Just last month, two felons with mile-long rap sheets, Arkimase Divinard, 23, and Joel Aime, 24, were caught red-handed robbing an Amazon delivery driver at gunpoint. The dramatic arrest was captured on dashcam video and showed the driver, Louis Rodriguez, being held at gunpoint before the suspects made off with at least 10 packages from the truck.
Thankfully, Louis was not physically harmed but was left shaken and frightened for his life. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office was quick to act, and the two suspects were soon identified. As it turns out, these two criminals have quite the rap sheet. In total, they had 85 felony charges and 11 convictions between them, a fact that had Florida State Attorney Monique Worrell and Rep. Rachel Plakon worried.
“87 arrests and only 11 convictions, but that doesn’t account for the fact that we don’t convict children,” Worrell exclaimed. Plakon, a member of the state’s criminal justice committee, agreed and added that she was going to “find out what went wrong in this case” during her upcoming trip to Tallahassee. “We’ve got a great justice system, but at the same time, once in a while, you find a loophole,” Plakon said, to which Worrell replied, “Is there a loophole? I would call it a crack, and a crack these individuals are falling through to the detriment of our community.”
The state attorney also revealed that both Divinard and Aime suffered from mental illness and had long criminal histories dating back to their childhood. Divinard, for example, spent six years in an adult prison as a juvenile, got out, committed another crime, and then went back to an adult prison. Worrell believes that addressing mental health issues is crucial to promoting public safety and suggested providing the necessary resources to prevent those struggling with mental illness from becoming repeat offenders. When asked if that meant a secure facility, she simply responded, “it could mean that.”
Plakon also has big plans to make residents like Louis feel safe again. “Even when you have good prosecutors, even when you have good judges, you’ve gotta make sure they have the tools they need, the laws they need, that they can enforce those,” she said.
The Florida criminal justice system is in need of some serious changes, and these two leaders are determined to make it happen. They want to put an end to the revolving door of arrests and convictions and ensure that residents like Louis can feel safe again. With Worrell and Plakon on the case, it’s only a matter of time before we see some positive changes in the Sunshine State.