NASCAR Family's pull gets a local judge to dismiss criminal case of drug possession and DUI on a technicality

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - Last October, 44-year-old J.C. France, son of Grand-Am founder Jim France and grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France, was stopped by Daytona Beach police after he was observed in a 2007 Lamborghini racing on a public road against his half-brother Russell Van Richmond. According to police reports J.C. France was found with a bag of cocaine and was charged with drug possession and driving under the influence.

France was nabbed in Holly Hill just past midnight that October 7th, 2009. He had failed to stop for an officer, with lights and siren blasting from his patrol car. When finally stopped in Holly Hill, France was reported with a "flushed face, bloodshot eyes and slurred speech". With great difficulty France got out of his vehicle and failed the field sobriety test. When the officer searched his pockets, he found a plastic bag containing cocaine.

The other France racing on the public streets was also stopped and arrested soon after while driving a 2003 Porsche. When the officer asked Richmond to step out of the Porsche to conduct a DUI investigation, he objected and told the officer "Oh no, you are not. Do you know who I am?". When the officer kept trying to get Richmond's cooperation he shot back loudly "I am a France" and "We own this city", obviously making reference to the well known control on public officials that the NASCAR Frances have enjoyed for years. Richmond is the son of one of Jim France's ex wives and housemate of J.C. France in a million-dollar mansion.

Richmond added to police Captain Steve Szabo, who was standing nearby, "Do you know who I am? - You are done". The police report said Richmond told Szabo. "I am gonna have your job". This is the biggest mistake ever. You are so done in Daytona."

The officer searched Richmond's pants and also found a plastic bag containing cocaine. Attached to Richmond's keys was a capsule containing a tablet marked "Watson 932", the imprint code for hydrodocone, also a controlled substance. According to reports, Richmond's last words to police were "Oh, shit" when they found the tablet of hydrocodone.

Our favorite quote, though, was from an unidentified woman in Richmond's Porsche who told police he was "going so fast, I put my seatbelt on." We're pretty sure you should wear a seatbelt anytime you go out for a drive with a coked out, drunk person.

Richmond, 41, was charged with possession of cocaine, DUI, possession of hydrocodone and threat by corruption of a public official.

Both men were out of jail the next day after paying bail.

He was driving so fast I put my seat belt on

Woman riding the front seat with Russell Richmond

I am a France. Do you know what that means?
We Own This City!

Russel Richmond, son of one of Jim France's former wives and housemate of J.C. France, also arrested

Fast Forward to Today. Another Travesty of Justice perpetrated in Daytona Beach...

The family's influence was put to work with a legal team and their vast local influence. The charges evaporated like smoke this week when local Circuit Judge Patrick Kennedy dismissed all charges.

The Frances' attorney alleged that the stop was unlawful because, when the officer finally was able to stop France, he was in Holly Hill and not Daytona Beach. A little stretch of Mason Avenue from Beach Street to Ridgewood is in Holly Hill, while the surrounding area is Daytona Beach...

The judge agreed and suppressed the extensive damming evidence. And without the evidence, the charges went away... The judge's order was dated March 29, and the charges were dismissed the next day.

Some people lead a charmed life, that's all I can say

Police Chief Mike Chitwood

This is not the first time a France gets off easily after breaking state laws. In 2006 NASCAR CEO Brian France admitted to officers he had been drinking the night an eye witness followed him to his condominium after she observed him driving erratically and at "very reckless speed" on U.S. 1.

But because police never interviewed France until he was inside his residence, they could not arrest him for DUI, an internal affairs investigation revealed.

France was alleged to also have crashed into a parked car and a tree before driving off into his marina point Condo's underground parking.

The glossed-over internal investigation was instigated as a request by the state attorney to determine whether officers gave France special treatment the night they went to his Marina Pointe residence. Driving intoxicated in Florida is an automatic visit in jail for most of us, but not for political patrons in Daytona Beach.

It also seems that the NASCAR standards do not apply to NASCAR's royal family members. On May 5th, 2009 NASCAR suspended Jeremy Mayfield for taking banned substances. Mayfield filed a lawsuit alleging he had a false positive as a result of taking legal prescription drugs (See Mayfield lawsuit below) and the court agreed lifting the suspension on 7/1/2009. Upon NASCAR's motion, a federal appeals court reversed Mayfield's injunction on July 24, 2009. In justifying the suspension, NASCAR said the positive tests indicated methamphetamine use. Mayfield claimed they have been false positives, reacting to his use of a prescription medication for ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). After the suspension, The driving team that Mayfield owned has collapsed, sponsorship money has dried up and his career is in shambles. His suspension continues to this day.

France, who was temporarily suspended after his own drug bust, got reinstated immediately after the judge's ruling. It matters not that he was under the influence, breaking a number of laws that placed innocent citizens in deadly peril. The technicality of suppressed evidence somehow, to his family's NASCAR, means that those things he did were just a dream... never happened.

Mayfield.v.NASCAR

At one point in history illegal street racing was viewed as a nuisance similar to children driving loud dirt bikes after sneaking into private property. The damage was limited to a few knee scrapes and it was quickly remedied by a stern warning from the parents...however, these children have grown into adulthood, the open field has become the streets of the city and the parents are absent. It is estimated that over 1,000 deaths a year are caused by irresponsible street racing.

Combine this reckless conduct against the innocent public at large with drugs and alcohol and we have today's Daytona Beach: dangerous streets and lack of laws against those that break them for as long as they wield influence.

The real travesty is not really the France's family using their influence to protect their own. That's what families do.
The travesty is the massive corruption in Daytona Beach that allows this to happen.

More of NASCAR's dual standards:

J.C. France Proves NASCAR's Drug Tolerance Standards Are A Lot More About Image Than About Protecting The Sport

J. C. France, member of NASCAR's royal family, charged with DUI, cocaine possession

J.C. France arrested for DUI and Cocaine!

Street Racing Deaths Are on the Rise, But Tradition Is Thriving

DAYTONA BEACH - The city long besieged by widespread corruption has earned a new dubious title: "Florida's Rape Capital". A very disturbing trend of rapes of teens and young women in plain daylight in public buildings turned what was to be a pleasant vacation on the beach for college kids into living nightmares for them and their parents.

Daytona Beach Police reported that rapes in the City have increased a whopping 100% from last year during this Spring Break.

The sad part is that many girls and women who are assaulted, not just during spring break, but at other times during the year, do not come forward to report the crime deciding it's not worth the effort due to the overall prosecutorial apathy that permeates the famously corrupt town or they may be just too embarrassed to come forward.

One rape allegedly occurred in a men's washroom at newly finished Ocean Center on Sunday. The attack at the event center run by local officials occurred just after 4 p.m. as crowds milled about the facility during the 24th annual Spring Break Nationals, a mobile electronics trade show.

The City of Daytona Beach leaders had just inaugurated a much criticized multi-million dollar expansion of the Exhibition Hall ostensibly advertised to attract businesses to the area. Planned demand never materialized due to the reluctance of companies willing to associate their business events with Daytona Beach.

Rapes are happening everywhere but concentrate on Daytona's beachside; Two reports came from the Desert Inn, including one from a 14-year-old girl. A woman reported being attacked on the beach at the ocean deck. In another report, a man was caught raping an unconscious girl in a hallway of the upscale Plaza hotel.

According to the Daytona Beach News Journal, More Spring Break-related rapes have occurred than initially tallied by police, quoting a rape crisis official who added that she encouraged victims of such assaults to report attacks to rape counselors, even if they don't want to go to law enforcement.

The newspaper reported that word of that many sexual assaults in such a short time span has already graced national headlines and, earlier this week, angered several Daytona Beach residents at a City Commission meeting. A handful of residents bemoaned that media reports of the sexual attacks are giving the city a bad rap.

"All of last year we had a total of 41 sexual assaults. Here we have SIX in ONE WEEK!"

"It doesn't matter what they believe or don't believe" (referring to local police officers, criticized for lack of sensitivity towards victims)

"They should take the report and let the detectives sort out the rest of the story."

Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood.

The City of Daytona Beach has been besieged by an unprecedented wave of political corruption. Plagued with ineptitude, cronyism and undue influence to the service of a handful of multimillionaire special interests widely known as "The Five families" or "The Daytona Capos". The city's finances have been literally depleted after funneling millions of dollars to fund everything from hobbies and indulgences of commissioner's political supporters to the overpriced purchases of properties from themselves, cronies and friends.

This pillaging of public funds has left no moneys to pay for public safety, schools, social and youth programs or repairs to a dilapidated infrastructure. Just this last Spring over 1,600 Daytona Beach homes were substantially damaged as a result of flooding due to inadequate stormwater management infrastructure and downright negligence by the city. Thousands of families were left homeless and photos of children walking in raw sewage circulated nationwide. It has long been known that Daytona's chronic problems are not a police matter but a fundamental breakdown of its society into anarchy as a result of in-your-face corruption and impunity.

The RAINN (Rape, Abuse, Incest, National Network) has a 24/7 crisis hotline to answer your questions.
Rape victims can call the Sexual Assault Recovery Team hot line for help at 386-258-7273, or 888-956-7273. People with information can call Daytona Beach police at 386-671-5100 and ask for a sex crimes detective, or call Crime Stoppers, 888-277-TIPS (8477).

More information

Spring Break rapes on rise - Daytona Beach News Journal Coverage
Florida sees rash of spring-break rapes - Universal Press Report
Rapes reported at Daytona Spring Break - WFTV Report
Why the Spring Break Rape Total in Daytona Beach will keep rising - TrueSlant

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - Adding to the alarming crime wave that has enveloped this formerly bustling beach town, a convicted felon, allowed to drive a cab by officials from the City of Daytona Beach, has robbed the owner of a barbershop on Main Street as he was closing his store.

Better known as the most corrupt city in Florida, where retaliatory code enforcement actions, gifts of city funds to political cronies and disregard of state criminal laws when dealing with wealthy political patrons are daily occurrences, this new development in Daytona Beach has attracted national attention for its audacity.

Daytona Beach police arrested cab driver Michael Olensky, 41 after he robbed Main Street Barbershop owner Arnold Branton, 60. According to the owner of the cab company, Olensky had a permit issued by the city of Daytona Beach which allowed him to drive a cab. The city code requires a background check before issuing city permits of this type and specifically prohibits the granting of cab licenses to convicted felons. Questions abound as to the officials in City Management which allowed the permit be issued to Olensky.

Olensky has a lengthy criminal history that includes a stint in prison for grand theft auto, also had an active warrant for violation of probation stemming from an aggravated battery case. He is also alleged to be a habitual drug user.

Police Chief, Mike Chitwood was fuming that a felon and drug user was allowed to drive a cab. When interviewed by WESH TV he commented about the dangers local residents are exposed, especially women leaving the local bars at night that often take cabs home.

If Olensky fell through the cracks, it's a Disgrace.

[A felon with a cab license] could have picked up anybody and robbed them, or worse... and we'd have a tragedy.

Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood

Watch the WESH TV Report http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-PFw53BmeA

Daytona Beach is besieged by widespread corruption in its City Commission and City Management to the service of a few multimillionaire special interests. City Government has been described as having fallen into a state of "Organized Crime under Color of Law".

A sign of the state of mismanagement and fiscal abuse is that despite having one of the highest per capita budgets and tax rates in Florida, Daytona Beach is among the poorest, most crime ridden and least developed cities in the country. Over $500 million dollars have been dissipated over the past few years, often right into the hands of the special interests that control the City Commission (See: Where is the money, Mayor Ritchey?). This waste has deprived the city of funds needed for education, job generation, public projects and crime control. Daytona Beach has failed several state financial audits but no state or Federal criminal investigation has been announced to date, a testament to the vast influence the local special interests wield.

TALLAHASSEE, FL - In an unprecedented move, prompted by a federal investigation and subsequent prosecution of several corrupt public officials, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has asked the Florida Supreme Court to impanel a statewide grand jury to investigate political corruption. Crist cited an apparent "culture of corruption" in Florida.

Crist indicated that he decided on this action based on "an unsettling string of crime, and unconscionable violations of the public trust by public officials"

The grand jury of 18 citizens will be meeting in secret for one year during which time it has wide latitude and authority to indict public officials and make recommendations for changes in state law.

Today, we take a stand to root out public corruption

Florida Governor Charlie Crist

Closer to Crist's home, Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom, R-Destin, stepped down from his post amid a scandal involving a Republican fundraiser.

This month, Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion and school board member Beverly Gallagher were arrested, as was fundraiser and Hollywood eye doctor Alan Mendelsohn, who served on Crist's gubernatorial transition team.

These cases, however, were investigated and prosecuted by Federal prosecutors and not the state attorney. There were complaints that the governor was laggard in initiating this much needed grand jury inquiry. State Attorneys in Florida are elected officials and often criticized for ignoring corruption cases where their campaign financiers, friends or associates are affected.

Federal authorities have more far-reaching tools to combat corruption, including the federal "honest services" law that requires public officials to act in their constituents' best interest.

Crist's office has not yet indicated whether the grand jury will also look into the various criminal complaints filed but that have not yet been acted upon against Daytona Beach public officials.

Among these complaints is the city purchase of the personal residence of Daytona Beach Commissioner, Rick Shiver for over twice its just value. The home was suddenly demolished under orders by the City Commission and without public scrutiny. This inexplicable move by the Commission and City Management was taken amid multiple citizens complaints for lack of transparency and apparent abuse of powers to provide financial benefit to one of their own at the expense of taxpayers.

Other complaints include the unbudgeted funding of personal hobbies and indulgences of local multimillionaires which also happen to be key political supporters and friends of the same elected officials making the gifts. Other uninvestigated actions uncovered by residents include the purchase of grossly overvalued property from campaign contributors and friends (such as City of Daytona Beach buys small 20-foot strip of land from campaign financer for $320,955 ).

In all, several hundred million dollars have been dissipated from Daytona Beach mostly into the hands of a handful of local multimillionaire special interests that exert control over the City Commission during this last wave of local government corruption. The formerly bustling beach town has fallen into a state of anarchy, poverty, crime and overall despair.

The Orlando Sentinel reported that Florida leaders have known for years that state public-corruption laws lack teeth. In 1999, then-Gov. Jeb Bush created a task force that recommended a broader definition of public corruption and a stiffer, 15-year maximum sentence for bribery. Even with Bush pushing the idea, a watered-down version didn't pass until 2003.