SSO corrections Deputy Brian Longo steals prisoner's money

[News Flash]

SARASOTA COUNTY - This story is based on records from an internal investigation and a criminal investigation of the theft.

A correctional deputy, Brian Longo, is accused of stealing $400 from a jail inmate, resigned last month and paid back the money, but was not charged with a crime.

Sheriff Bill Balkwill agreed not to charge corrections Deputy Brian Longo with theft if he paid the victim and resigned.

Sheriff Bill Balkwill decided not to pursue charges, investigative records show, though investigators believed they had enough evidence to build a theft case against corrections Deputy Brian Longo.

Balkwill accepted the resignation and the deputy's $400 restitution check "in lieu of pursuing criminal charges," according to a memo the sheriff signed Oct. 10, four days after the theft was reported.

Balkwill, the Sheriff's Office spokesman and the sheriff's legal counsel did not return phone calls for comment on the case.

The woman whose money was stolen, North Port resident Katherine Davidson, 37, says she thinks Longo should have been charged.

Davidson said. "I think Brian Longo deserves to go to jail. I mean, if it were anybody else, they would be locked up already."

While Davidson was being arrested by North Port Police, she was allowed to gather up all her cash so it would not be left in the home.

She was taken to a holding cell in Venice and turned over to the custody of corrections Deputy Brian Longo.

Longo logged her property and Davidson signed paperwork that said she had $900 in cash. When she was released a few hours later, there was new paperwork with a different signature and $500.

When Davidson was released, she was handed an envelope with $500. She immediately confronted deputies, saying that her cash had been stolen.

"I told them I wasn't leaving until I got my money back," Davidson said.

Brian Longo then declined to submit to a polygraph test and...

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Let me see if I understand this correctly:

• Sheriff Bill Balkwill's drinking buddy Darrell Stinger is arrested for DUI after Stinger got into a vehicle crash that broke a woman's bone. Then Balkwill promoted Stinger to the second highest position in the agency (to major at 121k per year) and put him in charge of the jail.
  [/*:m:10izm6uc]
• Internal Affairs investigators have enough felony evidence to charge a corrections officer (Brian Longo) with grand theft and forgery, after he stole from a prisoner who was in his custody -- but Sheriff Bill Balkwill released Longo instead of arresting him.[/*:m:10izm6uc]

Just when I thought nothing else could happen while Bill Balkwill is in office, he continues to make bonehead decisions. Mr. Balkwill, when you catch a correctional officer that's a thief, then you hammer him. Thieves have no place in corrections, but you wouldn't know about that, would you? :?

I hope that when Sheriff-elect Tom Knight is sworn in that this madness will stop.

Its just kinda funny in a non funny kinda way. The department obviously does a good investigation but then makes the HUGE mistake of not follwoing through with charges. Of course this guy should have been charged. Stealing $400 and forgery????


Him not being charged makes us look bad, like we thing were above the law! This decision is on the boss and boss alone because he is only one who would make that decision.

Its not like he would have done real jail time after an initial arrest, but at least we wouldnt look like idiots!

Nero (BB) is fiddling while the Sarasota Sheriff's Office burns.

[Valigator]

Has anyone actually requested "BSO's" complaints to IE regarding thefts by corrections?

It may be more than you think???

The fact that we had a thief working with us is bad enough, but the fact that he was caught and then allowed to "walk free" by Balkwill makes it worse. It perpetrates the idea that some citizens have that we aren't punished because we work in corrections.

No matter how this is handled, it would have been bad press, but who would have imagined that Balkwill could make a bad situation even worse by allowing a thief to "walk free."? :lol:

Criminie!!!!!!

Hey boys and girls, it ain't over yet because BALKWILL IS STILL IN OFFICE FOR 7 MORE WEEKS!!! Just imagine what else could go wrong!!! Believe it!!! :roll:

Its not like he would have done real jail time after an initial arrest, but at least we wouldnt look like idiots!


Why shouldnt he do real jail time...he stole money and forged paper-work...Look at all the DUI checkpoints he worked..who knows how many times he has done this!? Either way..he stole money....

If you're a cop and if you've had too much to drink, I can call a cab for you, just as I've done for citizens who are "borderline DUI." However, if you're a cop and if I catch you stealing, you're toast. I have no mercy for thieves or con men with badges. He should have been arrested.

I don't think Balkwill is a fox or is evil. He's just plain stupid and he can't help it, but we (the employees) have to suffer with it.

I have NO sympathy for a dirty cop. His actions were calculated and pre-meditated. He and others like him who tarnsih the badge and our image need to be made examples of. This will show the public we are not above the law.

In the situation with Stinger and Lally, these were situations of Poor judgement. I have a tad of sympathy for them. Not that I condone what they did, but we can all be in a position like that. I TOTALLY disagree with how both those cases were handled internally. (Stinger getting demoted then re-promoted and hanging on to his salary. Lally being fired....)

We are all walking on egg shells around here because there is no consistant level of punishment.

All I can say at this point is what comes around goes around. Stinger has been milking the SSO tit for too long and his days are numbered. I have personally seen BB so SG2 on Captain Morgan I was embarrassed.

I will concede and admit that I was no Angel in my younger years. But I took an oath in 1990 to uphold the law and protect the innocent. In almost 19 years I can proudly say I have done just that.

I vow I will never put a fellow brother in the situation that others have been put into on this agency.

With my military and law enforcement service, I have been in unifrom my entire adult life.

I'm sadden by the behavior of a few that maked the rest of us look bad.

I don't think Balkwill is a fox or is evil. He's just plain stupid and he can't help it, but we (the employees) have to suffer with it.

How can we prevent an idiot like this from getting in office in the future??? IMO Tom Knight is a good choice, but the madness that we've seen with our election system is just plain crazy. If our sheriff is appointed, then our county commissioners can fire his arse if they find out that he's an idiot.