STATE ATTORNEY REFUSES TO FILE FELONY AGAINST SUPERVISOR'S S
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 11
 
  1. #1
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Posts
    1

    STATE ATTORNEY REFUSES TO FILE FELONY AGAINST SUPERVISOR'S S

    July 16, 2010


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Madison County Health Department (MCHD) is issuing a mosquito-borne advisory after a second positive report of a horse with Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus (EEEV) in Madison County in the past two weeks. The risk of transmission to humans has been increased.
    The virus is maintained in a cycle between mosquitoes and birds in freshwater swampy areas, sometimes biting a horse or a human. EEEV causes severe illness in humans and horses. Symptoms in humans develop 3 -10 days after the bite of an infected mosquito and begin with a sudden onset of fever, general muscle pains, and a headache of increasing severity. Symptoms can become more severe over 1-2 weeks and infected individuals will either recover or show onset of inflammation of the brain (encephalitis) with seizures and vomiting. Human cases are usually preceded by those in horses. Disease transmission does not occur directly from person to person. Those at highest risk are people who live in or visit woodland areas, people who work or participate in outdoor recreational activities where there is greater exposure to potentially infected mosquitoes. The MCHD reminds residents and visitors to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes. Everyone is encouraged to take the basic steps to limit exposure by following these recommendations:
    To protect yourself from mosquitoes, you should remember the "5Ds": Dusk and Dawn – Avoid being outdoors when mosquitoes are seeking blood.
    Dress – Wear clothing that covers most of your skin.
    DEET – When the potential exists for exposure to mosquitoes, repellents containing up to 30 percent DEET (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide) are recommended. Other effective mosquito repellents include picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus, and IR3535. Some repellents are not suitable for children.
    Drainage – Check around your home to rid the area of standing water, where mosquitoes lay eggs.
    To protect your horses from mosquitoes, you should consult with your veterinarian on getting your horses vaccinated for EEE and WNV.
    Tips on Eliminating Mosquito Breeding Sites:
    Clean out eaves, troughs and gutters.
    Remove old tires or drill holes in those used in playgrounds to drain.
    Turn over or remove empty plastic pots.
    Pick up all beverage containers and cups.
    Check tarps on boats or other equipment that may collect water.
    Pump out bilges on boats.
    Replace water in birdbaths and pet or other animal feeding dishes at least once a week.
    Change water in plant trays, including hanging plants, at least once a week.
    Remove vegetation or obstructions in drainage ditches that prevent the flow of water.
    MCHD continues to conduct statewide surveillance for mosquito borne illnesses, including West Nile virus infections, Eastern Equine Encephalitis, St. Louis encephalitis, malaria, and dengue. Residents of Madison County are encouraged to report dead birds via the web site http://myfwc.com/bird/.
    For more information on mosquito-borne illnesses, visit DOH's Environmental Health web site at http://www.doh.state.fl.us/Environment /medicine/arboviral/index.html or call your The Madison County Health Department at (850) 973-5000.


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Assistant State Attorney Claims He Was Fired For Doing His Job
    Former Assistant State Attorney Michael J. San Filippo, who lives in Lee, said that he was fired for refusing to reduce felony charges against the son of his supervisor.
    Show story

    July 16, 2010By Jacob Bembry
    Greene Publishing, Inc.
    jacob@greenepublishing.com


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Michael J. San FilippoFormer Assistant State Attorney Michael J. San Filippo, who lives in Lee, said that he was fired for refusing to reduce felony charges against the son of his supervisor.

    San Filippo said that a matter had arisen when Florida Highway Patrol Trooper John Sleigher had stopped Matthew Smith, the son of San Filippo's supervisor, Karen Hatton.

    San Filippo said that when the matter was presented to him to be investigated, he spoke with Sleigher. San Filippo said the trooper advised him that Smith had attempted to intimidate and threaten the trooper, by repeatedly telling him the position Smith's mother held at the State Attorney's Office. Sleigher also reportedly said that Smith told him that his mother would have his badge and the state attorney would dismiss the case, because his mother was a supervisor at the office.

    "Nevertheless and undeterred, the trooper fulfilled his legal duty and arrested the son on felony DWLS (driving while license suspended)," San Filippo said. "According to the trooper, this was not the son's first felony charge either."

    San Filippo said that soon after the incident, Hatton emailed him directly and privately to reduce her son's charges from a felony.

    "I was shocked, but I proceeded to investigate the case," said San Filippo. "Based upon the police reports in the court file, it was clearly a felony, and as such, I directed the clerk to file the case as a felony."

    The first email that San Filippo presented to the newspaper was an email from Hatton to Skip Jarvis, which read as follows:

    "Skip,

    "I just got a call from my son, Matthew. He was on his way to school at FSU this morning and was pulled over by a trooper in Taylor County for not wearing a seat belt. When the trooper looked up his license, it had been recently suspended for not paying a ticket. To make matters worse, he has such a bad driving record that the trooper arrested him for felony DWLS. He has probably 5 DWLS' in his past, the most recent one in 2003 (I think). Anyway, Danny Herring was at the jail and bonded him out (he knows Matthew and me from work.) Matthew is asking for the public defender. That's all I know so far.

    "Karen D. Hatton

    Assistant State Attorney

    100 Court S.E.

    Live Oak, Florida 32064

    (386) 362-2320"

    Dave Phelps, Elise Blair and San Filippo all received copies of the email.

    San Filippo later received an email that was sent only to him by Hatton.

    The text of the email is as follows:

    "Mike,

    "What part of the alphabet do you handle? I'm hoping that you look at Matthew's case and file it down. He's already gotten his license back."

    San Filippo responded to the email 35 minutes later with the following:

    "a through h"

    San Filippo interpreted the email as Hatton asking him to reduce it from a felony to a misdemeanor.

    A few days later, San Filippo said that he was fired by State Attorney Skip Jarvis for not reducing the charges to a civil citation or a misdemeanor and for complaining about what he considered unethical, illegal, obstructive and corrupt conduct.

    This writer left three voice mails at the State Attorney's Office for Skip Jarvis, asking for his side of the story. At press time, Thursday morning, July 15, none of them had been returned

  2. #2
    Guest

    STATE ATTORNEY REFUSES FELONY AGAINST SUPERVISOR'S SON

    This Assistant State Attorney San Filippo is a BAD APPLE, He has no respect for the power of his office. If the State Attorney can't decide who is guilty, and who is innocent, we'll have anarchy in the streets. So what if this kid drives DWL now and then when his Mom forgets to fix his traffic tickets. The point is his mother believes in him and that is enough for the State Attorney. I say, don't just fire San Filippo, The State Attorney should Lock him up until he understands the ops: embarrassment ops: he is causing other important people.

    This is not the kind of stuff people living in a Free Society want to hear about. Mr. Jacob Greene should stick to what his people know best, The Financials, and leave dispensing JUSTICE to the Florida State Attorney's Office.

  3. #3
    Guest

    Re: STATE ATTORNEY REFUSES TO FILE FELONY AGAINST SUPERVISOR'S S

    Sounds like obstruction of justice plain and simple.

  4. #4
    Guest

    Re: STATE ATTORNEY REFUSES TO FILE FELONY AGAINST SUPERVISOR'S S

    State Attorney Skip Jarvis responded to the charges by Michael San Filippo, saying that he was wrongfully fired, on Friday, July 16. The article with San Filippo's accusations ran the same day in the Friday, July 16, Madison Enterprise-Recorder.

    Jarvis told this writer that he had not received the voice mails that the writer had left.

    In the prior article, San Filippo said that he had been terminated for refusing to lower charges against Matthew Smith, son of San Filippo's supervisor, Karen Hatton, from a felony to a misdemeanor.

    "His claims are just close enough to the truth to sound valid, but regardless are false," Jarvis stated and then elaborated:

    "First, I was made aware of the case against Matthew Smith for driving while his license was permanently revoked. I requested the file and was in the process of contacting the Governor for an executive assignment (the assignment of another State Attorney to handle it) when I looked at Smith's driving record. The driver's license printout from the DHSMV said his license was valid, which means he could not have been driving on a permanently revoked drivers license. I called DHSMV in Tallahassee and had them look at his driving record with me. They agreed that his drivers license was not permanently revoked (thus there was no felony for Mr. San Filippo to have been ordered to reduce.) I did review his record and it should have been written initially as driving while license suspended- second offense (yes, there were additional DWLS charges, but they were too old and by statute could not be counted). I personally contacted Mr. Smith (who at this point did not yet have an attorney) and advised him that I was correcting the charge from the felony to DWLS- second offense. He informed that he was going to plead guilty.

    "With that," Jarvis said, "I went ahead and re-filed a citation using the correct charge and he pled guilty as charged. Judge Murphy has accepted his plea and sentenced him to 30 days in the Taylor County Jail. This is all public record in the Taylor County Clerk's office.

    This writer also obtained a copy of the original termination letter Jarvis hand-delivered to San Filippo back in January. The following is the text of that letter:

    "Mr. San Filippo,

    "As the elected chief law enforcement officer of the Third Judicial Circuit, I have the responsibility to insure that the integrity of this office is not compromised. Unfortunately, over the past year in office I have observed behavior on your part that brings the office into disrepute and fails to fulfill our responsibility to the citizens of the State of Florida.

    "In July I was contacted by Judge Wetzel Blair who asked me to meet with Mr. and Mrs. Gene Rutherford regarding the condition you left the properties that you rented from Lois Webb in Madison County. After reviewing the photographs of the property and seeing other documentation, I directed you to get with them to resolve this matter. When it appeared that you had failed to do so, I advised the Rutherford's that they should proceed in whatever manner they deemed appropriate.

    "I now find that on December 15th you went to the Madison County Sheriffs Office and filed a felony complaint against Mrs. Webb in what appears to be either a retaliatory move or an attempt to gain an advantage in the civil landlord/tenant dispute.

    "I recently also learned that in June of 2008 you were involved in a matter in which you purchased a "Rolex" watch from an individual selling gold jewelry out of a sack in a parking lot in Lake City. You subsequently sold the watch to an attorney and it was from him that you learned that the watch was a fake. You then demanded that this office pursue criminal charges against the seller, Richard Carr. When I learned of this case several days ago I directed that it would not be filed by this office based upon my belief that should the case be presented to a jury it would appear that you were attempting to purchase what could reasonably have been believed to have been stolen property for pennies on the dollar.

    "My decision to not proceed in either of these cases has caused you to confront staff prosecutors and accuse me of being politically motivated. You are only partly correct. As an elected official, I must demand that my staff not bring my office into disrepute. As the State Attorney, I must demand that no one on my staff attempts to use their position for personal reasons. The public expects us to be above reproach.

    "In addition to your complaints to other staff members that you have somehow been mistreated as a victim by my refusal to proceed on either of these two cases, you have taken your complaint to outside individuals and agencies in an attempt to air this dirty laundry for all to see. This brings the office into further disrepute, something I will not tolerate.

    "I have also been advised that certain financial dealings involving your mother's nursing home care are being looked into as a part of an investigation by the Attorney General's office. I do not have the benefit of their investigation and I have deliberately not inquired of them to avoid any appearance that I am in some way attempting to influence their decisions.

    "For the foregoing reasons, I have determined that your actions are not in the interest of this office and bring it to disrepute. Therefore, I am taking the following action.

    "Effective immediately, your appointment as an Assistant State Attorney is revoked and your employment with this office is terminated. Please surrender your badge and identification, your office key, your state vehicle and credit card, and any other state property currently in your possession.


    "Respectfully,

    "Robert L. Jarvis, Jr.

    "State Attorney

    "Third Judicial Circuit of Florida"

  5. #5
    Guest

    Re: STATE ATTORNEY REFUSES TO FILE FELONY AGAINST SUPERVISOR'S S

    Nice!!!

  6. #6
    Guest

    Re: STATE ATTORNEY REFUSES TO FILE FELONY AGAINST SUPERVISOR'S S

    Well, isn't this fitting for a review of the State Attorney Office personnel. You really can't tell who is actually doing what and to and with Whom. Is M S Filippo the standard low caliber lying and aggressive attorney accepted into the employment of the ranks of the State Attorney's Office. Was he fired for his 'transgression' before or after he blew the whistle on the DWL Kid? Looks like a very dirty kettle is calling the Pot 'Black'. The winner is going to be the higher pay grade 99.99999999% of the time.
    Or to put it another way, THE WINNER GETS TO WRITE THE HISTORY BOOK. :devil:

    Does it really matter who is abusing the power of the office ? It looks pretty much the same under the Rug of Florida JUSTICE. Just a bunch of dirt.

  7. #7
    Guest

    Re: STATE ATTORNEY REFUSES TO FILE FELONY AGAINST SUPERVISOR'S S

    As the DWLS kid, I can tell you that my charge should never have ben a felony and I never spoke to the officer that way. I am serving 30 days (weekends) for this charge, which is normal. I also never asked my mother to take care of anything for me except asking why i was charged with driving on a permanently revoked license(felony). I have a valid license and had a valid license 3 hours after my arrest, failure to pay traffic ticket was why it was suspended. This fired attorney is a joke!!

  8. #8
    Guest

    Re: STATE ATTORNEY REFUSES TO FILE FELONY AGAINST SUPERVISOR'S S

    DO YOU KNOW PAT GALLIGAN OF RIVIERA BEACH?

  9. #9
    Guest

    Re: STATE ATTORNEY REFUSES TO FILE FELONY AGAINST SUPERVISOR'S S

    Quote Originally Posted by mcs
    As the DWLS kid, I can tell you that my charge should never have ben a felony and I never spoke to the officer that way. I am serving 30 days (weekends) for this charge, which is normal. I also never asked my mother to take care of anything for me except asking why i was charged with driving on a permanently revoked license(felony). I have a valid license and had a valid license 3 hours after my arrest, failure to pay traffic ticket was why it was suspended. This fired attorney is a joke!!
    All sounds very responsible Mr. DWLS Kid, I have a question. I have never had a DWLS charge in my life, and I do not know any responsible individuals that have tickets like this. You have multiple DWLS in the past, and now another. THAT DOES NOT SOUND LIKE RESPONSIBLE ACTIONS, so it is VERY DIFFICULT to believe your comments above. You seem to have a habit of driving irresponsibly, and then you have a habit of missing court and not paying the tickets. I strongly suspect that you have a habit of lying, and I doubt that you are the individual mentioned in the article written by green.

  10. #10
    Guest

    Re: STATE ATTORNEY REFUSES TO FILE FELONY AGAINST SUPERVISOR'S S

    Well, first off I dont have a habit of missing court..never have so I dont know where you get that fact. Secondly, yes I have previous violations from when I was 18. I was very irresponsible when I was younger, I admit that. Now however, I am in college, working full time, and am a single father, so I would say that I am a very responsible person. I forgot about the ticket, I am very busy, and never knew that my license was suspended. If I had known I would have taken care of it immediately, as I did after I was arrested. I understand that people shouldnt be allowed to make mistakes and I should be in prison for my heinous crimes.

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •