08/23/2024
Time to get out the popcorn. Facing an arrest in Broward County, contact my Legal Assistant, Indira Gomez at 786-308-0170 to schedule a phone appointment. She is available M-F from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.
839.13 Falsifying records.—
(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), if any judge, justice, mayor, alderman, clerk, sheriff, coroner, or other public officer, or employee or agent of or contractor with a public agency, or any person whatsoever, shall steal, embezzle, alter, corruptly withdraw, falsify or avoid any record, process, charter, gift, grant, conveyance, or contract, or any paper filed in any judicial proceeding in any court of this state, or shall knowingly and willfully take off, discharge or conceal any issue, forfeited recognizance, or other forfeiture, or other paper above mentioned, or shall forge, deface, or falsify any document or instrument recorded, or filed in any court, or any registry, acknowledgment, or certificate, or shall fraudulently alter, deface, or falsify any minutes, documents, books, or any proceedings whatever of or belonging to any public office within this state; or if any person shall cause or procure any of the offenses aforesaid to be committed, or be in anywise concerned therein, the person so offending shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
(2)(a) Any person who knowingly falsifies, alters, destroys, defaces, overwrites, removes, or discards an official record relating to an individual in the care and custody of a state agency, which act has the potential to detrimentally affect the health, safety, or welfare of that individual, commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. For the purposes of this paragraph, the term “care and custody” includes, but is not limited to, a child abuse protective investigation, protective supervision, foster care and related services, or a protective investigation or protective supervision of a vulnerable adult, as defined in chapter 39, chapter 409, or chapter 415.
The Broward County Administrator fabricated a falsified and misleading audit report on the successful development and buildout of the finest public safety training facility in the country.
Instead of recognizing and joining the Florida Sheriffs Association, Major County Sheriffs Association of America, and various state and federal public safety organizations in the celebration and praise of this facility, our local county commissioners have become complicit in this destructive narrative/audit. The county commissioners are attempting to tarnish BSO’s successful management of this project to justify underfunding our organization. Moreover, they hope to use their audit to delay building a state-of-the-art Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP)/Communications Center at BSO headquarters.
For over 15 years, this county government has promised a new PSAP/Communications Center. Yet, after a multitude of tragedies where Broward residents died under their watch, they still sit on their hands and do nothing.
The county government can perpetrate all the lies they wish about the Research, Development and Training Center, but here’s what I know to be true; my team, with unwavering dedication and hard work, designed and built a 108,000 sq. ft. training facility, which is hands down the best in the country, and we did it in just 3 years.
Here are a few questions that should be asked of this county government:
Where is the new PSAP/Communications Center?
Where is the funding for our much-needed helicopters?
Where is the funding to recruit, train, and retain our employees?
Where is the funding to adequately maintain the jails, which are the county’s responsibility?
Where is the funding to get out of a 30-year Department of Justice consent decree?
The list is endless. As your Sheriff, I remain committed to transparency and accountability and will share with this community the facts. It’s time to hold this county administration accountable.
