STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

WALDEE SULLIVAN, )

)

Petitioner, )

)

vs. ) CASE NO. 78-853S

)

DIVISION OF LICENSING, )

)

Respondent. )

)

RECOMMENDED ORDER

Pursuant to notice, the Division of Administrative Hearings, by its duly designated Hearing Officer, G. Steven Pfeiffer, held a public hearing in this case on July 18, 1978, in Tampa, Florida.

The following appearances were entered: Walldee Sullivan, who appeared on his own behalf; and Robert Vossler, Tallahassee, Florida, for the Respondent, Division of Licensing.

The Petitioner filed an application for an unarmed guard license. The Respondent denied the application, and Petitioner requested a hearing. The Division of Licensing requested that a Hearing Officer from the Division of Administrative Hearings be assigned to conduct the hearing. The final hearing was scheduled by notice dated May 31, 1978.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. In his application for unarmed guard license, the Petitioner was requested to list all arrests and the dispositions thereof. In response to this inquiry the Petitioner recited that he was arrested in 1973 for discharging a firearm, and that he paid a fine. At the hearing it was established that the Petitioner had been arrested and found guilty on numerous occasions from 1942 through 1972 for drunkenness, profanity, burglary, and reckless display of a firearm. He spent time in jail on some of these charges, and time on probation. The Petitioner is a reformed alcoholic. He stopped drinking approximately five years ago, and is now married with two young children. He has had no difficulties with law enforcement agencies since he stopped drinking alcoholic beverages. The Petitioner has made a sincere effort to reform himself, and it appears that he is succeeding in accomplishing that. The Petitioner has been working as an unarmed guard for some months under a temporary permit, and there is no evidence to establish that he has not performed his duties satisfactorily.

   
   

2. When the Petitioner was filling out his application for license, he asked a representative of his employer how he should respond. He told the representative that he had been arrested numerous times. This individual told the Petitioner that reflecting the single 1973 arrest was adequate. The Petitioner felt that the inquiry related only to Florida offenses, and most of his law enforcement problems have occurred in the State of Tennessee. It does not appear that the Petitioner willfully falsified the application, but rather

   that he was mistaken, partially as a result of information that was given him by a person he was entitled to believe would understand the question.

   
   

   CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

   
   

3. Florida Statutes 493.08 provides that falsifying the application for license constitutes grounds for denial of the license. Section 493.14 provides further that the Department has the authority to deny a license application as a result of willful misrepresentation in the application. Under the facts of this case, it is concluded that the Petitioner's failure to provide a complete response to the inquiry was not done willfully or with an intent to defraud the Respondent, but rather as the result of an error. The Petitioner meets the qualifications for an unarmed guard license.

RECOMMENDED ORDER

Based upon the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, it is, RECOMMENDED:

That the Petitioner's application for unarmed guard license be granted, and that a permanent license be issued to the Petitioner.

RECOMMENDED this 27th day of July, 1978, in Tallahassee, Florida.

G. STEVEN PFEIFFER Hearing Officer

Division of Administrative Hearings

101 Collins Building

Mail: 530 Carlton Building Tallahassee, Florida 32304

(904) 488-9675

Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 27th day of July, 1978.

COPIES FURNISHED:

Mr. Walldee Sullivan

311 South Central Avenue Avon Park, Florida 33825

Robert Vossler, Esquire Department of State Plaza Level

The Capitol

Tallahassee, Florida 32304

Docket for Case No: 78-000853

Orders for Case No: 78-000853