Once upon a time, Ft. Lauderdale considered Jonathan Bleiweiss an ally. He was a gay sheriff’s deputy who countered discrimination within his own department. And then it came to light that he was sexually assaulting male illegal immigrants he placed under arrest.
Bleweiss, 29, appears to be a creature of habit. His victims were often helpless (illegal immigrants aren’t inclined to run to the police to complain) and assaulted during early morning traffic stops. They were coerced into handing over cell phone numbers and into meeting up for “casual encounters” at later dates.
He would act like a jilted lover when the men would not return his calls or text messages, according to those records, based on victims’ accounts.
Bleiweiss, arrested Monday, faces 14 charges, among them three counts of sexual battery by a person in authority, four counts of battery and one count of stalking. He’s accused of intimidating at least eight men in his Oakland Park patrol district into performing sex acts with him during traffic stops.
[…] Investigators said they opened the case in April, after learning a deputy was committing the assaults. Officials on Tuesday declined to say when Bleiweiss became a suspect.
He was removed from road patrol in mid-July, only after there was substantive proof to make a case, said Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright.
The court documents state the men positively identified Bleiweiss from a photo lineup starting in July.
Though we do love this defense:
Eric Schwartzreich, the deputy’s attorney, said, “I do point out that they are allegations by undocumented aliens, that at this point in time I’m not seeing any physical evidence to support the allegations.”
Physical evidence would be hard to come by here, wouldn’t it?
How about we take this to the next level?
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Meanwhile:
Court records show most of the alleged attacks followed a pattern: The victims were fondled during pat-downs following early-morning traffic stops.
Some were coerced to give up cell phone numbers and agreed to meet for future sexual encounters. In all cases, the men told investigators they felt they could not refuse the uniformed deputy’s demands without a reprisal.
According to the affidavit, an illegal immigrant from Mexico told an investigator he endured five different incidents with Bleiweiss between April 22 and June 7.
The man said Bleiweiss fondled him and whispered Spanish obscenities before molesting him. After the incident, Bleiweiss allegedly continued to call and text message the man days later, pressuring him to meet up again.
prissysissy
Creeps like this one exist both in straight and gay worlds; nevertheless, it certainly does not help portray us in a positive light.
Mike
Reminds me of the gay couple that molested their adopted baby boy. No wonder people call us pedophiles.
schlukitz
@Mike:
Straights do this shit too, Mike, not just gays.
And more often as well from what I’ve read of the police blotters across America.
Mike
@schlukitz: You are not condemning the act. Instead you are naming someone else that you believe does the same thing to minimize the offense??? Again, a gay couple who were allowed to adopt an innocent boy molested him and proceeded to pimp him out to their buddies. My partner and I have two adopted boys and I don’t want people thinking we are all that disgusting
Dennis
@Mike:
Didn’t hear about the molesting gay adoptive parents…and frankly, would need more proof to beleive you (when? where?)
People call us pedophiles because of their own homophobia, sex phobia, and religious-fueled bigotry. Isolated incidents of gay sexual harassment such as this one are truly unfortunate, but do not justify homophobia…any more than saying “all breeders are perverts” because of the minority of straights who commit rape, sexual abuse, or molestation.
The vast majority of gay men who not do anything as stupid as this gay moron (allegedly) did, so stop making blanket discriminatory statements, please.
schlukitz
@Mike:
@schlukitz: You are not condemning the act.
Ah, but I DO condemn the act, whether perpetrated by gays or straights. That sort of behavior is wrong no matter who indulges in it. If I gave the impression that I was minimizing the offense, I hasten to assure you that it was not my intent.
I fully understand your outrage, believe me. I too raised an adopted son, in a small village in upstate New York, where tongues wagged 24/7/365, and both he and I had to deal with the same distorted, demoralizing image of gays being pedophiles and perverts. We heard it until the cows came home.
That said, however, I don’t feel that we gays should have to don hair shirts and flagellate ourselves every time one of our own commits such a indecent and contemptible act.
We know all too well that people will think what they wish to think and there is not an awful lot that we can do about it. DuttyBarb and youcanthandthetruth come to mind and are two good examples.
It would be pointless to fret ourselves into a mental health institution over what they think of us, however. Rather than condemning one of our own and publicly flagellating him, I believe that making ourselves exemplars of decent human beings, is a more positive route to embark on.
And that was all I was really trying to say.
TANK
@Mike:
In fact, straights do this shit a LOT more than gays do–especially to their kids. THe net’s awash in those horror stories. And you…with your one story. Fuck you.
TANK
He whispered spanish obscenities before “molesting” him? Spanish Obscenities? Sounds like a soap opera or porn.
And more importantly than any of this crap, the guy’s totally ugly. TOTALLY UGLY! For that alone he should be sent to jail for the rest of his life.
The problem is that even though this happens ALL THE FUCKING TIME AMONGST straight male cops who abuse their authority and rape women on the job, it harms us more than it does them due to baseless discrimination.
schlukitz
@TANK:
baseless discrimination.
Absolutely, Tank.
Just look at the number of time that DuttyBarb has likened homosexuality with pedophilia and bestiality. She continues to repeat that unfounded charge, ad nauseum.
Sad to say, lies, repeated often enough, become “truth” in the public perception.
And that is how these deviates do their dirty deeds.
Fitz
Predators come in all sexual orientations. I am not at all making an excuse for his sick behavior, but I can’t help but wonder if it wasn’t a learned behavior. Jail wont be bad, but when he goes to prison– man, he is toast. At 29, his life is over.
Mike
@TANK: No, fuck you!!! It’s because of people like you who make excuses for pedophiles that we are all lumped pedophiles. We are often allowed to adopt kids and to molest a little boy?? Even I can’t excuse that gay or not. Why are you excusing it? cox the pedo is gay?? F U !!!
TANK
@Mike:
Alright, you need to calm down. I know you have a lot of issues around your own sexual abuse, but let’s not let that interfere with a rational appraisal of the sitch. Here’s a juice box and a sensible snack (that’s diet lingo for low carb cookie, back fat). Time out.
Alright, matilda–the reason why we’re labeled as pedophiles is because that’s the best way the religious right can demonize us. The religious have always cast the out group as going after children, for jews to witches, etc, etc, etc. It’s a tactic to incite violence against a group of people by mischaracterizing them as harmful and predatory…to children. That’s why they do it–so gay people get hurt.
schlukitz
Wow. Check out the hostility and the blatant homophobia…from a gay person, no less. Dutty or YCHTT under a new screen name, perhaps?
You accused me of not condemning the act and my response to you, Sir, is that you are not condemning the people who call us pedophiles! You are, in fact, siding with them and reinforcing that unfounded mistaken and unfounded notion.
Mike, your ongoing rail about this issue would suggest to me that you might be harboring some serious doubts about your own moral turpitude.
This issue seems to own you and I get that you are unwilling to hear-out, much less, accept anyone else’s viewpoint or explanation on this issue, including mine.
It brings to mind, the following dialogue from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
Romeo: Oh wouldst thou leave me so unsatisfied?
Juliet: What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?
I am always amused by indignant, moralistic types, gay or straight, who, like the motorcycle cops of old hiding behind billboards waiting for an unwary “speeder” (doing 26 in a 25 mph zone) to nab, lurk on these threads waiting for an unwary poster to “nab” for any perceived slight.
I would suggest to you, Mike, that if you feel the need to lecture gays about our morality, then like Reverend Haggard, who also lectured about the evils of homosexuality from his pulpit every Sunday morning, that you examine your own morality to determine the well head from which your self-righteous indignation springs.
Mike L.
Damn what a fucking creep! Pinche perro le hubieran cortado los huevos al pendejo! Since Repugnants already think we are immoral deviants they’ll probably jump on this asshole.
There are creeps in every people, it doesn’t matter what race, gender, national origin, religious creed, and sexual orientation etc.
Gorbeh
If he called and texted that should be evidence enough…a quick check of phone records could quickly prove or disprove this.