Newport City Councilman John Florez has been charged by the Newport Police Department with a misdemeanor for using foul language in a phone call. The charges revolve around an incident of a 13 year-old boy sending harassing, sexually explicit and obscene messages on social media to Florez’s 12 year-old daughter.
NOTE: I was going to include the images but out of respect for the ages of those involved, I won’t. But they are obscene and threatening.
Apparently, after finding these messages and images, Florez reached out to the boy and told him to stop contacting his daughter. This led to a harassment campaign resulting in at least a dozen prank phone calls to Councilman Florez.
Florez filed a complaint in court on Monday, December 4th regarding the lewd and obscene messages the youth was sending to Florez’s daughter.
In a statement to Newport Buzz, Florez said:
“Last weekend, my wife and I learned that for approximately one month, our 12-year old daughter was receiving lewd and sexually aggressive social media messages from a local 13-year old male. The messages to my 12 year-old daughter included the phrases, “I’ll f$*&^*g choke you,” and “I can’t wait for you to ride my d#&k.”
Immediately upon reading these messages, I contacted the sender and asked to speak with his parent or guardian but the boy refused to provide any contact information. I clearly and unequivocally told the boy to stay away from my daughter. The boy refused, and the call was terminated.
Following this one phone call, I received a series of harassing, abusive and threatening phone calls. In these calls, the boy made numerous vulgar statements about my daughter.
Last Monday, I sought and received a temporary restraining order for the protection of my daughter.
After the restraining order was obtained, the boy’s grandmother alleged that I used foul language in my original phone call. The Newport Police Department used that telephone call (and my description of that initial telephone call) as the basis for the obscene phone call charge.
My priority, first and foremost, is the safety of my daughter.”
Florez is scheduled to appear in Newport County District Court on Wednesday, December 13th at 9am.
