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Updated: August 10, 2022 @ 12:07 pm
BURRELL
SEBRING — The trial of Nicholas William Burrell, a Highlands County sex offender arrested for not registering the work vehicle he drove for the Hardee County government, is set for Monday.
He is charged with resisting arrest without violence and failure of a sex offender to properly register a vehicle. The resisting charge is based on testimony that he struggled with a detective while being handcuffed outside his home.
Jury selection was to take place June 13, but Assistant State Attorney Richard Castillo, in a rare move, requested a continuance because a Hardee County government manager would not be available for that trial.
“(Hardee County Human Resources Director) Alicia Woodard is out for the whole week,” Castillo told Estrada during the June 8 motion for a continuance. “Upon her return, she will be attending a mandatory meeting for her job.”
Robert Tucker, Burrell’s attorney, objected to a continuance because witnesses who are “subpoenaed to be in court, should be there.”
During a trial status hearing Thursday, the two lawyers told Estrada they’d be ready for jury selection and trial Monday regardless of which witnesses are available. Tucker estimated the trial will take one day, but could spill over into the next day.
Prosecutors have now subpoenaed Steve Hastwell, a road supervisor with the Hardee road and bridges department, to testify that Burrell drove a specific work truck, with a specific VIN as an employee of Hardee County.
Convicted sex offenders are required to register every vehicle they drive or have stored on their property, as well as work vehicles they drive on the job. Highlands County Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Louis Ramos, who monitors sex offenders in Highlands County, observed Burrell at his Sebring home during work hours; he called Woodard to find out if Burrell drove a work vehicle. Woodard told Ramos that Burrell, who worked at the Hardee County Road & Bridge Department, drove a pickup truck during work. When Ramos discovered Burrell had not registered the work vehicle with his office of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement as required by Florida statute, he arrested Burrell and charged him with failing to register.
“We would not delay this case any further,” Castillo told Estrada, “We are ready to proceed.”
Failure to register is a third-degree felony punishable by a five-year prison sentence.
Burrell’s sex offender designation came after he sent a provocative letter to an underage girl. He has not been convicted of having sex with a child. The letter has since been destroyed by the 10th Circuit prosecutor’s office. The office destroys case documents after cases reach a certain age.
