Monique Worrell slammed for being weak on crime over case that’s not in her judicial circuit

Attorney General James Uthmeier said Monday he plans to closely watch Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell’s office as he accused her of being soft on crime in her handling over a predator caught with photographs of young children being sexually abused.

The problem, however, is the case Uthmeier criticized was in Lake County — not Worrell’s jurisdiction and before she was a State Attorney.

“The Attorney General is once again inaccurate and uninformed,” Worrell said in a statement Monday when Florida Politics reached out for comment after the Attorney General’s press conference. “A simple review of public records established that not only was this individual sentenced prior to my election in 2020, but also that this case did not come out of the 9th Judicial Circuit.”

It’s the latest of how Worrell, the Orlando Democrat who was thrown out of office by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2023, has become a target for Republicans even if the facts are sometimes muddled.

Uthmeier and law enforcement officials announced eight arrests — seven of them Florida residents — in a child pornography ring Monday where a FDLE undercover agent bought more than 1 million child sex abuse videos and photos for $100 through a website that FDLE later shut down.

One of the men arrested was Frankie Pineiro Jr. of Groveland, who the Attorney General’s office said Monday was charged with new crimes, including purchase of child pornography.

According to the Lake County court records, authorities got a tip in 2019 that led to his first arrest.

“Pineiro advised he had collected over 100 files depicting juveniles between the ages of 2 and 17 engaged in sexual conduct on his cell phone. Pineiro said he also had saved adult pornography but admitted there was considerably more files of child pornography on his phone than adult pornography,” the 2019 arrest report said.

State officials brought up his 2019 case at Monday’s press conference.

“He was currently on probation from a child pornography arrest that our office in Orlando did in 2019. He got a very light slap on the wrist for that case, and he was also sentenced to 20 years of probation,” said Mark Brutnell, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement special agent, during Monday’s press conference. “He’s not getting probation on this one.”

Last year, Pineiro was later caught with more photographs showing children being sexually abused and, a FDLE press release at the time noted, “the case will be prosecuted by Attorney General Ashley Moody’s Office of Statewide Prosecution.”

He pled guilty in February and is not scheduled to be released from state prison until 2054, according to the Florida Department of Corrections website.

Later Uthmeier slammed Worrell for handling Pineiro’s 2019 case at Monday’s press conference as authorities announced the new round charges against Pineiro.

“One of these individuals was on a lighter probation sentence by the State Attorney over in Orlando,” Uthmeier said at the press conference, calling it “just another example of the dangers that can be out there when you have people that want to go soft on crime. So our office is going to be looking at that individual, her conduct going forward.”

Florida Politics reached out to Uthmeier’s Office and FDLE for a response on the discrepancy in the Lake County case jurisdiction but did not get a response back late Monday afternoon.

DeSantis suspended Worrell from office in 2023, arguing she had not consistently followed the law while Democrats called it a politically-motivated move by a Governor intervening inappropriately in local races.

Worrell won back her job in November and defeated DeSantis-appointee Andrew Bain with 57% of the vote.

Just before she was sworn into office, a Polk County Grand Jury was called as Democrats feared DeSantis would meddle again this year.

Uthmeier and Worrell have clashed in recent days over her policies.

Worrell recently announced she will only pursue charges against criminals if police obtain arrest warrants before bringing cases to her office because of a backlog of 13,500 cases. She asked the state for more resources to tackle the cases as Uthmeier wrote on X, “The blanket policies announced by Monique Worrell are contrary to the essential duties of a prosecutor.”

“When we prioritize politics over public safety, the very principles of law which we are sworn to uphold are compromised and justice is undermined. Because of politics the 9th Judicial Circuit is clearly subjected to a different level of scrutiny than other circuits,” Worrell said in a statement Monday night.

“Since the Attorney General has stated that he will be looking at my conduct going forward to make sure we are enforcing the rule of law, I hope that he will prioritize public safety and also look at my request for additional prosecutors to support our enforcement of the rule of law.”