By Francisco Alvarado, FloridaBulldog.org
For nearly a decade, Troy Walker lorded over the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Miami office with the iron fist of a paranoid tyrant. But it was Walker’s penchant for sending sexually suggestive text messages on his work-issued phone that led to his departure.
Last summer, Walker abruptly retired as special agent-in-charge of FDLE’s Miami Regional Operations Center, which he helmed since 2014.
The FDLE immediately clammed up about the matter. Florida Bulldog filed a public records request on July 5, 2023, seeking FDLE’s internal investigative reports about Walker’s departure. Earlier this month, after receiving no response, Florida Bulldog attorney, Edward Birk of Jacksonville’s Marks Gray law firm, notified FDLE that we intended to sue to obtain those public records.
Several days later, FDLE released its report of investigation. It laid out the reasons behind Walker’s sudden departure from the law enforcement agency that employed him for more than 25 years.
The probe, conducted by FDLE’s Office of Executive Investigations, sustained that Walker violated state agency policies, including “standards of member conduct, use of resources and acceptable use of information technology.”
A forensic audit of Walker’s work-issued phone revealed that he sent and received 6,886 “inappropriate and unprofessional” text messages of a “flirtatious subtext and/or sexual innuendo” with 13 individuals not employed with FDLE between Dec. 22, 2022 and June 16, 2023, the same day he retired when he was informed about the internal investigation, the report states.
The report does not identify the individuals Walker communicated with or cite any of the allegedly sexually inappropriate texts he sent and received.
“It can be determined that SAC [Special Agent in Charge] Walker failed to exercise good judgment and maintain the highest standard of professional and ethical behavior at all times,” the report states. “It can be determined that SAC Walker demonstrated a pattern and practice of misusing his assigned FDLE phone for personal communications.”
Walker, 57, did not respond to Florida Bulldog requests for comment via email and his LinkedIn profile. He also did not respond to a message left on the voicemail of his parents’ phone number. Personal phone numbers associated with Walker were either disconnected or belonged to individuals unrelated to him.
FDLE spokespersons Dana Kelly and Jensen Rayburn did not respond to requests for comment about the report and events that precipitated Walker relinquishing the top post in Miami. Last July, FDLE Commissioner Mark Glass promoted Felipe Williams, the Miami office’s then-assistant special agent-in-charge.
TALLAHASSEE BOSSES FLY TO MIAMI
According to two former FDLE Miami special agents who left the agency just prior to Walker’s retirement and an ex-FDLE supervisor who remains in contact with law enforcement employees in the Miami office, the top brass in Tallahassee, including Glass, forced Walker to retire.
On the day he left the agency, two assistant FDLE commissioners flew to Miami and met with Walker, the three sources told Florida Bulldog. Walker was given the option to retire or face termination upon completion of the internal investigation.
“Thereafter he was taken home by a special agent,” the ex-supervisor said. “The assistant commissioners called a group of agents into a mandatory meeting where they were told that Walker had retired effective immediately.”
It marked an inglorious end for Walker, who rose up the FDLE ranks since he joined the agency in 1997. During his first seven years, Walker was assigned to the Tampa Bay Regional Operations Center, where he was promoted to assistant special agent-in-charge in 2011. Three years later, then-FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey appointed him to the top post in Miami after predecessor Addy Villanueva was demoted and Miami’s second-in-command, Robert Breeden, was forced to resign.
At the time, another FDLE executive investigation determined the Miami office — which encompasses Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties — was a dysfunctional, hostile workplace due to constant friction among Villanueva, Breeden and their subordinates. Bailey tapped Walker to restore order and morale.
But in February 2015, two months after taking over the Miami office, Walker was briefly placed on administrative leave with pay while FDLE investigated a “citizen’s complaint” against him, The Miami Herald reported. According to the ex-FDLE supervisor, Walker allegedly pulled his gun on a motorist during a road rage incident in Hillsborough County. State prosecutors declined to move forward with criminal charges and the internal probe was closed without any disciplinary action.
Apparently, Walker’s temper spilled over into his workplace, according to the most recent investigative report against him.
RANK-AND-FILE DISH DIRT ON WALKER
The executive office began a preliminary inquiry into Walker after receiving an anonymous complaint on Feb. 17, 2023 accusing him of creating a hostile work environment by ruling “with an iron fist” and utilizing “threats and intimidation,” the report states.
Walker allegedly singled out law-enforcement personnel assigned to the Miami office before he took over in an attempt to force them to resign or retire. Walker allegedly derisively referred to these special agents as “Old Miami,” according to interviews with five sworn officers in the Miami office, including two supervisors, as well as text messages and emails reviewed by internal investigations special agents.
One of the witnesses, Special Agent Aida Limongi, relayed that Walker told her “Old Miami agents did not trust him, were out to get him, were disloyal and disgruntled,” the report states. Other special agents told their Tallahassee counterparts that Walker had a “hit list” of employees he wanted to get rid of.
Special agent supervisor Dennis Roadruck told executive office investigators that Walker used the term “coward” to describe “individuals who talk behind his back or complain to Tallahassee,” the report states. Walker also made statements about wanting to engage in hand-to-hand combat with special agents who badmouthed him inside a boxing ring at FDLE Miami headquarters, Roadruck told executive office investigators.
The report also cited a text message in December 2022 that Walker sent an unknown individual in which he disparaged special agent supervisor David Quigley, who oversaw an FDLE field office in Key West. “He is worthless and one I inherited,” Walker’s text said. “He’s one of my worst. I only have two supervisors left from Old Miami and I wouldn’t have promoted either [of them.]”
The executive office investigators determined that no further investigation into Walker’s harsh management style was warranted, but the forensic analysis of his phone and other electronic devices turned up the inappropriate text messages, the report shows.
Additionally, the investigation uncovered that Walker violated FDLE policy by emailing his brother, Riviera Beach Police Major Travis Walker, an internal report about a police shooting investigation involving a deputy from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office. Walker sent the report on Jan. 30, 2023 to his sibling’s work email address even though the document could only be shared with FDLE personnel, the report found. Travis Walker did not respond to an email request for comment.
Last November, executive office investigators contacted Walker to ask him if he wanted to review the case file. He declined. The probe was officially closed in January of this year, the report states.
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