Overweight Sex Offender Paroled After Three Years

A 396-pound sex offender was paroled Tuesday, more than three years after his brief release from prison for health problems caused widespread outrage and prompted one prosecutor to charge that he “ate his way out of jail.”

Joseph A. (Jo-Jo) Giorgianni, 35, served three years of his 15-year sentence at Leesburg State Prison.

Giorgianni and co-defendant Clarence (Larry) Sindora were convicted in 1982 of carnal abuse and debauching the morals of a 14-year-old girl.

Both were sentenced to 15 years. Sindora, 31, was paroled on Aug. 27. Both will be supervised by parole officers for five years.

Giorgianni’s excess weight got him released from Leesburg in August, 1982, after his attorney convinced Superior Court Judge Richard J. S. Barlow that the stress of prison and lack of air conditioning would kill his client, who then weighed 500 pounds.

But hundreds of people nationwide protested the release to the governor and state legislators. Assistant Mercer County Prosecutor Hal K. Haveson complained that Giorgianni “ate his way out of jail.”

Giorgianni was back behind bars in less than a month after Barlow saw a videotape of him cheering vigorously at a boxing match.