Seventeen people sworn to enforce the law stand accused of breaking the law — in effect, stealing from the people they are sworn to protect.
The people who pay their salaries — the taxpayers of Broward County — should be justifiably outraged.
The sheriff’s badge in Broward has been tarnished once again.
Not one, not two, but 17 sworn deputies in the Broward Sheriff’s Office face felony fraud charges for allegedly stealing money from the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and a related Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program.
Created under the Trump administration, PPP became the basis of a massive relief effort by President Biden’s administration during the pandemic to help businesses weather the economic crisis during a prolonged collapse of retail activity.
The U.S. attorney in South Florida filed charges against nine employees of BSO’s detention division and eight employees of its law enforcement division. Some are accused of getting money for businesses that didn’t exist, or for vastly inflating businesses’ income. The maximum prison sentence is 20 years for the most serious charge of wire fraud.
U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe said the officers, acting independently of each other, received a total of $495,171 in assistance and used the money to unjustly enrich themselves. Prosecutors say BSO’s inspector general opened an investigation two years ago as PPP fraud emerged as a growing problem for public agencies. BSO’s public corruption unit got a tip from an employee that several co-workers may have committed fraud.
‘They will be gone’
Two of those charged are sergeants and four have worked for the sheriff’s office for 20-plus years each. All 17 are suspended without pay and are presumed innocent, but Sheriff Gregory Tony has predicted their careers at BSO are over.
“I’m not going to sugar-coat or dance around this,” Tony said at a recent press conference. “At the end of the day, they will be gone.”
The Broward Sheriff’s Office is an enormous agency with about 5,500 full-time employees, the vast majority of whom are law-abiding professionals. The people who should be most outraged by these charges are the men and women who work day and night to improve BSO’s reputation and carry out its mission.
“There are bad apples in every walk of life, and BSO is no different,” said Bob Jarvis, a Nova Southeastern University professor and co-author of “Out of the Muck,” a history of the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
For whatever reason, the public reaction to this wave of criminal charges has been muted. That’s likely because PPP fraud is endemic, totaling more than $100 billion, members of Congress say. In one widely reported case, former Florida state Rep. Joe Harding, R-Ocala, recently was sentenced to prison for four months in a PPP fraud scheme.
In Broward, the press release announcing the busts of the officers is right there on the BSO website, next to one entitled “Man stabbed in carjacking attack.” Yes, the accused officers have become fodder for the police blotter in their own agency.
This is a major setback for Tony’s efforts to restore trust in Broward’s largest law enforcement agency as he seeks re-election. Tony can provide much-needed reassurances to Broward voters and taxpayers by tightening rules on moonlighting by BSO employees.
Accountability questions
Tony, who talks often about his commitment to accountability, wants others to come forward if they know of corruption. “I expect you to say something,” he said.
The sheriff, appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2019, still has his own credibility issues. He’s seeking a second four-year term next year and faces a two-day hearing in February on allegations that he made lies and omissions to gain certification as a law enforcement officer.
BSO will weather this scandal, as it has survived others — far too many, in fact. One sheriff went to prison for tax evasion and mail fraud. Another was removed from office for protecting illegal gambling rackets. A third ran a pay-to-play operation, handing out sweetheart contracts to favored supporters until voters threw him out of office.
If the latest embarrassing chapter in BSO’s history tells us anything, it’s that we need good cops more than ever, partly to keep an eye on dishonest cops. The motto in law enforcement is “serve and protect” — not “steal and collect.”
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writer Martin Dyckman and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Editorials are the opinion of the Board and written by one of its members or a designee. To contact us, email at .
