These columns list arrests and not convictions, unless otherwise stated. Anyone listed here who is later found not guilty or has had the charges against them dropped is welcome to inform this newspaper. The information will be confirmed and printed.
When mentally-challenged man was arrested in 2009, he claimed God told him to kidnap and kill a child. He also claimed to hear Satan talking to him.
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OKEECHOBEE — A former North Carolina man, who was arrested in Okeechobee in 2009 and charged with aggravated kidnapping, was back in court again Dec. 18 for an annual review to see if he continues to meet the criteria for involuntary commitment.
James Clark’s problems with the law began after he and his father moved to Okeechobee from North Carolina. Clark began hanging around areas frequented by children and was eventually trespassed from a local daycare center and the ROC at the First Baptist Church. He was subsequently arrested by the Okeechobee City Police Department (OCPD) for trespassing then booked into the county jail in December of 2009.
After his release, he was arrested again on Dec. 23, 2009 by Detective M.D. Faulkner of the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s office (OCSO) on a felony charge of attempted aggravated kidnapping, when, according to Assistant State Attorney Ashley Albright, he attempted to kidnap a child from the t-ball field to take him out in the woods to kill him because “God told him to.” Clark was then held without bond until the charge was dropped but a lesser charge of interference with child custody remained.
Clark, who is mentally challenged and has the IQ of a 6 to 10-year-old, had been attending the Church of God of Prophecy and heard something there that left him “confused due to his lack of mentality,” stated a report by OCPD Detective Bettye Taylor.
In July of 2010, Clark was released from jail and returned to North Carolina with his father. However, because of a problem in the home where they were staying, the North Carolina Department of Corrections violated the young man’s probation regulations and put him on a train back to Okeechobee. When he stepped off that train, his probation officer, Mike White, arrested him for violating probation.
In August, he was let out of the county jail and equipped with a GPS monitoring device and was allowed to live with his grandmother.
Because Clark was doing so well, White, a supervisor with the Department of Corrections who deals with high risk cases, removed the GPS device from Clark on Nov. 8, 2010. Then, on Nov. 15, 2010, Clark was arrested for violating his probation when he went back to the church and spoke to some children. One of the stipulations of his probation was that he stay away from young children.
Clark was arrested and sent back to the county jail where he was held in the medical unit until Judge Robert Belanger signed commitment papers in April of 2011 placing him into a secure facility where he could receive training and counseling. At this facility, Clark was found incompetent and was involuntarily committed. Every year, his case is reviewed to determine if he still qualifies for placement in the facility, and according to Dr. Sandra M. Klein, Psy.D., Who submitted a report for his hearing this week, he still meets that criteria and will remain in the facility. He will be reevaluated again next year, and if at any time the Agency for Persons with Disabilities determines Clark no longer meets the criteria for continued involuntary admission to residential services, it will file a report with the court.
