Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier continues to direct sharp criticism at Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell over her soft-on-crime policies. This time, his comments are over a plea deal that gave a man convicted of child molestation 15 years of probation instead of a lengthy prison sentence.
On an X post, Uthmeier shared that Peter Washington was convicted of attempting to rape a child under 12 in 1995. Washington was then arrested 28 years later on several felony charges for molesting a child over the age of 12 in 2023, which under Florida law carried a possible criminal sentence of 27 years to life in prison.
But Worrell, out of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, decided to give Washington a lighter sentence despite the gravity of the offense.
"In June 2025, Monique Worrell gave him just 15 years of probation," Uthmeier said of the case.
Uthmeier's post also included Washington's criminal punishment code scoresheet, which detailed his sentencing points, felony charges, and plea agreement. In addition, the sheet outlined a possible fine of $30,000.
Worrell, a Democrat, was elected to the Ninth Circuit with almost 66 percent of the vote in 2020. She first stirred controversy after being
suspended by Gov.
Ron DeSantis for failing to “faithfully prosecute crimes in her jurisdiction" in 2023.
Fast forward to today, and the state still believes that Worrell is causing problems.
Last month, Uthmeier slammed the Central Florida state attorney for
refusing to prosecute a pair of child predator cases.
In one of the cases, a man was accused of masturbating while facing children at a public splash pad. The other involved a man allegedly possessing tons of child pornography videos, including videos of toddlers getting raped and abused.
Just days ago, Uthmeier similarly criticized Worrell for giving a lesser charge to a man
accused of attempting to kill his ex-girlfriend as she sat in the car in the drive-through of a Crystal Burger.
