MELBOURNE, FL – Saturday, December 4, 1999 — A violation of the federal FACE law occurred today against Nancy Lally, a FACE-protected pro-life referral counselor, at the reproductive health service facility (aka abortion clinic) in Suntree Plaza known as WomanCare of Melbourne, Inc. This federal violation was reported to Louis Freeh, Director of the FBI.

DETAILED ACCOUNT

This morning, 12/4/99, I was on the public sidewalk along Wickham Road at the northwest corner of Suntree Plaza. Suntree Plaza is a multi-business mall (about 10 businesses) open to the public, located in the northeast corner of the intersection of N. Wickham Road and St. Andrews Blvd. in the Suntree area of Brevard County north of Melbourne, Florida. One of the businesses in Suntree Plaza is the reproductive health service facility (abortion clinic) named WomanCare of Melbourne, Inc.

A little after 8 a.m. four clinic workers arrived and went inside. They were Jill Vogel, Lisa Sanford, Tiffany Alfieri, and a new worker whose name I do not know. About the same time, two women arrived separately and tried to enter the building. The door appeared to be locked and they could not get in. It appeared that they were early for their appointments so they sat down to wait on a bench that was located beside the door.

At about 8:25 a.m. I called Nancy, who I knew was at the southeast entrance to Suntree Plaza and out of view of the women on the bench, on my cell phone to tell her that the women were waiting outside. Nancy decided to provide reproductive health service referral information and counseling to the women.

Nancy walked up to the women and handed them the information. They accepted the literature. From where I was I could not hear what was said but I could clearly see what happened. Almost immediately Lisa Sanford came out and interfered with Nancy’s counseling by physically grabbing the literature from the women’s hands, physically getting between Nancy and the women, and escorting the women inside and closing the door. Nancy then left.

In my opinion this was a clear violation of Paragraph (a)(1) of 18 USC § 248 (FACE) which reads in part: “Prohibited Activities — Whoever — (1) by force … or by physical obstruction, intentionally … interferes with … any person because that person is … providing reproductive health services; … shall be subject to the penalties provided in subsection (b) and the civil remedies provided in subsection © …”

At about 8:50 a.m., the first of four Brevard County Sheriff’s Department patrol cars showed up. The first deputy sheriff went inside the abortion clinic. The others just hung around the plaza for most of the rest of the morning. I left about 11 a.m.

Nancy Lally reported this violation to Louis Freeh, Director of the FBI. All incidents of this type should be reported to the FBI in writing by Priority Mail. The address is:

Mr. Louis Freeh
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
J. Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001