Miami Herald: Bovo Fires Velazquez!

Unregistered · 11-09-2021, 10:43 AM

Miami Herald:

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/loc...255654331.html

Unregistered · 11-09-2021, 10:50 AM

‘A new era in our city’: Hialeah’s controversial police chief cut loose by new mayor BY SAMANTHA J. GROSS AND JAY WEAVER UPDATED NOVEMBER 08, 2021 8:32 PM
Esteban "Steve" Bovo addresses supporters after being elected mayor of Hialeah Esteban "Steve" Bovo addressed supporters during his victory party at Hialeah Park Casino after being elected mayor of Hialeah on Nov. 2, 2021. BY JOSÉ A. IGLESIAS Days after he was sworn in as Hialeah’s new mayor, Esteban “Steve” Bovo flexed his muscle on Monday and put controversial Police Chief Sergio Velázquez on leave, effective immediately. Velázquez, who was about to enter the city’s deferred retirement option plan, was made aware of the decision at lunchtime, Bovo said. Deputy Chief of Police George Fuente, husband of former Hialeah City Council member Katharine Cue-Fuente, will serve as interim chief, according to a statement from Bovo spokesman Carlos San Jose. Fuente will oversee the department while a search committee creates parameters and begins the search for the next leader of the police department in the county’s second most populous city.
Velázquez’s $211,000 compensation made him the city’s second-best-paid employee in 2020, behind the Public Works director. He will remain on leave without pay through the end of the year, according to San Jose. “I had said during my campaign that one of the decisions I was going to have to make was hiring a new chief,” Bovo, who was elected last Tuesday and sworn in on Friday, said in an interview. “I am not a believer in sitting there and procrastinating on it. I made the decision, let’s act as quickly as we can.” Attempts reach Velázquez were unsuccessful Monday night.
With his own checkered past, Velázquez seemed an unlikely choice for Hialeah’s police chief when he took over the reins of the department in 2012. But his closeness to the recently departed Hialeah mayor, Carlos Hernández, a former police officer himself, ensured not only Velázquez’s future as the head of the department but also his security in the top job. Nothing seemed to derail him — not even a scandal that would lead to the arrest of one of his police officers charged with sexually assaulting a handful of teenage girls and young women while on duty. In December 2019, FBI agents arrested Jesús Menocal Jr., a decorated Hialeah patrol sergeant, on charges of violating the female victims’ civil rights. He faces trial next year.
In 2016, Velázquez had decided to put Menocal back on the street with a badge and a gun after previously assigning him to desk duty during a state investigation of the sexual assault allegations against him — despite a subsequent FBI probe of the same accusations. The scandal forced Velázquez to defend not only his handling of Menocal’s case but his overall leadership of the department. “He knew all about this [Menocal case] — he knew about it from day one,” said former Hialeah police officer Juan Iglesias, who retired from the force in 2019 after Velázquez fired him the previous year when Iglesias legally challenged the department over its policy of filling ticket quotas. “This guy was just as liable as Menocal.”
At the same time that the Menocal sexual-assault case was under investigation, Velázquez himself was probed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement after a Hialeah businessman accused him of torching his truck parked in front of his home. The accusation, made in 2015, was rooted in a messy family dispute. Velázquez was dating the businessman’s former girlfriend, who also happened to be the mother of the man’s daughter. The businessman accused the police chief of harassing him over a custody battle involving the daughter. In the end, FDLE agents could not prove Velázquez was behind the arson attack on the man’s truck and closed the probe the following year. Velázquez, who joined Hialeah’s police force in the early 1990s, would face a series of misconduct allegations and disciplinary infractions before becoming the city’s top cop, according to internal affairs documents obtained by the Miami Herald. In one instance, Velázquez’s conduct was found so egregious that he became the subject of a criminal investigation by state prosecutors, leading Hialeah’s police chief at the time to recommend that he be fired. The incident happened in 2002 when Velázquez, then a sergeant, approached a woman who was being detained at a Hialeah police station for driving under the influence. She had been arrested by an officer under his supervision. Velázquez, on duty at the time, asked for her telephone number. He then began a romantic relationship with the woman, finding her an attorney, paying $1,000 in legal fees, visiting a Santeria reader with her to consult about her case and attending her arraignment in civilian clothes — essentially fighting an arrest made by his own department. When paperwork from her arrest disappeared from the station, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office opened a criminal investigation into the future chief. But prosecutors could not determine that Velázquez or anyone else had tampered with evidence.
In 2005, Velázquez, by then a probationary lieutenant, got into serious trouble again after he was suspected of trumping up battery and cocaine charges in a domestic dispute as an off-duty favor to a family friend, records show. But instead of firing Velázquez, then-Mayor Raúl Martínez bumped him back down to sergeant, at the chief’s recommendation. Martínez, who led the city between 1981 and 2005, says not firing Velázquez was one of his greatest regrets, calling the police chief a “delinquent” in a Miami Herald story early last year. Martínez, who hosts his own Spanish-language radio show, said news of Velázquez’s removal as police chief was long overdue. “He was an embarrassment to the city,” Martínez said
Monday. Velázquez’s fortunes changed last week, when Hialeah voters elected Bovo to replace the outgoing Hernández as mayor. Bovo, unlike many mayors across Miami-Dade County, is a strong mayor, meaning he has the power to hire and fire employees. Three Hialeah sources familiar with Velázquez’s departure said he was relieved of duty so that he would quietly retire at the end of December without a political confrontation over firing him. “He has demoralized the police department from start to finish,” said one longtime city employee, who was not authorized to speak about Velázquez’s being forced out as police chief. “I think it was the best move for the new mayor to remove him immediately in order to restore morale to the police department.” In a statement, the Hialeah Fraternal Order of Police congratulated Bovo on naming an interim chief, a decision that they called a “much-needed change.” The union had endorsed Bovo’s candidacy for mayor. “Chief Fuente has served the Hialeah Police Department for over 24 years in varying roles and understands the current dire needs of the agency,” they wrote. “The FOP looks forward to working with Chief Fuente, along with a capable and competent staff, to assist him in mitigating the issues that have arisen and long persisted throughout the previous police administration’s tenure.” Bovo told the Herald he would put together a search committee to launch a statewide hunt for the next chief. Nothing prohibits Fuente from applying, Bovo said, and the process will take no longer than four months. “I’m envisioning a new era in our city, a new era for a person who works very closely with the mayor. The chief of police and the mayor are tied at the hip in most instances,” said Bovo. Bovo said he hopes to move on with a new chief. “I look forward, I don’t dwell on the past,” he said. Herald staff writer David Ovalle contributed to this report.

Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/loc...#storylink=cpy

Unregistered · 11-09-2021, 10:55 AM

I've been telling you guys for months that DiSantis is aware of Hernandez and Velazquez's activities and backed Bovo to clean up the corruption. Now get yourself some popcorn and watch the rest of this movie because it gets better!

Unregistered · 11-09-2021, 12:08 PM

The day of victory & justice arrived. Thank you Mayor Bovo y thank you God 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

Unregistered · 11-09-2021, 01:42 PM

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I've been telling you guys for months that DiSantis is aware of Hernandez and Velazquez's activities and backed Bovo to clean up the corruption. Now get yourself some popcorn and watch the rest of this movie because it gets better!

Won’t change much if bovo keeps caso cerrado George Fuentes … keeping him is keeping the cancer that’s destroying this place

Unregistered · 11-09-2021, 03:21 PM

Originally Posted by Unregistered

‘A new era in our city’: Hialeah’s controversial police chief cut loose by new mayor BY SAMANTHA J. GROSS AND JAY WEAVER UPDATED NOVEMBER 08, 2021 8:32 PM
Esteban "Steve" Bovo addresses supporters after being elected mayor of Hialeah Esteban "Steve" Bovo addressed supporters during his victory party at Hialeah Park Casino after being elected mayor of Hialeah on Nov. 2, 2021. BY JOSÉ A. IGLESIAS Days after he was sworn in as Hialeah’s new mayor, Esteban “Steve” Bovo flexed his muscle on Monday and put controversial Police Chief Sergio Velázquez on leave, effective immediately. Velázquez, who was about to enter the city’s deferred retirement option plan, was made aware of the decision at lunchtime, Bovo said. Deputy Chief of Police George Fuente, husband of former Hialeah City Council member Katharine Cue-Fuente, will serve as interim chief, according to a statement from Bovo spokesman Carlos San Jose. Fuente will oversee the department while a search committee creates parameters and begins the search for the next leader of the police department in the county’s second most populous city.
Velázquez’s $211,000 compensation made him the city’s second-best-paid employee in 2020, behind the Public Works director. He will remain on leave without pay through the end of the year, according to San Jose. “I had said during my campaign that one of the decisions I was going to have to make was hiring a new chief,” Bovo, who was elected last Tuesday and sworn in on Friday, said in an interview. “I am not a believer in sitting there and procrastinating on it. I made the decision, let’s act as quickly as we can.” Attempts reach Velázquez were unsuccessful Monday night.
With his own checkered past, Velázquez seemed an unlikely choice for Hialeah’s police chief when he took over the reins of the department in 2012. But his closeness to the recently departed Hialeah mayor, Carlos Hernández, a former police officer himself, ensured not only Velázquez’s future as the head of the department but also his security in the top job. Nothing seemed to derail him — not even a scandal that would lead to the arrest of one of his police officers charged with sexually assaulting a handful of teenage girls and young women while on duty. In December 2019, FBI agents arrested Jesús Menocal Jr., a decorated Hialeah patrol sergeant, on charges of violating the female victims’ civil rights. He faces trial next year.
In 2016, Velázquez had decided to put Menocal back on the street with a badge and a gun after previously assigning him to desk duty during a state investigation of the sexual assault allegations against him — despite a subsequent FBI probe of the same accusations. The scandal forced Velázquez to defend not only his handling of Menocal’s case but his overall leadership of the department. “He knew all about this [Menocal case] — he knew about it from day one,” said former Hialeah police officer Juan Iglesias, who retired from the force in 2019 after Velázquez fired him the previous year when Iglesias legally challenged the department over its policy of filling ticket quotas. “This guy was just as liable as Menocal.”
At the same time that the Menocal sexual-assault case was under investigation, Velázquez himself was probed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement after a Hialeah businessman accused him of torching his truck parked in front of his home. The accusation, made in 2015, was rooted in a messy family dispute. Velázquez was dating the businessman’s former girlfriend, who also happened to be the mother of the man’s daughter. The businessman accused the police chief of harassing him over a custody battle involving the daughter. In the end, FDLE agents could not prove Velázquez was behind the arson attack on the man’s truck and closed the probe the following year. Velázquez, who joined Hialeah’s police force in the early 1990s, would face a series of misconduct allegations and disciplinary infractions before becoming the city’s top cop, according to internal affairs documents obtained by the Miami Herald. In one instance, Velázquez’s conduct was found so egregious that he became the subject of a criminal investigation by state prosecutors, leading Hialeah’s police chief at the time to recommend that he be fired. The incident happened in 2002 when Velázquez, then a sergeant, approached a woman who was being detained at a Hialeah police station for driving under the influence. She had been arrested by an officer under his supervision. Velázquez, on duty at the time, asked for her telephone number. He then began a romantic relationship with the woman, finding her an attorney, paying $1,000 in legal fees, visiting a Santeria reader with her to consult about her case and attending her arraignment in civilian clothes — essentially fighting an arrest made by his own department. When paperwork from her arrest disappeared from the station, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office opened a criminal investigation into the future chief. But prosecutors could not determine that Velázquez or anyone else had tampered with evidence.
In 2005, Velázquez, by then a probationary lieutenant, got into serious trouble again after he was suspected of trumping up battery and cocaine charges in a domestic dispute as an off-duty favor to a family friend, records show. But instead of firing Velázquez, then-Mayor Raúl Martínez bumped him back down to sergeant, at the chief’s recommendation. Martínez, who led the city between 1981 and 2005, says not firing Velázquez was one of his greatest regrets, calling the police chief a “delinquent” in a Miami Herald story early last year. Martínez, who hosts his own Spanish-language radio show, said news of Velázquez’s removal as police chief was long overdue. “He was an embarrassment to the city,” Martínez said
Monday. Velázquez’s fortunes changed last week, when Hialeah voters elected Bovo to replace the outgoing Hernández as mayor. Bovo, unlike many mayors across Miami-Dade County, is a strong mayor, meaning he has the power to hire and fire employees. Three Hialeah sources familiar with Velázquez’s departure said he was relieved of duty so that he would quietly retire at the end of December without a political confrontation over firing him. “He has demoralized the police department from start to finish,” said one longtime city employee, who was not authorized to speak about Velázquez’s being forced out as police chief. “I think it was the best move for the new mayor to remove him immediately in order to restore morale to the police department.” In a statement, the Hialeah Fraternal Order of Police congratulated Bovo on naming an interim chief, a decision that they called a “much-needed change.” The union had endorsed Bovo’s candidacy for mayor. “Chief Fuente has served the Hialeah Police Department for over 24 years in varying roles and understands the current dire needs of the agency,” they wrote. “The FOP looks forward to working with Chief Fuente, along with a capable and competent staff, to assist him in mitigating the issues that have arisen and long persisted throughout the previous police administration’s tenure.” Bovo told the Herald he would put together a search committee to launch a statewide hunt for the next chief. Nothing prohibits Fuente from applying, Bovo said, and the process will take no longer than four months. “I’m envisioning a new era in our city, a new era for a person who works very closely with the mayor. The chief of police and the mayor are tied at the hip in most instances,” said Bovo. Bovo said he hopes to move on with a new chief. “I look forward, I don’t dwell on the past,” he said. Herald staff writer David Ovalle contributed to this report.

Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/loc...#storylink=cpy

Why would the FOP be happy working with Fuentes ? Who was promised something in return for such as statement ? Fuentes was part of that command staff what would make you think he’s any different? Have you make any meeting with union members to ask what they think about it before endorsing Fuentes ? What make you think people here wants Fuentes ? FOP I hope you really know what your doing … but I strongly believe the FOP should support the new mayor on the look for a NEW chief and when I say. NEW I mean someone that hasn’t been part of that command staff ! You guys are really masoquistas bro …. You better make the right calls because this is our future here and not just the FOP board members “deals” for themselves… we will hold you accountable for this if you keep on supporting Fuentes when everyone knows that guy was part of the last chief corruption…

Unregistered · 11-09-2021, 03:32 PM

Fuentes has been a golden boy his entire career he needs to go back to his last civil service rank as lieutenant. Plain and simple. Either an outsider or someone within that was not in the current command staff. Don’t **** it up Mayor Bovo.

Unregistered · 11-09-2021, 03:53 PM

Several FBI agents are at the Hialeah Police Station, the cleaning process just started.
Meanwhile I am sitting down watching the show.
Llanes, u not longer have to keep those dirty secrets for Velasquez. He not longer owes you any favors. Your time is also coming up. Start packing & get ready. You will have plenty of time to watch your favorite Porn Star movies

Unregistered · 11-09-2021, 04:26 PM

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Fuentes has been a golden boy his entire career he needs to go back to his last civil service rank as lieutenant. Plain and simple. Either an outsider or someone within that was not in the current command staff. Don’t **** it up Mayor Bovo.

Absolutely! Marlon Espinoza don’t **** it up endorsing Fuentes ! .. if you really love this place and our people just push for a real new change ! Do the right thing… Julie fernandez was alway one of SV favors Ofcourse she does not want an outsider , Erick is Julie’s little ***** he will do as she says, YOU Marlon need to do the right thing for us ! You have too ! Help bovo and advising to look for the right choice cause you and everyone else here knows Fuentes isn’t the best choice for us !