State Attorney Monique Worrell Releases Statement On Uninformed And Innacurate Comments From The Attorney General
ORLANDO, FL – Today, the Office of the State Attorney reviewed a news release from Attorney General Uthmeier as well as the press conference held earlier today in reference to an international child pornography ring.
Arrests in international child sex abuse materials case: News conference in Tampa
The Attorney General refers to a case where one of the defendants was on “a lighter probation sentence” by the “State Attorney over in Orlando” and that this is another example of the “dangers that can be out there when you have people that wanna go soft on crime”. He further states his office will “be looking at that individual, her conduct going forward” to make sure “we are enforcing rule of law”.
After an initial review, our office could not locate any cases with our office on any of the defendants mentioned in the news release by the Attorney General. Our office was able to locate through public records, a case against Frankie Pineiro out of the 5th Judicial Circuit in Lake County where in 2020 Pineiro had a 20-year prison sentence suspended and was sentenced to 2 years community control and 8 years of probation for multiple counts of Child Pornography. (35-2019-CF-002971).
State Attorney Monique Worrell comments, “When we prioritize politics over public safety, the very principles of law which we are sworn to uphold are compromised and justice is undermined. Because of politics the 9th Judicial Circuit is clearly subjected to a different level of scrutiny than other circuits. The Attorney General is once again inaccurate and uninformed. A simple review of public records established that not only was this individual sentenced prior to my election in 2020, but also that this case did not come out of the 9th Judicial Circuit. Since the Attorney General has stated that he will be looking at my conduct going forward to make sure we are enforcing the rule of law, I hope that he will prioritize public safety and also look at my request for additional prosecutors to support our enforcement of the rule of law.”
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The Honorable Monique H. Worrell represents the Office of the State Attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit which serves Orange and Osceola counties in central Florida.
General media inquiries: PIO@sao9.org.
Media records request: mediarecordsrequest@sao9.org.
