Florida Rep. Won't Resign in Gay Sex Case

TITUSVILLE, FL -- Florida state Rep. Bob Allen, who was arrested on a charge of soliciting prostitution after he approached a police officer for sex, is not a criminal or a racist and has no plans to resign, his attorney said Wednesday.

"Based on the police officer's own report, this case should be dismissed," said attorney Greg Eisenmenger, adding he will file a motion for dismissal. "The officer did all the soliciting."

Allen, R-Merritt Island, was arrested July 11 outside a bathroom in a public park after allegedly going along when an undercover Titusville officer suggested oral sex in exchange for $20.

In his police statement, Allen told investigators he was just playing along when the officer suggested sex because he was intimidated by the "stocky black guy," and also said that there was nothing but other black guys around in the park. Allen said he was unaware that those other black guys were also undercover police officers and that he thought he was about to be robbed.

After release of Allen's statement, residents and activists from across the country have called him a racist and demanded he step down from office.

"This was not a question of race; it was the way they looked," Allen's attorney Eisenmenger said Wednesday. "These three guys were hanging out together, obviously together, and then one of them asks for money. It was the classic situation in a mugging."

Eisenmenger dismissed allegations that Allen went into the same stall as the undercover officer and claims Allen was in the park to plan an event.

According to police investigators, Allen acted suspicious and went in and out of the men's restroom at the park. Shortly after, he solicited the male officer inside the restroom, offering $20 to perform oral sex on the officer.

The officer then identified himself and arrested Allen. Officers did not realize Allen was a public figure until after the arrest, a news release said.

Allen is a former Little League volunteer and has served on the board of directors of the Boys and Girls Club. He has a wife and a child.

Allen was author of the failed Florida House Bill #1475, the 'Lewd and Lascivious Behavior Act' which would have tightened the state's prohibition of public sex.

He was also rated a "wicked witch," or the worst of the worst, by Central Florida's Rainbow Democratic Club with regard to his reputation on gay issues.