Story Archive

First Class Accommodations

After two inmates at the Orange County, Fla., jail complained that a specific inmate was getting “special treatment,” authorities launched an investigation. According to their report, Robert Potchen, 61, who has been in the jail for two years while awaiting trial on a probation violation charge, was indeed getting special treatment: he was allowed by guards to have Internet access, Chinese take-out, an e-cigarette, and lounged after hours in the guard station. Why? Potchen was giving the guards financial advice, including helping them with student loans, mortgages, and taxes. Various officers brought him legal documents to review. “Potchen stated that he was able to find something in common with each officer to discuss and used the county’s poor working conditions and inadequate pay to his advantage,” the investigators’ report said. One guard even became the property manager for Potchen’s Winter Springs home, and he promised to send $300,000 to her bank account to “buy a new truck.” Five guards have retired or resigned. (RC/Orlando Sentinel) ...If guards saw no irony in asking for legal advice from a guy who can’t stay out of jail, it’s hard to decide which of them is the biggest obliviot.