Florida Phone Harassment

In Florida, harassment can be anything that causes substantial emotional distress with no legitimate purpose. And anyone who "willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly" harasses someone in Florida is guilty of stalking.

This means that Florida phone harassment is a form of stalking according to Florida law. In Florida phone harassment can be treated as a misdemeanor of the first degree, which carries a penalty of up to a year in prison if the person is convicted.

There are also some conditions, which, if present, make the person who is conducting the Florida phone harassment campaign guilt of a felony of the third degree, which caries a penalty of up to five years in prison if a person is convicted.

If the person who is guilty of Florida phone harassment is violating an injunction, it is a felony of the third degree. If the person who is guilty of Florida phone harassment threatens violence to the person who is being harassed or anyone in their family or household, it is also a felony of the third degree. Finally, if the person being harassed is under the age of 16, it is a felony of the third degree.

There are a few things you can do if you are a victim of Florida phone harassment. First, you can try to stop the phone harassment in a few different ways. You can change your phone number to an unpublished phone number, you can use caller ID to screen your calls, you can try to block the caller from calling your number (if they use the same phone number for all the calls), and, if you are receiving these calls on a cell phone, you can program it so that calls that aren't from people you know have a silent ring so you only hear and answer the phone for people you wish to talk with. However, none of this will lead to the person who is conducting the Florida phone harassment being punished.

If you want to make sure that the person who is conducting the Florida phone harassment is punished, there are other steps you will need to follow.

First, if you don't know who is responsible for the Florida phone harassment you need to talk to someone at the phone company to try to get a trace done after each call.

Regardless of whether or not you know who is responsible for the Florida phone harassment, you need to be sure to document each call. Record the time and anything that was said, and then report the harassment to the police each time. This way it is documented that it is a repeated offense.

If you do know who is responsible, it might be a good idea to get a restraining order on that person. This also makes it a felony if they continue to perpetrate Florida phone harassment, rather than just a misdemeanor.