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Published on: 2/4/2008
Last Visited: 2/4/2008
The DCF - the state agency charged with protecting Florida's children - did not have a policy of fingerprinting potential employees when Al Zimmerman was hired two years ago, Butterworth said.
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It was only after authorities began investigating accusations against Zimmerman that they found an arrest in Georgia for driving under the influence and an outstanding warrant for grand theft in Texas.
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Zimmerman, 40, was arrested Friday and charged with eight counts of using a child in a sexual performance.Zimmerman was released from jail Saturday on $120,000 bail.If convicted, he faces up to 120 years in prison.
It was not known Sunday if Zimmerman has a lawyer, and he has not returned messages left on his cell phone.There is no published telephone listing for an Al Zimmerman in Tallahassee.
According to an arrest report, Zimmerman offered two teens money in exchange for photographing them in sexual acts.The victims were ages 16 and 17 at the time of the crime, and at least one may have been in the care of DCF at one point, according to the report.
Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum has said he suspects Zimmerman was distributing the images he took.A young man contacted the State Attorney's Office in Tampa with information about alleged inappropriate activity by Zimmerman, McCollum said.
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In 2003, Tampa police arrested Zimmerman on charges of writing bad checks, court records showed.The charges were dropped after he paid $433.59 in fines, records showed.
In 1998, Zimmerman was charged with passing a bad check in Bexar County, Texas, according to a records check.That charge also was dismissed.
And, Zimmerman was convicted in Georgia in 1993 of DUI, Butterworth said.
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But Butterworth also said Zimmerman received positive recommendations from other public officers and reporters praised him.
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Zimmerman worked as a reporter for Bay News 9, a 24-hour local cable news station in the Tampa Bay area.He left the station in late 2004.
When DCF hired Zimmerman, he began to work as a spokesman in Sumter County.Among the references on his 2005 resume was then-Attorney General Charlie Crist, who is now governor.
Crist does not recall authorizing a recommendation for Zimmerman, but added that he often is asked to give them, spokeswoman Erin Isaac said Sunday.
A March 2006 evaluation from DCF praised Zimmerman.
"Local reporters trust that he will be open and honest in his response to their inquiries.Although he assumed the role with little or no knowledge of the DCF programs, he has educated himself and developed an understanding of all programs and business processes," the evaluation said.
Zimmerman was later promoted to agency spokesman in Tallahassee, where he made $75,686 a year. Zimmerman's parents live in a gated neighborhood in Lakeland, where he was born.
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