Former Coral Springs Mayor’s Trial Postponed Once Again

Published May 26th, 2008

By Nicol Jenkins
Editor

Former Coral Springs Mayor John P. Sommerer, who was arrested and charged with nine counts of Lewd and Lascivious conduct on a minor, is still sitting in a jail cell six months after the arrest.

Once again, Sommerer’s trial has been postponed. The trial was set for May 12 but was postponed for another month.

Coral Springs police arrested Sommerer in connection with lewd and lascivious conduct on one minor December 19, 2007. He has also been denied bond on many occasions.
Sommerer, 60, of Coral Springs was arrested and charged with four counts of Lewd and Lascivious Molestation, four counts of Lewd and Lascivious Conduct, and one count of Lewd and Lascivious Exhibition. He served as the Mayor of Coral Springs for about 10 years.

According to police reports, Sommerer was charged with nine counts of Lewd and Lascivious Conduct during the time of October 16, 2006 to October 31, 2007 on one minor. Those counts include, police reports show, that Sommerer allegedly touched “on one or more occasion” a child younger than 12 years old in the “genital area, buttocks, and breast, or clothing covering these areas.” Reports also state that Sommerer solicited that juvenile “to utilize a hose to spray water over his exposed penis; to ride a motor scooter adjacent to him and not to wear an undergarment to cover her genital area; and to retrieve a balloon or balloon-like object that he has positioned against his exposed genitalia while he and the juvenile were in a swimming pool.”

Sommerer is currently at the Joseph V. Conte Facility, a male, medium-custody facility which houses mainly inmates awaiting trial.