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Broward Sheriff Tony seeks to play kingmaker in Miami-Dade sheriff’s race, bets big on candidate Reyes. Why?

kingmaker
Miami-Dade sheriff’s candidate James Reyes on the day he quit the Broward Sheriff’s Office last year to become head of Miami-Dade’s jail system.

By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org

The Broward Sheriff’s Public Records Unit appears to have broken state law by hiding BSO’s personnel records about Miami-Dade sheriff’s candidate Jem “James” Reyes – Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony’s favored candidate in the Miami-Dade sheriff’s race.

The only question: Which state law was broken? More on that in a moment.

Reyes’s latest campaign report, filed Friday afternoon, disclosed that Tony’s political action committee, Broward First, gave another $100,000 to Reyes’s Safe & Secure PAC. Tony, a Democrat who has only a weak Independent opponent in the Nov. 5 general election, Charles Whatley, now has contributed a total of $250,000 to boost Reyes.

Tony did not respond to an emailed request for comment on Saturday.

Records previously obtained by Florida Bulldog show that in 2019, shortly after Tony promoted Reyes to colonel and named him to head BSO’s Department of Administration, Reyes played fast and loose with hundreds of thousands of BSO funds to make a purchase sought by Tony. Specifically, Reyes approved spending $750,000 to buy 654 bleeding-control stations and kits from North American Rescue, a South Carolina company where Tony previously worked and later sold its products via his own company, Blue Spear Solutions.

kingmaker
Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony at September 2019 press conference discussing BSO’s plans to distribute bleeding control kits purchased from North American Rescue LLC.

North American was the low bidder at approximately $392,000. By the time the matter got to Reyes for his approval, the cost had swelled to $750,000. Reyes OK’d the deal the day after it landed on his desk, apparently without asking any questions. The FBI later started a bid-rigging investigation, but a friend of Tony’s who then headed the Miami FBI office transferred the case to South Carolina, where it languished. After Special Agent in Charge George Piro retired, the case was returned to Miami, but soon ended again for unknown reasons.

TONY’S PALS ALSO KICK IN TO REYES

Tony appears responsible for additional funds seeking to elect Reyes, currently Miami-Dade’s chief of public safety, as Miami-Dade sheriff.

Election records show that Tony’s wealthy donors – including former Boston Red Sox slugger Maurice “Mo” Vaughn ($39,000), BSO vendor and Saferwatch owner Geno Roefaro ($49,500), and convicted felon and Broward Sheriff’s Advisory Council member Lewis Stahl ($25,000) – have coughed up an additional $113,500 for Reyes. Tony’s command staff, including Col. Oscar Llorena ($2,000) and Major Angelo Cedeno ($5,000), also kicked in more than $11,000.

Reyes’s PAC has now raised $1.85 million, election records show. His Broward connection is responsible for more than one out of every five dollars his PAC has collected. Dozens of contributors with a Broward address, including BSO Undersheriff Nichole Anderson and BSO Col. John Hale and BSO General Counsel Terrence Lynch, also contributed directly to Reyes’s campaign which through Oct. 18 has raised another $257,000.

Reyes, a Democrat, is facing Republican Rosanna “Rosie” Cordero-Stutz in the November election. She is currently assistant director of Investigative Services for the Miami-Dade Police Department. Her PAC, Citizens for a Safer Community, has collected $1.037 million. Her campaign has received another $327,000 in donations.

Back to BSO’s records unit. A request for public records filed Sept. 3 asked the sheriff’s office to provide various public documents about Reyes, who had worked for BSO for 22 years when he resigned in January 2022 to take a job as head of Miami-Dade’s jail system. (Reyes started at BSO as a detention deputy and rose to the rank of colonel.)

kingmaker
Miami-Dade sheriff’s candidate Rosanna “Rosie” Cordero-Stutz

The documents sought were copies of any discipline reports, the last five years of Reyes’s employee evaluations, his original employment application, a list of his various job assignments at BSO and a copy of his internal and external training records.

BSO: WE CAN’T FIND OUR RECORDS ABOUT REYES

This was the records unit’s response: “Based upon the information you have provided, the Broward Sheriff’s Office Public Records Unit has been unable to identify any records responsive to your request. Per our IA [Internal Affairs] division: Kindly advise that all files before 2017 have been destroyed in accordance with FSS [Florida State Statutes] regarding the destruction of records for Law Enforcement Agencies.”

The letter is signed “Broward Sheriff’s Office Public Records Unit.” No individual takes responsibility for its assertions.

BSO’s response was grossly deficient. First, an employee’s job application, evaluations and assignments are all part of his or her personnel file. And the personnel records of all agencies in Florida, law enforcement or not, that participate in the Florida Retirement System, as BSO does, are required to retain their personnel records for a minimum of “25 fiscal years after any manner of separation or termination of employment,” according to Florida’s General Records Schedule. Training records, however, may be disposed of after as little as two years.

Disciplinary records may be kept in an employee’s personnel file and/or maintained separately in the internal affairs unit.

“Final action summaries” of police internal investigations are also required to be retained “as long as the Personnel File.” Here’s how the state’s schedule explains it: “Final action summaries involve accusations of “employee or officer misconduct and/or violation of law enforcement agency regulations or orders, state or federal statutes, or local ordinances. Investigations may also cover discharge of firearms or other use of physical force. The completed investigation file is scheduled separately based on the nature of the outcome (sustained formal, sustained informal, or not sustained/unfounded/exonerated). The statement of final action may take many forms, including a memorandum, correspondence, logs or reports.”

Thus, the outcome of an investigation dictates the minimum length of time that the complete IA file must be maintained. Records of investigations that are formally sustained must be kept for at least five years after the final disposition. For investigations that are informally sustained the retention time is three years; investigations that are not sustained/unfounded/exonerated must be kept at least one year.

INCOMPETENT OR LYING?

All this adds up to trouble for BSO.

Perhaps the person at the public records unit who responded to the request was hopelessly inept, couldn’t find Reyes’s personnel file and needs to be replaced.

But if incompetence does not explain what happened, then either the public records unit lied about not having any of the requested personnel records or BSO disposed of those records in violation of state law.

The same is true of BSO employees in its Internal Affairs division who improperly destroyed “all files before 2017.” Either they are lying to avoid releasing Reyes’s records, or they broke the law by improperly disposing of records – including IA’s final action summaries – involving Reyes and other BSO deputies who were investigated.

If it was a lie, why? Were orders given to withhold Reyes’s records?

It’s a crime in Florida to deliberately withhold public records. Chapter 119 of Florida’s Statutes gives every person the right, with certain exceptions, to inspect and copy all state, county and municipal records and requires agencies to provide access to them. Any agency employee who “willfully and knowingly violates any of the provisions of this chapter commits a misdemeanor of the first degree.”

Florida Statute 257.36 vests the Department of State’s Division of Library and Information Services with the duty to establish and administer Florida’s records management program.

The division establishes safeguards against unauthorized or unlawful removal or loss of records, makes “continuous surveys of recordkeeping operations” and can “initiate appropriate action to recover records removed unlawfully or without authorization,” the statute says.

“A public record may be destroyed or otherwise disposed of only in accordance with retention schedules established by the division,” it cautions.

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Comments

10 responses to “Broward Sheriff Tony seeks to play kingmaker in Miami-Dade sheriff’s race, bets big on candidate Reyes. Why?”

  1. Alberto Jimenez Avatar

    More corrupción at all levels, but nothing happens.

  2. Another in a string of articles by the Bulldog exposing corruption, which goes unheeded by Law Enforcement. Making the “No one above the Law” cries by politicians just more of their usual BS !!

  3. I remember when the Bulldog first began putting out articles about Sheriff Tony. Those stories generated LOTS of comments! Gregory Tony is now more of a politician then he is a Sheriff. Now, it’s all about MONEY….and LIES! None of this should come as a shock to anyone who has lived in Broward County for any length of time. The total CORRUPTION here by so many elected officials, including “Officers of the Court,” has become so OPEN and PREVALENT, that those involved don’t even TRY to conceal it anymore! Sheriff Tony is a SMART businessman! If he’s “pouring money” into Reyes’ election campaign, we should be asking what’s in it for Sheriff Tony!

    And the claims that Reyes’ records were lost, removed or destroyed….is BULLSHIT! Those records undoubtedly still exist somewhere, no matter where they are being kept!!! It’s exactly like what the so-called “disciplinary” branch of the Florida Bar does! When a Bar Complaint against a lawyer is DISMISSED by a corrupt Bar Counsel, a letter dismissing the Complaint will be sent to the Complainant by that same Bar Counsel. And ALWAYS, the letter will end with the statement that the Bar Complaint will remain in the lawyer’s file for ONE YEAR, after which the file will be purged. A TOTAL BULLSHIT LIE!! Those dismissed Complaints are NEVER purged, they are simply CONCEALED from the public after one year! I KNOW this for a fact because several years ago, I contacted the ACAP section of the Florida Bar and asked for information regarding the number of Complaints filed against one particular lawyer. The nice lady on the phone, who was obviously new at her job, put me on a brief hold, then came back with the information that the lawyer I asked about had received FIVE Bar Complaints, TWO of which were THREE YEARS OLD!!! So much for “purging the files after one year!” I have a great deal MORE evidentiary documents showing the DISHONESTY and CORRUPTION that is the Florida Bar’s signature trademark!

  4. I can only hope that Rosie (I voted for her) is elected Sheriff in Miami-Dade. We sure do not need any “corrupt” transplants from Broward running our new Sheriff Dept. down here.

  5. From 1970 until 1981, I was the Bureau Supervisor for Personnel and Investigations for the Dade County Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. In 1981, I joined the Broward County Sheriff’s Office as their Personnel Supervisor. I held that position until I left in 1985. I also taught a class at the Broward County Police Academy on Florida State Statue 119.01, which is the Florida Public Records Statute. The personnel file for any governmental employee is a public record with certain exceptions which have to be excluded, such as home address and any personnel information for law enforcement personnel. Also health records are excluded. You make a request to see the records under Wait v. Florida Power & Light and the agency has to produce them. Wait v. Florida Power & Light just means that you want to simply review the records. Take a box of paper clips and clip any records that you want a copy of. They can charge you a fee for the record, but only for the actual cost. If they store the records off site, they cannot charge you a fee for having them moved back to the agency. If the agency refuses to product the records within a reasonable time, them go to the Clerk of the Courts and ask for a hearing before a judge, which take priority over any other cases. I think that the Florida Bulldog asked for too much at one time. Go back and asked to see his personnel file and perhaps the background investigation that they did on him.

  6. Robert Bouche Avatar

    And Toney’s case has been removed from the CJSTC agenda AGAIN for a Thursday ruling. It is now pushed back to February at the earliest. This crook has been kicking this can down the road for over 2 years. Every officer who has had his certification stripped by CJSTC needs to file an appeal. Double standards should have no place in law enforcement.

  7. NOT EDDIE CRESPO Avatar
    NOT EDDIE CRESPO

    I am NOT EDDIE CRESPO!!
    Blah blah blah. CORRUPTION!!
    Listen to ME!! Blah blah blah. I KNOW best.
    Denying me MY rights,
    Yada yada yada….BULLSHIT! Public incompetence!!
    More corruption?
    Why doesn’t anyone LISTEN to ME??
    I am NOT EDDIE CRESPO.
    I have proof. Everyone should LEARN FROM ME!!

  8. Edward Crespo Avatar

    Looks like my old buddy, BCT Signal Nine (ret) is back to post more of his cowardly, anonymous BULLSHIT insults! If it’s someone else, the same applies to YOU! People who conceal their identities while posting meaningless, unimportant messages are gutless, chickenshit cowards! By the way, I was NOT the only commentator to use the word “corruption” in response to this story. GET A LIFE…A@%HOLE!!!

  9. BCT Signal Nine (ret) Avatar
    BCT Signal Nine (ret)

    Dear Mr. Crespo,

    What a sad and pathetic little man you are. You are the annoying crazy uncle that ruins every holiday gathering
    with your complaining about slights, real and imagined. If it weren’t for Florida Bulldog you would have no public forum for your rants .
    Remember Edward, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean you don’t have real enemies.
    Good day sir.

  10. Dear BCT,

    I see you are still following this story….and me. Are you ready to attach your real name to your insults? Or are you just going to remain an anonymous, chickenshit coward? You say I’m a “sad and pathetic little man.” Well look at what’s calling the kettle black! I’m not afraid to speak out against corrupt, self-serving public officials! I’m not afraid to identify myself! You have NEVER said anything that was RELEVANT to the subject matter in any of the Florida Bulldog articles! You just like to hurl anonymous insults! You contribute NOTHING!

    My enemies KNOW who I am because I make SURE that they know! Interestingly, NONE of them have ever come forward publicly to dispute my allegations! Instead, they hide behind a wall of silence. Like you….they are gutless, chickenshit COWARDS!

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