PBSO sex scandal brewing; one deputy suspended

http://www.page2live.com/2009/04/16/...uty-suspended/

PBSO sex scandal brewing; one deputy suspended Posted by Jose Lambiet | Thursday 16 April 2009 3:05 pm

A sex scandal at the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office nearly cost a deputy his job and put an unwanted spotlight on his former lieutenant, a woman often considered a rising law enforcement star.

Deputy Timothy Keith, 38, is at the tail end of a month-long suspension after his wife caught him allegedly having sex with a neighbor – a fellow deputy’s wife.

Keith was supposed to be on-duty at the anti-gang unit, working on one of Sheriff Ric Bradshaw’s big gang initiatives, when he was caught at his home with his pants literally down.

Now, it gets interesting.

When Keith’s wife, Maguis Lopez, a barber, was interviewed by Internal Affairs honchos, she alleged something else.

She claimed that, not only was Keith having sex with other women, but also that she intercepted after-hours text-messages to Keith from his then-supervisor, Lt. Paula Kronsperger. And Lopez showed investigators, but didn’t file a complaint.


Sheriff Ric Bradshaw
“The big fish (Kronsperger) eats the small one (Keith),” Lopez told Page2Live. “I told them my husband was having several affairs, and one with his lieutenant, but they didn’t seem interested.

“I found messages to him from her cell phone that said ‘Do you want a kiss?’” Lopez said. “Or ‘Good night, baby!’ He’d received those things right in front of me. I showed the internal affairs people. All they wanted to talk about was me catching my husband doing things at home while he was supposed to be at work.

“I would have made a formal complaint against the lieutenant,” Lopez said, “but the deputies (I.A.) kept telling me my private life would become public. So I didn’t.”

Bitter jilted wife, you say?

Well, Lopez did file for divorce after the incident but recently had the case dismissed and tried to patch things up.

Meanwhile, PBSO records show that I.A. Sgt. Chris Soares requested Kronsperger’s cell phone records. Kronsperger, one of the agency's highest ranking females, officially wasn’t questioned.

“We narrowly focused the wife’s allegations,” Soares told Page2Live. “We looked into on-duty behavior. We don’t regulate off-duty behavior.”

Even if that off-duty relationship involves a supervisor, possibly making it illegal?

“I saw text messages, and they didn’t say Kronsperger on them,” Soares said. He then stopped taking questions.

The scandal's fuse was lit Oct. 17, when Lopez called 911 during a dispute with Keith at their Wellington home. She reported catching her husband in a bedroom at home while an undressed woman – identified as the wife of Keith’s partner on West Palm area patrol – hid in a bedroom closet.

By the way, Lopez told the operator, Keith is supposed to be on-duty.

I. A. got involved, and in time decided that Keith violated three agency policies: standard of conduct; procedures; and failure to report for duty.

Last month, Bradshaw suspended Keith with no pay for a month. He signed a “last chance” contract that could get him fired instantly for any future violation. Word is Keith is getting reassigned to the Belle Glade district.

Paula Kronsperger was reassigned shortly after the Keith incident: to a posh job that every lieutenant usually puts in for. She’s now the executive officer at the warrants unit.

Neither Bradshaw, nor Paula Kronsperger or Timothy Keith returned calls for this story.

Said Bradshaw’s spokeswoman, Teri Barbera: “We do not investigate rumors! Besides, there hasn’t been a complaint against the lieutenant.”

And you think those are the only things that go on. But hey after dealing with all that bs out (see you tube video on other post) there on the road sometimes even super cops just need a little stress relief. Instead of pissing the wife off (or hubby) get divorced and go have your fun, it's that hard ya know.

SOME JUSTICE AT LAST! THERE IS MUCH MORE TO THE STORY. STAY TUNED FOR MORE TO COME. WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND WHEN YOU LIVE AS A HYPOCRITE.

Sexual affair with deputy that she is in charge of but I guess it is o.k. at S.O. Its interesting that soarez can say off-duty activity is not regulated. Last time I checked police officers off duty activities are regulated. There must be reason that complaint was not made. Fear?

CAN SOME ONE ANYONE TELL ME WHY DAVE WOULD PUT UP WITH THIS? I AGREE WITH THE OTHER POST THAT IT IS TIME FOR THE TRUTH THE WHOLE TRUTH ABOUT THIS COMBAT STAR WEARING LT TO COME OUT.

we shouild not be worried about poor dave. we need be more concerned with why she is so protected by department and why she is being allowed to abuse her authoritey. there more to the story here that we need to know bout.

[Diesel]

I don’t condone adultery, but what a Deputy does on his or her own time is personal business. As for the Deputy who was suspended, that’s a different story because he was on the clock when he was messing with his best friend’s wife. Personally I think he’s a person of very low character for having an affair with another Deputies wife, or anyone’s wife for that matter, and I don’t believe he can be trusted. That type of behavior is a major character flaw that has to be bleeding into everything his does both personally and professionally.

SOME JUSTICE AT LAST! THERE IS MUCH MORE TO THE STORY. STAY TUNED FOR MORE TO COME. WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND WHEN YOU LIVE AS A HYPOCRITE.

Well said, just one of the many hypocrites at hq that need a taste of some coming around stuff. I love sitting back watching stuff like this unfold with people that thrive on screwing with other people's lives and walking around like they are one of the many gods that float around pbso. She is protected because of her pretty little smile that has others snowed and because she worked in the other hypocrite filled unit, ia, so she has good contacts.

hay diesel get a grip. You don't see the double standard? He has bad character because he screws his buddy's wife, but her character is okay because she was off duty? She screwing around on her LT husband and screwing one of her deputies so her character is okay? The one suspended here is just a deputy. She is a commander who should set the example for others to follow. You need to wake up and think about what you saying diesel dude.

THIS MESSAGE IS FOR YOU PAULA KRONSPERGER. I HOPE YOU’RE LISTENING BECAUSE NOW EVERYONE IS HEARING.

THIS ISSUE IS NOT ABOUT YOU AND ANOTHER CONSENTING ADULT HAVING CONSENSUAL SEXUAL RELATIONS IN PRIVATE.

IT IS ABOUT CHARACTER, KNOWING RIGHT FROM WRONG, SETTING THE EXAMPLE, AND BEING A LEADER TRUE TO YOURSELF. THE NATURE OF YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH DEPUTY TIMOTHY KEITH BROUGHT DISCREDIT UPON YOU, YOUR HUSBAND LIEUTENANT DAVE KRONSPERGER, DISTRICT ONE AND THE ENTIRE PBSO.

I AM TRULY EMBARRASSED FOR YOU.

THE UNFORTUNATE TRUTH IS YOU ARE PROBABLY UNWILLING TO ACCEPT ANY RESPONSIBILITY OR ADMIT TO YOURSELF YOU WERE WRONG.

SO, I WANT TO GIVE YOU A FEW BASIC REASONS WHY YOUR BEHAVIOR IS SO UNACCEPTABLE AND HORRENDOUS.

BY YOU HAVING A SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH A DEPUTY UNDER YOUR CONTROL, WHICH WAS KNOWN TO MANY OF DEPUTY KEITH’S COLLEAGUES AND HIS PATROL SERGEANTS, YOU COMPROMISED THE INTEGRITY OF THOSE SERGEANTS SUPERVISORY AUTHORITY AND THE CHAIN OF COMMAND.

BY YOU HAVING A SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH A DEPUTY UNDER YOUR CONTROL, YOU CAUSED PERCEIVED PARTIALITY AND UNFAIRNESS WHEN DEPUTY KEITH WAS GIVEN A TRANSFER TO THE GANG UNIT.

BY YOU HAVING A SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH A DEPUTY UNDER YOUR CONTROL, YOU WERE EXPLOITATIVE BY USING YOUR POSITION OF AUTHORITY TO DEVELOP AN INAPPROPRIATE SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP.

BY YOU HAVING A SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH A DEPUTY UNDER YOUR CONTROL, YOU CREATED CLEARLY A PREDICTABLE ADVERSE IMPACT ON YOUR DISTRICT’S CHAIN OF COMMAND AND THE MORALE OF YOUR DEPUTIES AND CIVILIAN THAT WORKED FOR YOU. DEPUTY KEITH IS ONE OF OVER 100 ASSIGNED TO DISTRICT ONE.

WHAT SHOULD YOU HAVE DONE DIFFERENT? IF YOU COULD NOT RESIST THE TEMPTATION OF ENGAGING THIS RELATIONSHIP, YOU SHOULD HAVE IMMEDIATELY NOTIFIED CAPTAIN PAUL MILES OF THE EXISTENCE OF SUCH RELATIONSHIP. THEN HE COULD HAVE MADE AN EFFORT TO ELIMINATE YOUR SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY OVER DEPUTY KEITH BY HAVING HIM MOVED.

DO YOU GET THE PICTURE OF WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT PAULA? IT’S PRETTY SIMPLE.

YOUR PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH DEPUTY KEITH WAS CLEARLY CONTRARY TO COMMON SENSE, NEVERTHELESS, YOU CONTINUED TO HAVE THIS RELATIONSHIP EVEN THOUGH THIS INAPPROPRIATE CONDUCT WAS GLARINGLY OBVIOUS, BUT TO YOU. ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU WENT TO VISIT DEPUTY KEITH WHEN HE WAS TEMPORARILY STAYING WITH A SERGEANT.

TRUST ME, PAULA, THE REALITY IS THAT EVERYONE PERCEIVES THE IMPROPRIETY OF THIS RELATIONSHIP YOU HAD AS MUCH AS YOU MAY WANT TO IGNORE THAT PERCEPTION. THANKS TO THE PALM BEACH POST, OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS AND WEEKS, EVERYONE OUTSIDE PBSO WILL KNOW WHAT THE REAL DEAL WAS AND WHAT DISTRICT ONE DEPUTIES HAVE KNOWN FOR SOME TIME. MANY AT DISTRICT ONE HAVE SAID "IT WAS JUST A MATTER OF TIME."

NOW, WHAT MAKES YOU A HYPOCRITE IS THAT YOU SPENT A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF YOUR PBSO CAREER IN INTERNAL AFFAIRS, BOTH AS AN INVESTIGATOR AND LATER AS A SERGEANT. YOU WERE SCHOOL TRAINED AND WORKED HUNDREDS OF CASES.

IN FACT, THERE WERE MANY CASES WHERE YOU SAT IN DIRECT JUDGMENT OF OTHERS. MANY OF THOSE CASES OVER THE YEARS INVOLVED ETHIC VIOLATIONS, OFF DUTY CONDUCT, AND SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS. ONE SUCH CASE INVOLVED DEPUTIES RONALD THAETER AND TIMOTHY MORAN RESULTING IN THEIR FIRING. THAT WAS THE CASE INVOLVING THE ISSUE OF WHETHER PHOTOGRAPHS AND VIDEOTAPES OF DEPUTY SHERIFFS ENGAGED IN SEXUALLY EXPLICIT, OFF-DUTY CONDUCT, AVAILABLE FOR PAY-PER-VIEW, ON THE INTERNET WERE VIOLATIONS OF SOP AND AS SUCH TERMINATION OFFENSES.

MAKE NO MISTAKE PAULA, SEXUAL SUPERIOR SUBORDINATE RELATIONSHIPS ARE INAPPROPRIATE, UNPROFESSIONAL, AND ARE IN CONFLICT WITH THE LAW ENFORCEMENT CODE OF ETHICS AND NEGATIVELY AFFECT OUR AGENCY’S REPUTATION AND THAT OF OUR EMPLOYEES IN THE EYES OF OTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES AND THE PUBLIC. UNDERSTANDABLY, THIS CASE COMING TO LIGHT WILL CAUSE MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC TO QUESTION THE APPROPRIATENESS AND VIABILITY OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES POLICING SOCIETY WHEN THEY FAIL TO POLICE THEIR OWN RANKS.

I HOPE FOR YOUR SAKE YOU WERE LISTENING.