Photo via Gio Fucarino/Facebook
Fucarino with Mayor Castor.
John Robert Ring, who goes by Giovani "Gio" Fucarino, was arrested on March 17 for failing to "register electronic mail address or internet identifiers" and was later released on a $5,000 bond, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
In 2010, Fucarino was convicted of "unlawful sexual activity with certain minors 16/17 years old," according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Reports from his 2018 arrest said Ring was a Memorial Middle School teacher's assistant when he contacted a 17-year-old girl via text message and asked for sex and pornographic photo, adding that the victim was never a student at Memorial Middle, and that Ring met the girl through her mother.
Fucarino currently serves as the board chairperson for the Italian Club, and is a known fixture in local politics. The 52-year-old has hosted multiple events with prominent city officials, and previously supported local campaigns for council members Joe Citro, as well as Lynn Hurtak.
Notably, Fucarino was listed as a host for Tampa Mayor Jane Castor's re-election campaign launch on Dec. 7.
Multiple attempts to reach Fucarino for comment from Creative Loafing Tampa Bay were unsuccessful.
Hurtak told CL she was unaware of Fucarino's past, and says she was introduced to him through the mayor.
"I was unaware of Gio Fucarino's alias or criminal history until yesterday. Mayor Castor introduced me to Gio after her state of the city speech on May 11th, shortly after I was appointed to city council," said Hurtak in a statement.
"Mayor Castor told me he was a good friend of hers and a valuable resource to get input from Ybor City residents and business owners, and I took her advice. He has had no role in my campaign other than being a host for a single event; similarly, he was a host for Mayor Castor's re-election launch event. Mayor Castor regularly talks about how people deserve second chances, and I applaud her for living out those words."
Adam Smith, the Communications Director for the City of Tampa, told CL that "the mayor was unaware of his record, and there are no ties to sever." Smith also added that Castor denies introducing Hurtak to Fucarino.
"Mayor Castor has zero recollection of introducing this person to Lynn Hurtak and certainly never encouraged her to make him an advisor," said Smith.
Castor won-reelection this month, and Hurtak faces Janet Cruz—the mother of the mayor's partner, Ana Cruz—in a runoff election on April 25.
This is a developing story.
UPDATED 03/27/23 2:32 p.m. Updated to reflect the version of the story in the March 30, 2023 print edition of CL.
