Sheriff Tom Knight's damning words about Deputy Frank Bybee

[Unregistered]

Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight told a press conference that Deputy Frankie Bybee was arrested when he took advantage of a 79-year-old mentally disturbed woman by seeming to help her, then cajoled her out of money and then tried to kill her and make it look like suicide.

Knight called him a criminal and said he committed heinous crimes. Knight even posted a video showing him personally walking Bybee to jail. I can't recall the last time Knight did a perp walk like that.

What evidence made Knight go for this charge, hook, line and gunbelt?

The victim is the only witness to the alleged assault at her home, and she is an emotionally disturbed woman who has been Baker acted multiple times.

If we assume she wrote the many texts sent to Bybee in the weeks leading up to that alleged assault, I don't see how anyone would solidly believe any bad word she said about Bybee. Basing a criminal case on her word would be absurd, some of her neighbors agree. Some report bizarre, angry and manipulative behavior from her.

The woman's texted words portray her as a bizarrely mercurial character. She changes from warm and appreciative to demanding to insulting and hostile to flat out threatening, and often back again.

The texts and emails make me glad I have never met her or tried to help her. I'd be afraid to.

They also make it clear that she did frequently urge Bybee to accept money, sometimes lots of it. His responses show multiple refusals when texting.

Defense attorney Charles Britt says his client only accepted two checks, one for veterinary bills and related costs when he took over care of her dog. She said in texts that she could no longer care for the animal during and after a series of medical and psychiatric treatments. In the text messages, she urged him to keep the dog. Yet, she told the Sheriff's Office she did not say that.

The other check was for handling her car repairs and covering a series of time-consuming errands, Britt says. He says the checks were for $1,000 each and that Bybee later wrote checks back to the woman to return the money, before any of Knight's accusations arose.

Knight says the deputy was after her money. The sheriff says a key piece of evidence was in an intercepted envelope he believes Bybee mailed to himself. Inside were three of the woman's checks, made out to Bybee and his children, for a total of $65,000. One of the checks had a fingerprint from Bybee, Knight says.

Bybee has said he knew nothing about the checks. He may have touched her checkbook, his lawyer says. Bybee was asked, in text messages the Sheriff's Office has, to get money for the cleaning lady or find the checkbook, and so on.

The 79-year-old woman apparently insists she didn't write those checks. But she also said she had no desire to give money to Bybee and his family.

The text messages repeatedly say otherwise. More than once she tells Bybee he must stop refusing money and accept some return generosity. At times she sounds insistent and insulted that he won't. "I want to leave you and your boys and beautiful family my legacy," one message insists. She explains, "I look at you and your family as a present from God at a very terrible time in my life." She says she filled out checks and that "these are my final days and I really don't want my money going to the government."

Bybee frequently tells her to stop. "I'm not interested in money," he writes.

She also asked him to find her a home health nurse, and he did.

But her moods turn on a dime, it seems, and she lashes out. She says she had a hellish day and "if I had you here that a could have shot you."

She is mad at the nurse for being there, though she says she can barely get out of a chair. She is mad at Bybee for sending the nurse, and mad that he is helping her so much, though she keeps asking him to and even demands it.

At one point she orders him out of her life, and after he agrees, she demands that he come over to clean up a mess in the garage and do something with a mailbox. When he says he can't, she threatens that "I will call the sheriff's office by 7:30 PM if this mess in the garage was half cleaned up." When he says he is sorry she is having a bad day, and that he can help her another time, she says, "730 or I'm calling the cops." Soon after, a message says: "730 is coming." He tells her no. "You are mean, ungrateful and demanding. I have tried to help you. I'm sorry but my family and I can't do it anymore."

"Police on their way," says her response. "Hallelujah I have finally found a way to get rid of you forever...;" Earlier texts said: "Frank I do not need your help ... I am changing my beneficiary to you. You can take my Wells Fargo account."

There also were suicide notes, sent via email. One was to a woman, "the meanest friend I ever had. Don't call police. I'll tell them you are the crazy one." Another was to Bybee. She calls him the nicest person she had ever known, but says, "I hate you to your soul and am sorry for causing problems with your work."

When a neighbor reported the 79-year-old woman's car was running in her garage and deputies found her in the house, she soon told investigators that Bybee came there, attacked her and made her take a pill. She said she passed out and woke up with her car running in the garage spewing fumes into her house through an open door.

Knight apparently sees no cause to doubt it. But the evidence, then, must be far stronger than what he mentioned at the press conference, though he presented another allegedly damning fact: Bybee had refused to answer investigators' questions. What cop would do that except a guilty one, Knight asked?

Actually, Bybee had spoken at great length with investigators, as reports show. Bybee stopped talking on the day when - despite all he told them about how the woman he had helped just to be nice had turned unpredictable and hostile - Sheriff Knight had him arrested.

So, yes, he clammed up when he was put in handcuffs. Why not? Bybee already suspected that Knight had him on the bad-employee watch-list because of a lawsuit Bybee had filed against Knight. It's still pending, and is about Bybee's claim that Knight had tried to pressure and punish him into dropping a lawsuit against a recreational vehicle dealership, at the urging of a political supporter.

That, and the handcuffs, could have been enough to make any deputy think he was no longer getting an open-minded listen from Knight.

I'm not implying Bybee should not have been charged, or will be cleared, or should be. I just think the Sheriff's Office surely has more evidence it is not sharing. Because if this attempted murder charge fell apart in court, or even before it got there, it would be a really awkward situation for Sheriff Knight, after that speech he gave.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20...asnt-mentioned

[Unregistered]

I am going to give FB the benefit of the doubt on this one too. If, this victim has a documented mental health history with the SSO, then the SSO is using this to get out from under the lawsuit about the harassment. This also shows a repeated history of harassing employees who sue the agency. Anyone who files a lawsuit against the SSO in the past 10 years or so has had IA come after them. Several have been followed by supervisors and even watched on camera. If so, this is pure retaliation on the part of the SSO and if FB has a decent lawyer, he will double or triple his payout. Most,former employees who have successfully sued would be able to testify to this harassing behavior from the SSO. There are deposition records of supervisors admitting that they followed an employee or watched there every move while working so they could report what the employee was doing to the sheriff. FB might be going through hell now but if this is the case, he may never have to work again.

The office of elected sheriff needs to be abolished and replaced with an appointed director (aka police chief) who can be fired for incompetence. Currently, an elected sheriff cannot be fired by county commissioners for being incompetent. After reading the article, Knight looks like a vengeful madman.

[horrified]

Can you imagine sitting in jail for a frame-up job? This is the most heinous criminal set-up in the history of the SSO. It shows the depths that Knight and his ungodly henchmen will fall to in order to get unlawful and immoral revenge. I hope that true justice prevails. This case is a pickle.

[Unregistered]

Can you imagine sitting in jail for a frame-up job? This is the most heinous criminal set-up in the history of the SSO. It shows the depths that Knight and his ungodly henchmen will fall to in order to get unlawful and immoral revenge. I hope that true justice prevails. This case is a pickle.

When the case first broke and made it to the public forum, I had an intuitive hunch that this is the straw that broke the camels back. Knight is done, but it will take a long time for him to fully unravel.

[Unregistered]

Can you imagine sitting in jail for a frame-up job? This is the most heinous criminal set-up in the history of the SSO. It shows the depths that Knight and his ungodly henchmen will fall to in order to get unlawful and immoral revenge. I hope that true justice prevails. This case is a pickle.

Many of you forget that Bybee (before SID) worked up in the hood and planted shot on people many times. I was there and saw it with my own eyes turned around and left. He is and always has been a dirty ****er. The Sheriff is not wrong on this one and personally I think he knows more. Bybee ****ed up this time. Maybe he didn't do 100% of what the article said but even 90% would be a disgrace. Personally I doubt he will beat the charges and personally think this is his karma for being a **** and a criminal. Pay your dues. The rest of you should learn from this !! There is no such thing as brotherhood so quit texting/calling and telling your LEO buddies who are involved with something and just maybe you will keep your job (unlike CP). And when you go to Troy Kings house, tell him what you're doing and swap out vehicles when ******** and the gang are following you, you are guilty as hell!!!!!

[Unregistered]

Frank is currently in a lawsuit against sherriff TK and his biggest political funding. The lawsuit was getting a court date for February, then all of the sudden out of the blue the sherriff finds and pins a case on Frank.... and within 12 hours the "sold dog" is found and returned. My gut says the sherriff is simply pinning this case on Frank to ruin his outstanding service record so he will not be employeed again, and try to get him to back off of the lawsuit as he has continued to try over the course of the lawsuit. In previous articles TK threated and demoted Frank to get him to drop the lawsuit. TK is more than likely going to drop all charges but have ruined a good mans career. Frank is a military vet, former SWAT, former deep cover narcotics officer. But TK made a point to smerk and say Frank didnt have a glamorous career.. watch the video again you can see in body language and words TK is out for revenge.

It's all going to boil down to the testimony of the alleged victim. Others have said that she called 911 multiple times to announce that she was going to kill herself, but then she denied calling 911 to the responding deputies. Does she have senility, dementia or Alzheimer's? If she is mentally wacked-out, then this was, indeed, the perfect case for Knight to pin on Bybee.

The above demonstrates why it is extremely dangerous for an employee in the patrol division (or in detectives) to buck the elected sheriff or his henchmen, for two primary reasons:

• #1(a) - Eventually, an angry citizen will file a false allegation against you to "get even" with you.
  #1(b) - If you're on Knight's hate list, then the false allegation will be sustained as being valid and then you will be punished (using the complainant's false testimony, which is relied on as being credible, and then it is used as the basis for punishment). If you're not on the hate list, then you will be cleared.

• #2(a) - Eventually, a crazy person (aka sig. 20) is going to make a crazy false allegation against you.
  #2(b) - If you're on Knight's hate list, then the false allegation will be sustained as being valid and then you will be punished (using the complainant's false testimony, which is relied on as being credible, and then it is used as the basis for punishment). If you're not on the hate list, then you will be cleared.

Either way, SSO management is cleared because all they have to do is point the finger at the complainant. That's why and how IA is such a useful instrument for corrupt senior level executives in law enforcement.

What Tom Knight did to Frank Bybee was criminal, to say the least. Once the SAO has access to all the evidence, then they will drop the case in its entirety.

[Unregistered]

Bybee worked up in the hood and planted shot on people many times. I was there and saw it with my own eyes.

And you allowed it to happen? If you allowed multiple citizens to get falsely arrested, as you claim, for getting evidence planted on them, then you are just as bad as Knight (for using the false testimony of a crazy woman to TRY and end Bybee's federal lawsuit against him). Is this agency upside down?

Read the texts that the crazy woman sent to Bybee and then you'll know that her allegations have no merit or basis in reality.

And as for you, Mr. Anon, you are dirty if you allowed people's Constitutional rights to be violated by getting arrested for false charges. You are a part of the problem. On the other hand, look what happened to Deputy Dale Ellis when he told Knight that Lieutenant Dan Tutko wanted him to violate people's Constitutional rights. The problem starts at the top with Knight's consistent pattern of immorality.

[Unregistered]

Many of you forget that Bybee (before SID) worked up in the hood and planted shot on people many times. I was there and saw it with my own eyes turned around and left. He is and always has been a dirty ****er. The Sheriff is not wrong on this one and personally I think he knows more. Bybee ****ed up this time. Maybe he didn't do 100% of what the article said but even 90% would be a disgrace. Personally I doubt he will beat the charges and personally think this is his karma for being a **** and a criminal. Pay your dues. The rest of you should learn from this !! There is no such thing as brotherhood so quit texting/calling and telling your LEO buddies who are involved with something and just maybe you will keep your job (unlike CP). And when you go to Troy Kings house, tell him what you're doing and swap out vehicles when ******** and the gang are following you, you are guilty as hell!!!!!

If you witnessed a crime or department violations by another deputy, you are sworn to report or do something about it. If you didn't you are just as guilty as Bybee.

[Unregistered]

This whole thing is an egregious criminal set-up to destroy Deputy Frank Bybee's credibility and character, to thus destroy Bybee's upcoming federal lawsuit against Sheriff Tom Knight. The PCA omits too many facts, so it is impossible for a reader to understand the "totality of the circumstances." If the PCA is the only thing that is read, then Bybee looks as guilty as sin, but if the "totality of the circumstances" are presented, it becomes abundantly clear that Bybee is a scapegoat for Knight.

Knight is dastardly evil. It's unfortunate that many of the following facts have to come from a Herald-Tribune newspaper report, instead of coming from Tom Knight:

Title: Sheriff's damning words about deputy must be based on evidence he hasn't mentioned

Author: Tom Lyons

Snip:

• The victim is the only witness to the alleged assault at her home, and she is an emotionally disturbed woman who has been Baker acted multiple times.
  .
• The woman's texted words portray her as a bizarrely mercurial character. She changes from warm and appreciative to demanding to insulting and hostile to flat out threatening, and often back again.
  .
• They also make it clear that she did frequently urge Bybee to accept money, sometimes lots of it. His responses show multiple refusals when texting.
  .
• She said in texts that she could no longer care for the animal during and after a series of medical and psychiatric treatments. In the text messages, she urged him to keep the dog. Yet, she told the Sheriff's Office she did not say that.
  .
• Defense attorney Charles Britt says his client only accepted two checks, one for veterinary bills and related costs when he took over care of her dog.
  .
• The other check was for handling her car repairs and covering a series of time-consuming errands, Britt says. He says the checks were for $1,000 each and that Bybee later wrote checks back to the woman to return the money, before any of Knight's accusations arose.
  .
• The 79-year-old woman said she had no desire to give money to Bybee and his family. The text messages repeatedly say otherwise. More than once she tells Bybee he must stop refusing money and accept some return generosity. At times she sounds insistent and insulted that he won't. "I want to leave you and your boys and beautiful family my legacy," one message insists. She explains, "I look at you and your family as a present from God at a very terrible time in my life." She says she filled out checks and that "these are my final days and I really don't want my money going to the government."
  .
• At one point she orders him out of her life, and after he agrees, she demands that he come over to clean up a mess in the garage and do something with a mailbox. When he says he can't, she threatens that "I will call the sheriff's office by 7:30 PM if this mess in the garage was half cleaned up." When he says he is sorry she is having a bad day, and that he can help her another time, she says, "730 or I'm calling the cops." Soon after, a message says: "730 is coming." He tells her no. "You are mean, ungrateful and demanding. I have tried to help you. I'm sorry but my family and I can't do it anymore."
  .
• "Police on their way," says her response.
  .
• There also were suicide notes, sent via email. One was to a woman, "the meanest friend I ever had. Don't call police. I'll tell them you are the crazy one." Another was to Bybee. She calls him the nicest person she had ever known, but says, "I hate you to your soul and am sorry for causing problems with your work."
  .
• When a neighbor reported the 79-year-old woman's car was running in her garage and deputies found her in the house, she soon told investigators that Bybee came there, attacked her and made her take a pill. She said she passed out and woke up with her car running in the garage spewing fumes into her house through an open door. Knight apparently sees no cause to doubt it.
  .
• The texts and emails make me glad I have never met her or tried to help her. I'd be afraid to.
  .
• Basing a criminal case on her word would be absurd, some of her neighbors agree. Some report bizarre, angry and manipulative behavior from her.

None of this was disclosed to the public by Knight. Instead, Knight publicly said that Bybee's invocation of his Constitutional rights is proof that he is a criminal. Knight has twisted and turned and omitted facts to present an "evidence circus."

Newspaper source:
http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20...asnt-mentioned

Here are legal defense donations for Bybee:
https://www.gofundme.com/bybeefamily

[Unregistered]

This whole thing is an egregious criminal set-up to destroy Deputy Frank Bybee's credibility and character, to thus destroy Bybee's upcoming federal lawsuit against Sheriff Tom Knight. The PCA omits too many facts, so it is impossible for a reader to understand the "totality of the circumstances." If the PCA is the only thing that is read, then Bybee looks as guilty as sin, but if the "totality of the circumstances" are presented, it becomes abundantly clear that Bybee is a scapegoat for Knight.

Knight is dastardly evil. It's unfortunate that many of the following facts have to come from a Herald-Tribune newspaper report, instead of coming from Tom Knight:

Title: Sheriff's damning words about deputy must be based on evidence he hasn't mentioned

Author: Tom Lyons

Snip:

• The victim is the only witness to the alleged assault at her home, and she is an emotionally disturbed woman who has been Baker acted multiple times.
  .
• The woman's texted words portray her as a bizarrely mercurial character. She changes from warm and appreciative to demanding to insulting and hostile to flat out threatening, and often back again.
  .
• They also make it clear that she did frequently urge Bybee to accept money, sometimes lots of it. His responses show multiple refusals when texting.
  .
• She said in texts that she could no longer care for the animal during and after a series of medical and psychiatric treatments. In the text messages, she urged him to keep the dog. Yet, she told the Sheriff's Office she did not say that.
  .
• Defense attorney Charles Britt says his client only accepted two checks, one for veterinary bills and related costs when he took over care of her dog.
  .
• The other check was for handling her car repairs and covering a series of time-consuming errands, Britt says. He says the checks were for $1,000 each and that Bybee later wrote checks back to the woman to return the money, before any of Knight's accusations arose.
  .
• The 79-year-old woman said she had no desire to give money to Bybee and his family. The text messages repeatedly say otherwise. More than once she tells Bybee he must stop refusing money and accept some return generosity. At times she sounds insistent and insulted that he won't. "I want to leave you and your boys and beautiful family my legacy," one message insists. She explains, "I look at you and your family as a present from God at a very terrible time in my life." She says she filled out checks and that "these are my final days and I really don't want my money going to the government."
  .
• At one point she orders him out of her life, and after he agrees, she demands that he come over to clean up a mess in the garage and do something with a mailbox. When he says he can't, she threatens that "I will call the sheriff's office by 7:30 PM if this mess in the garage was half cleaned up." When he says he is sorry she is having a bad day, and that he can help her another time, she says, "730 or I'm calling the cops." Soon after, a message says: "730 is coming." He tells her no. "You are mean, ungrateful and demanding. I have tried to help you. I'm sorry but my family and I can't do it anymore."
  .
• "Police on their way," says her response.
  .
• There also were suicide notes, sent via email. One was to a woman, "the meanest friend I ever had. Don't call police. I'll tell them you are the crazy one." Another was to Bybee. She calls him the nicest person she had ever known, but says, "I hate you to your soul and am sorry for causing problems with your work."
  .
• When a neighbor reported the 79-year-old woman's car was running in her garage and deputies found her in the house, she soon told investigators that Bybee came there, attacked her and made her take a pill. She said she passed out and woke up with her car running in the garage spewing fumes into her house through an open door. Knight apparently sees no cause to doubt it.
  .
• The texts and emails make me glad I have never met her or tried to help her. I'd be afraid to.
  .
• Basing a criminal case on her word would be absurd, some of her neighbors agree. Some report bizarre, angry and manipulative behavior from her.

None of this was disclosed to the public by Knight. Instead, Knight publicly said that Bybee's invocation of his Constitutional rights is proof that he is a criminal. Knight has twisted and turned and omitted facts to present an "evidence circus."

Newspaper source:
http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20...asnt-mentioned

If you want to donate to Bybee's legal defense, then go to the "Go Fund Me" website and do a search for Bybee to get to the web-page to make donations.