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06-08-2020, 11:30 PM
Sheriff Gregory Tony’s secret remained hidden as Gov. Ron DeSantis rushed to appoint him
By Skyler Swisher, Lisa J. Huriash and Susannah Bryan
South Florida Sun Sentinel | May 06, 2020 | 10:18 AM
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-ne-greg-tony-vetting-process-20200506-f3bvcgi65jc43eewnyr2rpylee-story.html
A clearer picture is emerging of how a decades-old secret in Sheriff Gregory Tony’s past went undetected when he was vetted by Gov. Ron DeSantis over a year ago.
Tony, 41, never disclosed on forms that he had shot and killed an 18-year-old man when he was a teenager living in a rough neighborhood in Philadelphia. Tony said in an interview this week he fired in self-defense and was never found guilty of wrongdoing.
Compounding that was a scramble to find a replacement for former Sheriff Scott Israel in the wake of the Parkland school shooting. The governor’s office didn’t request state investigators conduct a background check on Tony until Jan. 10, 2019, a day before Tony was named to the post, Gretl Plessinger, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said in an email.
Helen Ferre, a DeSantis spokeswoman, hasn’t provided an account of exactly which documents the governor reviewed when making the selection.
Public records with the Coral Springs Police Department, where Tony worked before becoming sheriff, lacked key information that could have shed light on Tony’s past.
Tony hid the 1993 killing when he applied to the Coral Springs Police Department in 2005, even though the application required him to disclose any arrests and criminal charges, including cases in which any charge was dismissed. He checked no when asked if he had ever been detained by an officer for “investigative purposes.”
But there were red flags. Tony had written an apology letter for failing to disclose that he had been charged with writing bad checks when he was in college, a charge that was ultimately dismissed.
State Sen. Perry Thurston, D-Fort Lauderdale, said Tuesday that DeSantis should have conducted a more rigorous search with more input from the community.
Thurston is a supporter of former Sheriff Scott Israel. “If you are going to be the sheriff of 2 million people, that is something that should have been found out in the vetting process and disclosed,” he said.
DeSantis said Monday he didn’t know his handpicked sheriff had shot and killed someone. The shooting wasn’t widely known until the Florida Bulldog investigative news website posted an article over the weekend, citing a past newspaper account of the incident.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement received a request from the governor’s office to conduct a level one background check on Jan. 10, 2019, and the check was completed on Jan. 11, 2019, Plessinger said.
On the same day the check was completed, DeSantis stood in front of the Broward Sheriff’s Office headquarters and announced he had suspended Israel and replaced him with Tony. A group of Parkland parents, including Tony supporters Ryan Petty and Andrew Pollack, stood behind the new sheriff and applauded the governor’s choice. DeSantis made the appointment just three days after becoming governor, fulfilling a campaign promise to oust Israel because of failures his agency made during the Parkland school shooting.
In his remarks, DeSantis told the community that the new sheriff had a “great story." He described how Tony left the streets of Philadelphia and headed south to play football for Florida State University and legendary coach Bobby Bowden. Tony then served with distinction at the Coral Springs Police Department and would make history as the county’s first black sheriff, DeSantis said.
“You couldn’t have anyone that would be more tailored-made for this position,” he said.
The Republican governor struck a much different tone on Monday.
“It’s not like he’s my sheriff," DeSantis told reporters in Tallahassee. "I didn’t even know the guy. It was not like he was a political ally of mine.”
DeSantis suggested it wouldn’t have made a difference in his decision had he known about the killing because it was self-defense. DeSantis said he doesn’t plan to get involved in the controversy and will leave it to Broward voters to decide who should be sheriff.
Officials with the Coral Springs Police Department said they aren’t inclined to take a fresh look at the matter, either.
Coral Springs Deputy Chief Brad McKeone said there was no purpose in an investigation into omissions on Tony’s application — even though Tony could be retroactively fired if they did.
Tony became a police officer when the Coral Springs Police Department hired him in 2005. He also didn’t disclose on the application that he had been charged in 2001 in Leon County with passing worthless checks. Tony wrote an apology letter when the department found the charge in its vetting.
In the letter, Tony wrote that a check for textbooks had bounced when he was a sophomore in college, and he later paid the fees at the courthouse at the bookstore manager’s instructions — not realizing he had been charged criminally and had a record.
“I am very embarrassed and ashamed, that I have to write this letter because of my youthful irresponsibility,” Tony wrote. “However, if known, I would have clearly explained with the utmost details the entire event as listed above. At no time did I purposely attempt to deceive you or your staff.”
But a bigger run-in with law enforcement was also left off the application.
Newspaper accounts from 1993 report that Tony, then 14, killed an 18-year-old man when both were in the Badlands neighborhood of Philadelphia, an area known for violence and open-air drug dealing. While a news article said he faced a murder charge, Tony told the Sun Sentinel on Sunday that he did not think he was technically “charged with a crime" and that it was a case of self-defense.
According to the Philadelphia Daily News, Tony’s case was transferred to family court, where Tony said he had acted in self-defense and the judge found him not guilty.
“The potential failure to provide or omission of the information that was recently produced is not something we will investigate at this time because it is administrative in nature, not criminal,” McKeone said Tuesday. “If Gregory Tony was still employed by Coral Springs PD, we would review and investigate the matter. He would be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination if found to have been in violation.”
On Monday, the chief who hired Tony said he would have never made the hire had he known. He said his agency reached out to Philadelphia authorities and didn’t receive any records about the killing.
As recently as January of this year, Tony wrote on a form filed with the Broward Sheriff’s Office that he had not had a criminal record sealed or expunged. Broward prosecutors said Tuesday they have forwarded a copy of that form that Tony filled out in January to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for review.
In a statement, Tony said his understanding is there are no records available in the case. He did not address whether the case was sealed or expunged.
“In Pennsylvania, the standards governing the release of information of juvenile cases and records are strict," Tony said. "Per my parents and attorney, because of the disposition of the case there are no records. To the best of my knowledge, no records remain and I have recently spoken to the attorney who represented me at the time and he doesn’t have any documents on the case either.”
By Skyler Swisher, Lisa J. Huriash and Susannah Bryan
South Florida Sun Sentinel | May 06, 2020 | 10:18 AM
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-ne-greg-tony-vetting-process-20200506-f3bvcgi65jc43eewnyr2rpylee-story.html
A clearer picture is emerging of how a decades-old secret in Sheriff Gregory Tony’s past went undetected when he was vetted by Gov. Ron DeSantis over a year ago.
Tony, 41, never disclosed on forms that he had shot and killed an 18-year-old man when he was a teenager living in a rough neighborhood in Philadelphia. Tony said in an interview this week he fired in self-defense and was never found guilty of wrongdoing.
Compounding that was a scramble to find a replacement for former Sheriff Scott Israel in the wake of the Parkland school shooting. The governor’s office didn’t request state investigators conduct a background check on Tony until Jan. 10, 2019, a day before Tony was named to the post, Gretl Plessinger, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said in an email.
Helen Ferre, a DeSantis spokeswoman, hasn’t provided an account of exactly which documents the governor reviewed when making the selection.
Public records with the Coral Springs Police Department, where Tony worked before becoming sheriff, lacked key information that could have shed light on Tony’s past.
Tony hid the 1993 killing when he applied to the Coral Springs Police Department in 2005, even though the application required him to disclose any arrests and criminal charges, including cases in which any charge was dismissed. He checked no when asked if he had ever been detained by an officer for “investigative purposes.”
But there were red flags. Tony had written an apology letter for failing to disclose that he had been charged with writing bad checks when he was in college, a charge that was ultimately dismissed.
State Sen. Perry Thurston, D-Fort Lauderdale, said Tuesday that DeSantis should have conducted a more rigorous search with more input from the community.
Thurston is a supporter of former Sheriff Scott Israel. “If you are going to be the sheriff of 2 million people, that is something that should have been found out in the vetting process and disclosed,” he said.
DeSantis said Monday he didn’t know his handpicked sheriff had shot and killed someone. The shooting wasn’t widely known until the Florida Bulldog investigative news website posted an article over the weekend, citing a past newspaper account of the incident.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement received a request from the governor’s office to conduct a level one background check on Jan. 10, 2019, and the check was completed on Jan. 11, 2019, Plessinger said.
On the same day the check was completed, DeSantis stood in front of the Broward Sheriff’s Office headquarters and announced he had suspended Israel and replaced him with Tony. A group of Parkland parents, including Tony supporters Ryan Petty and Andrew Pollack, stood behind the new sheriff and applauded the governor’s choice. DeSantis made the appointment just three days after becoming governor, fulfilling a campaign promise to oust Israel because of failures his agency made during the Parkland school shooting.
In his remarks, DeSantis told the community that the new sheriff had a “great story." He described how Tony left the streets of Philadelphia and headed south to play football for Florida State University and legendary coach Bobby Bowden. Tony then served with distinction at the Coral Springs Police Department and would make history as the county’s first black sheriff, DeSantis said.
“You couldn’t have anyone that would be more tailored-made for this position,” he said.
The Republican governor struck a much different tone on Monday.
“It’s not like he’s my sheriff," DeSantis told reporters in Tallahassee. "I didn’t even know the guy. It was not like he was a political ally of mine.”
DeSantis suggested it wouldn’t have made a difference in his decision had he known about the killing because it was self-defense. DeSantis said he doesn’t plan to get involved in the controversy and will leave it to Broward voters to decide who should be sheriff.
Officials with the Coral Springs Police Department said they aren’t inclined to take a fresh look at the matter, either.
Coral Springs Deputy Chief Brad McKeone said there was no purpose in an investigation into omissions on Tony’s application — even though Tony could be retroactively fired if they did.
Tony became a police officer when the Coral Springs Police Department hired him in 2005. He also didn’t disclose on the application that he had been charged in 2001 in Leon County with passing worthless checks. Tony wrote an apology letter when the department found the charge in its vetting.
In the letter, Tony wrote that a check for textbooks had bounced when he was a sophomore in college, and he later paid the fees at the courthouse at the bookstore manager’s instructions — not realizing he had been charged criminally and had a record.
“I am very embarrassed and ashamed, that I have to write this letter because of my youthful irresponsibility,” Tony wrote. “However, if known, I would have clearly explained with the utmost details the entire event as listed above. At no time did I purposely attempt to deceive you or your staff.”
But a bigger run-in with law enforcement was also left off the application.
Newspaper accounts from 1993 report that Tony, then 14, killed an 18-year-old man when both were in the Badlands neighborhood of Philadelphia, an area known for violence and open-air drug dealing. While a news article said he faced a murder charge, Tony told the Sun Sentinel on Sunday that he did not think he was technically “charged with a crime" and that it was a case of self-defense.
According to the Philadelphia Daily News, Tony’s case was transferred to family court, where Tony said he had acted in self-defense and the judge found him not guilty.
“The potential failure to provide or omission of the information that was recently produced is not something we will investigate at this time because it is administrative in nature, not criminal,” McKeone said Tuesday. “If Gregory Tony was still employed by Coral Springs PD, we would review and investigate the matter. He would be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination if found to have been in violation.”
On Monday, the chief who hired Tony said he would have never made the hire had he known. He said his agency reached out to Philadelphia authorities and didn’t receive any records about the killing.
As recently as January of this year, Tony wrote on a form filed with the Broward Sheriff’s Office that he had not had a criminal record sealed or expunged. Broward prosecutors said Tuesday they have forwarded a copy of that form that Tony filled out in January to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for review.
In a statement, Tony said his understanding is there are no records available in the case. He did not address whether the case was sealed or expunged.
“In Pennsylvania, the standards governing the release of information of juvenile cases and records are strict," Tony said. "Per my parents and attorney, because of the disposition of the case there are no records. To the best of my knowledge, no records remain and I have recently spoken to the attorney who represented me at the time and he doesn’t have any documents on the case either.”