JUDGE M E R C U R I O a THIEF !

Circuit judge briefly investigated after store incident



By Lee Williams


** VIDEO ON HERALD-TRIBUNE WEBSITE ---- MORE OF STORY COMING ***


SIESTA KEY - Circuit Court Judge Frederick P. M e r c u r i o was investigated Wednesday, albeit briefly, for allegedly shoplifting a snack from the Circle-K on Siesta Key.



According to a Sheriff's Office report, at 8:16 a.m., convenience store manager Phyllis Smith called to “report an incident regarding someone who had taken something from the store.”

Deputy Richard M. Johnson was sent to investigate.

Smith told the deputy that she had seen a man, later identified as Judge M e rcurio, “possibly take an item from the shelf and place it in his pocket.”

“No positive identification could be made as to what the item was, but the complainant assumed it was a small candy bar or pack of crackers,” Johnson wrote in his report. “The subject went through the store and brought several other items to the register and paid for the items, then leaving the store.”

M e r curio strongly denied any wrongdoing.

“I went into the store to buy lottery tickets and sunflower seeds. I didn't do anything wrong,” ******** told the Herald-Tribune Thursday morning. “I didn't put anything into my pocket other than my keys and phone. I never picked up a candy bar or cookies. I know I went down the candy aisle, but I don't think I picked up anything. ”

The judge said the store manager should have stopped him if she suspected him of shoplifting.

“I don't understand why they wouldn't have said something at the counter,” M e r curio said. “I've never been in trouble before. This is absurd.”

Citing corporate policy, Smith, the store manager, declined to comment Thursday morning. She did, however, indicate that no one ever told her the suspect was a circuit judge.

In his report, Johnson wrote that unless Smith was able to determine exactly what was taken, and its value, he could not proceed with the case.

“No elements of a crime were established due to the poor quality and angle of the video,” Johnson's report states. “The complainant did point out that it appears an unknown object can be seen being picked up, and then disappearing when the subject's hand moves by his pocket. Based on the information available, there was not sufficient evident to proceed any further.”

The video is far from conclusive. It shows something in the judge's left hand, which disappears from view as his hand moves into his left pocket.

Deputy Johnson's report states that the store manager acknowledged that the video did not show “whether or not the item was possibly removed from the subject's pocket as he went through the rest of the store.”

The incident was “administratively cleared,” and classified as inactive. It was not forwarded to the Investigations Bureau or the State Attorney's Office.

Sources told the Herald-Tribune that once it was learned that M e r curio was the subject of the investigation, what had been a “theft” report was downgraded to “suspicious incident.”

Sheriff's Capt. John Walsh took over Deputy Johnson's investigation, the sources said, and was involved in the report writing.

The Sheriff's Office did not obtain the surveillance video from the convenience store until Wednesday afternoon — after the Herald-Tribune made a public records request for documents, reports and copies of the recording.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Wendy Rose declined to comment on the case or to provide an interview with anyone involved in investigating the incident.

“It was a routine investigation that was handled appropriately,” Rose said. “There's no need to answer questions.”

Rose said that Deputy Johnson recognized M e r curio in the surveillance video from being in his courtroom.

M e r curio comes from a law enforcement family. His father is a retired police detective from New York. One of his brother's is a lieutenant in charge of the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office's internal affairs unit. Another is an FBI agent.

The judge was elected to the circuit court in 2012, after running unopposed. He was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1984, and was one of the region's most prominent defense attorneys before he became a judge. He is a graduate of the Stetson University College of Law. According to the Florida Bar, he has no discipline on file.

M e r curio said he's been singled out because of his profession: “You wouldn't write a story if any Tom, **** or Harry was accused of this,” he said Thursday morning.

“When there's no evidence of anything, I think there's a problem. Basically, they're accusing me of a crime. I understand I'm a judge, but there's no evidence of any crime.”