Spence shhhhh!
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  1. #1
    Guest

    Spence shhhhh!

    Does Spence get that it isn't helping the cause by doing more interviews?
    Never mind the color he adds is the crap the NP squirts over.
    Scott, Russell, Crist and his others powerful list of friends need to tell their friend this stuff is giving our dept, the SAO, and everyone else a bad rap and to cease his deluded version of helping w/the situation.


    http://www.news-press.com/article/20...NTPAGECAROUSEL
    Game's still on for con man Spence

    **** Spence likes what he sees in the mirror.

    Maybe he's blind.

    The convicted felon perceives a man of action who helped Mike Scott win back-to-back sheriff's elections and whose sage advice keeps Scott on top of problems at the Lee County Sheriff's Office.

    "I would think in Mike's eyes, I'm a better friend now than before," Spence told The News-Press in an interview last month.

    That's debatable.

    Scott criticized Spence Friday for not confessing he was a felon.

    The Alva convenience store manager - who served three years in federal prison for money laundering and kidnapping in New York - dismisses his felonious criminal past with an excuse and born-again reformation.

    "I was in jail 15 years ago. I didn't know what I was getting into then," says Spence, 51. "But I'm a pillar of my community now. I donate time and money to charities."

    Pillar or post, he has making up to do to offset a 1995 conviction for laundering $100 million for the violent Colombian Cali Cartel's drug-smuggling operation. He relocated to Lee County, opened Alva Village Market in 2001 and became a political gadfly.

    "I've probably donated to 20 campaigns," he says.

    Scott refunded his money after he found out about Spence's past.

    How many others did?

    The sheriff forged a friendship with Spence despite agency policy that forbids employees from associating with felons.

    But Spence says the illicit relationship with Scott didn't hurt him.

    "If I called Steve Russell right now, he would talk to me," says Spence about the state attorney. "I'm friends with him and I'm a loyal friend. That's the thing with me. When I'm your friend, I'm always your friend."

    Well, if I called Russell right now, he'd probably answer. I'm worse than a felon - I'm a columnist.

    But Russell wasn't as exuberant about their relationship. He called Spence an "acquaintance."

    Spence drops political names like vitamins.

    "I helped Michael Dukakis run for president," he says of the 1988 Democratic nominee.

    Dukakis? Give me the name of a candidate that had a chance.

    Spence says he has cell phones of every politician who matters to him.

    That doesn't mean they answer when he calls.

    "Charlie Crist? If I called him up on the phone right now, he would definitely know who I am," he says. "I do have his cell phone. I raised a lot of money for Crist - $500,000."


    When asked Monday if he knew Spence, the governor said he didn't.
    That's 1-for-2 in name-dropping.

    Crist, by the way, would direct a criminal investigation into Scott. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Crist's agency, said Thursday it is conducting a preliminary investigation into Scott.

    Retired deputy Kerry Griner, who says he was forced to resign by Scott after 26 years in 2004, says Spence is "very charming," but don't buy into his bull.

    "I knew he was a con man the very first time I talked to him on the telephone," Griner says. "I have trouble believing he raised that much money for the governor."

    While Spence says he regrets his past, he relishes bragging about his role.

    "They said it was the biggest money laundering scheme ever in the state of New York - $185 million," he says, adding $85 million to the total. "And I think they got most of that back because I provided them with the bank account numbers.''

    Felons are bad. Felons who exaggerate are worse.

    Spence says folks appreciate his helping hand.

    "I am the honorary mayor of Alva, like when you raise money for charity," he says. "Everyone who comes into (the store) calls me mayor."

    Yet Spence's popularity surprises him. It should. He lives on a line of B.S.

    "I don't know why people like me, why people trust me," he says. "A lot of people come into the store. They know me, maybe it's my personality.

    "I don't lie."

    Excuse me. There was that fib as a firefighter.

    Spence, a retired New York City firefighter, falsely claimed an ankle injury.

    The scam netted him nearly $300,000. Officials ordered him to repay the amount.

    Spence also speaks from both sides of his mouth.

    "It's not like I look at resumes or anything," he says. "I would never tell (Scott) to promote or not promote."

    Two minutes later he stumps for his man.

    "I would pick (Lt.) Shawn Ramsey as my No. 2," says Spence about the chief deputy job. "I think he's the star of the bunch."


    Telephone records acquired by The News-Press showed Spence and Ramsey talked twice this year, once for 30 minutes.

    Spence also says he is an upstanding citizen and blames former chief deputy Charlie Ferrante for bringing his criminal past to Scott's attention.

    "Charlie (Ferrante) has a vendetta against me," Spence says. "I'm very embarrassed about (my past), but there's nothing illegal about (Scott's association with me). The rule doesn't apply to him."

    Wrong again, ****.

    The policy applies to all sheriff's office workers.

    "If I were still a criminal or something, maybe I could understand," Spence says. "But I've turned my life around."

    If there isn't a crack in his mirror, there should be.

  2. #2
    Guest

    Re: Spence shhhhh!

    ALVA VILLAGE MARKET, INC., -
    18500 Palm Beach Boulevard
    Alva, FL 339200000

    $1,877.00

    sign construction/installation

    Did MS tear down thses sign or give the material back?

  3. #3
    Guest

    Re: Spence shhhhh!

    Are you kidding me? Are you out of your flipping mind? The media is too soft on this guy. The headline would be much more accurate if it would have read "Sheriff's Campaign ran by Cali Cartel launderer". Or "Cali Cartel Money Launderer Gives Nods on Promotions". This guy infiltrated the agency. Period. And he did it from the top down. Who made the introduction to whom? Crist to Scott? Scott to Crist? Mack and Russell to Scott and Crist? the fallout is immeasurable. Look beyond the story here folks.

    Anyone who thinks that this guy was not calling ms and influencing his decisions is just plain ignorant. That being said, six years of a relationship with a guy and not a clue? A cop for twenty years and not a clue that this guy, from the beverage industry in the Bronx, has no past? IT seems much more likely that a blind eye was turned until the story went public.

    How the hell people aren’t completely outraged is absolutely beyond me. The sheriff has made it clear that this guy shaped many of the decisions that were made in this agency. A launderer from the Cali Cartel is making decisions in a law enforcement agency. Not even damned internet search? Holy crap people. Where the hell are you from? So we elect this guy and this guy Spence is the best he can come up with as a silent consultant? By the way Spence has to be out of his mind based on his choice for no. 2.

  4. #4
    Guest

    Re: Spence shhhhh!

    8/7/2008
    ALVA VILLAGE MARKET, INC., -
    18500 Palm Beach Boulevard
    Alva, FL 339200000

    $2,142.00

    sign installation

  5. #5
    Guest

    Re: Spence shhhhh!

    So Mike only gave 450.00 back...so that means he only excepted 50.00 from someone who he then knew was a convicted felon.

  6. #6
    Guest

    Re: Spence shhhhh!

    Never did understand the $500 dollar donation, but return of only $450.

    Ramsey as #2, oh hell no. Period.

    How can Crist say he doesn't have a relationship with Spence, @ $500,000 you can bet they've been associates. Or maybe Tanman's brain is shot, he also denied being a close friend of a Lee Co. guy who gave $1,000,000 for his gov. campaign. The other guy is being shown appreciation in ways that repay him for his effort many many many times over-the FEDS should investigate him. Crist is a scary dude. Msg- don't vote for anybody that Spence enables by donation. Locally this election season he's already donated to Sonny Haas(side note-Ramsey also plays the political games Sonny and donates $ to his campaign).

    The Cartels are alive and well, they donate and create seemingly normal biz fronts to run money thru, hummmm, a stop and go in nowheresville Alva?

  7. #7
    Guest

    Re: Spence shhhhh!

    Fact: Last August Scott and Spence got other cell phones to use to converse. Nothing changed in their relationship. In fact, it grew. Keep digging, NP.

  8. #8
    Guest

    Re: Spence shhhhh!

    Hey NP - Invest $1,000 or so in a private investigator to look into the cell phone issue and you'll crack this thing wide open. Guaranteed. I smell a Pulitzer.

  9. #9
    Guest

    Re: Spence shhhhh!

    Quote Originally Posted by Guest
    Never did understand the $500 dollar donation, but return of only $450.

    Ramsey as #2, oh hell no. Period.

    How can Crist say he doesn't have a relationship with Spence, @ $500,000 you can bet they've been associates. Or maybe Tanman's brain is shot, he also denied being a close friend of a Lee Co. guy who gave $1,000,000 for his gov. campaign. The other guy is being shown appreciation in ways that repay him for his effort many many many times over-the FEDS should investigate him. Crist is a scary dude. Msg- don't vote for anybody that Spence enables by donation. Locally this election season he's already donated to Sonny Haas(side note-Ramsey also plays the political games Sonny and donates $ to his campaign).

    The Cartels are alive and well, they donate and create seemingly normal biz fronts to run money thru, hummmm, a stop and go in nowheresville Alva?
    True, very true. Ramsey got where he is because of this relationship. Hell no to any further promotion for this guy. If anything, why has there not been an IA conducted to his relationship with this felon along with the other deputies noted in the NP article. Come on Colonel's and Majors, step up to the plate and demand an IA if the sheriff won't; have you not heard of vicarious liablility? If you don't investigate it, you condone it.

  10. #10
    Guest

    Re: Spence shhhhh!

    Do all the grow houses we've been hitting the past few years belong to Spence's competitors? You know the Cubans and the Colombians never did get along very well in the narco trade.

    What did GK get in exchange for "initiating" the complaint on DF? Who was the polygraph operator? Someone from out of town, right? Were the results ever provided to anyone outside the agency for validation?

    Do the math. Captain on captain complaint followed by a secretive, out of town polygraph that got DF fired. CF retires, but then suddenly gets suspended in an IA. Turns out there was no IA and no suspension, just CF taking FMLA and getting slandered in the media by MS. LB gets his gear seized by the very same person who initiated the complaint on DF. He mouths off and gets fired. SC gets demoted out of the blue to "help his career". Huh?

    Now we find out that all these people where part of an investigation into **** Spence and his wanted felon son. A guy the sheriff didn't really know very well but who publicly hated CF and DF. Hmmm. Which story makes more sense?

    Keep pushing NP, you're on to something big.

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