predators commit crimes against children
Partially true. You’re right, we made one mistake. The one that didn’t commit a crime involving a child (minor) committed his crime against a disabled person or mentally handicapped person
2. They have to go somewhere - isn’t it better for them to be in one location?
As you will see all but two offender/predator were charged and covicted (sic) outside Putnam County. Out of those two, one received additional charges later ... that part about not reoffending, but we’ll address that further down.
The overwhelming majority (more than 90 percent) of sex offenders and predators who have listed the mobile home park as their address are from outside Putnam County.
3. Where did they go? Now they’re just out there loose.
We know where they are at, especially those who are supervised. Some have gone back to the places they came from. Some have found alternate housing. Others while still securing housing are staying at the sheriff’s office compound because they are working with the department of corrections probation and have ankle monitors that need to be charged. They also must notify either us if they’re in Putnam or the county they move to within 3 days to stay compliant with registration.
4. Sex offenders and predators are less likely to re-offend.
Six of the people listed below have re-offended or failed to register.
5. You just wanted to kick them out for any reason.
Nope. We have roughly 440 sex offenders and predators in our community. We check on them regularly and they have lived in our community for years. However, we are not going to put out the welcome mat and encourage a pilmigrage (sic) of those who prey on children (see point 1) to make Putnam their destination.”
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