If Gov. Rick Scott Only Had A Heart

This time four years ago Rick Scott was a stranger to Floridians. Then he spent $73 million on his first political campaign and rode an angry voter wave to the Governor's Mansion. For Florida, this has been a hostile takeover by the former CEO of the nation's largest hospital chain. In three years Scott has done more harm than any modern governor, from voting rights to privacy rights, public schools to higher education, environmental protection to health care. One more legislative session and a $100 million re-election campaign will not undo the damage.
This is the tin man as governor, a chief executive who shows no heartfelt connection to the state, appreciation for its values or compassion for its residents. Duke Energy is charging its electric customers billions for nuclear plants that were botched or never built. Homeowners are being pushed out of the state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and into private insurers with higher premiums and no track records. Federal flood insurance rates are soaring so high that many property owners cannot afford the premiums but also cannot sell their homes. The governor sides with the electric utilities and property insurers. He criticizes the president rather than fellow Republicans in Congress for failing to fix the flood insurance fiasco they helped create.
In Scott's Florida, it is harder for citizens to vote and for the jobless to collect unemployment. It is easier for renters to be evicted and for borrowers to be charged high interest rates on short-term loans. It is harder for patients to win claims against doctors who hurt them and for consumers to get fair treatment from car dealers who deceive them. It is easier for businesses to avoid paying taxes, building roads and repairing environmental damage.
Florida's modern political era began in 1954 with the election of Gov. LeRoy Collins, who skillfully steered the state through the early years of desegregation and is widely regarded as the state's greatest governor. Other governors from both political parties had an instinctive feel for Florida and a passion to help its people. In the 1970s, there was Reubin Askew. In the 1980s, Bob Graham. In the 1990s, Lawton Chiles. In the 2000s, Jeb Bush. There were some mediocre and average governors along the way, but even the least of them demonstrated a deep affection for this state and its residents.
Scott, who moved to Naples just seven years before running for governor, treats Florida like another faceless corporate acquisition to be dismantled and repackaged. Collins created the community college system; Scott ordered the colleges to create a gimmick, a handful of bachelor's degrees that can be purchased for $10,000. Askew established the water management districts and reformed the appointment process for judges; Scott gutted the former and injected more politics into the latter. Gov. Bob Martinez pushed ambitious efforts to manage growth and preserve environmentally sensitive land; Scott decimated both.
The state's refusal to accept billions in federal money illustrates how this governor ignores the needs of everyday residents. He fought the federal Affordable Care Act all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and lost. He stood by as the Legislature turned down $51 billion in federal money to help cover 1 million uninsured residents, and now he refuses to reaffirm even his tepid support for taking the money. Tens of thousands of Floridians are signing up for health coverage in the federal marketplace in spite of a governor who refuses to help them.
Scott's decision to reject $2.4 billion in federal money for high-speed rail between Tampa and Orlando was just as callous. At a time when the region was desperate for more jobs, Scott dismissed federal guarantees and let the money go to other states. He called high-speed rail financially risky but then approved far riskier projects to please powerful state legislators. He embraced the expensive SunRail project in Central Florida and the creation of Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland, a boondoggle that diminished the University of South Florida and will cost taxpayers dearly for generations.
This governor shows little respect for individual rights. He advocated drug testing for state employees and welfare recipients; the courts ruled against him. He pursued a purge of voter rolls that threatened to disenfranchise minority voters; the county elections supervisors revolted. He signed into law restrictions on early voting; the public outcry forced changes.
Scott sides with developers seeking an easier time building their projects, utilities winning routine approval of higher electric rates and health insurers that now need no state approval to raise rates. For homeowners, there is less protection from leaking septic tanks. For motorists stuck in traffic, the governor's solution is more toll roads.
The state spends less per public school student than when Scott took office. Parents and teachers have lost faith in a school accountability system in chaos. College students hear the governor's disdain for a liberal arts education as he demands results on the cheap. Meanwhile, Scott eagerly promises hundreds of millions in tax breaks to businesses pledging to create jobs in future years. His administration approved nearly 350 job creation deals in his first three years in office, but only four jobs have been created for every 100 promised.
The son of a truck driver and a store clerk, Scott grew up poor, lived in public housing for a time and worked his way through law school. He moved to Florida as the former head of a hospital company that paid a record fine for Medicare fraud, and he got himself elected to the state's highest office. Yet the governor who overcame so much adversity himself shows remarkably little empathy for Floridians and their everyday challenges as they seek a brighter future for themselves and their children. Scott's soulless approach to governing is turning the Sunshine State into a cold-hearted place, where the warm promise of a fresh start and a fair shake are fading fast.

LeRoy Collins, 1955-1961
The native Floridian and former legislator was Florida's greatest governor. The Democrat steered the state into desegregation with a moderate voice, created the community college system, and argued for fair legislative districts and a new Constitution.
Farris Bryant, 1961-1965
The native Floridian and former House speaker led efforts to let the state borrow money for college construction and land purchases. The Democrat was tarnished by controversy over refinancing turnpike bonds and sent Florida backward on racial tolerance.
Haydon Burns, 1965-1967
The Democrat was a former Jacksonville mayor/commissioner. Served two undistinguished years as governor before losing a bid for re-election.
Claude Kirk, 1967-1971
The Florida insurance and investment executive became the state's first Republican governor since Reconstruction. Known for his colorful personality and strong environmental record in a turbulent time of war protests and a teacher strike. Often fought with Democrats controlling Legislature and lost bid for re-election.
Reubin Askew, 1971-1979
Ranked just behind Collins among great governors, the Democrat and former legislator oversaw tax reform, the creation of water management districts and open-government reforms. Completed school desegregation, helped defeat efforts to allow casinos and worked to reform tarnished judiciary by pushing for merit retention of judges.
Bob Graham, 1979-1987
The native Floridian and former legislator led efforts to protect the Everglades, beaches and wetlands. Pushed to elevate higher education and dealt with influx of Cuban refugees. The Democrat served three terms in the U.S. Senate.
Bob Martinez, 1987-1991
The native Floridian and former Tampa mayor pushed environmental efforts to clean up Tampa Bay and other waters and buy sensitive lands. Implemented progressive growth management. The Republican reversed position on a tax on services and forced its repeal. Lost bid for re-election.
Lawton Chiles, 1991-1998
The native Floridian and former U.S. senator championed campaign finance reform and children's initiatives. Guided state through Hurricane Andrew recovery. The Democrat sued tobacco companies and won billions in a settlement.
Jeb Bush, 1999-2007
Active in Miami politics, the son of a former president overhauled public education with high-stakes testing and school letter grades. The Republican pushed school vouchers and record tax cuts. Ably led the state through eight hurricanes.
Charlie Crist, 2007-2011
The former legislator and Cabinet member pushed tax cuts and Everglades restoration efforts. The Republican vetoed bills ending teacher tenure and restricting abortion rights, and championed easier restoration of rights for felons. Signed law gutting growth management. Unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate as an independent and now running for governor as a Democrat.

http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/the-tin-man-if-the-governor-only-had-a-heart/2167877

DCF Worker Accused Of Falsifying Well-Being Report

ORLANDO, Fla. —

Posted: 3:12 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014

Investigators said a 38-year-old woman was supposed to be checking up on some of the most vulnerable victims of child abuse and neglect but instead lied in her paperwork to avoid being fired.

Margaret McCalman

Margaret McCalman told investigators at the Department of Children and Families she was exhausted from her case load and typed up a false home visit in her computer to avoid missing a required visit.
McCalman and others in her position are required to go out and investigate allegations of child abuse and neglect, authorities said.
According to the arrest warrant, McCalman documented a visit in May 2012 to a home with at least two children.
In the report, it was written that the children were seen without abuse and that the house was cluttered but no major hazards were seen.
The catch, according to payroll data, is that McCalman wasn’t working that day.
Channel 9′s Karla Ray went to McCalman’s home on Wednesday to ask why she would put children’s lives at risk by making up information about their well-being, but no one came to the door.
McCalman quit her job at DCF month after her internal investigation started.

“We absolutely do not tolerate the falsification of child protective records,” said a DCF spokeswoman. “We have a zero tolerance for it.”
If convicted, McCalman could face prison time.
http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/dcf-worker-accused-falsifying-well-being-report/ndhJx/

Governor Phony Rick Scott?

 

Fourteen months from the next election, Gov. Rick Scott’s sales pitch is clear. He portrays himself as the education governor, the defender of the environment and the advocate for open records. He’s the jobs governor, and he has empathy for Floridians without health coverage. Don’t be fooled by the packaging. It’s a facade that hides reality, and Florida deserves better.

Education
Scott organized a three-day summit last week to tackle controversies over the coming Common Core State Standards and the discredited school accountability system now in place. He promotes the $1 billion in new money public schools received this year and his effort to give teachers raises.
The reality is Scott failed to show up at his own summit to listen to the concerns of school superintendents and others. Instead he ate dinner privately with former Gov. Jeb Bush, whose passion for education is unquestioned even if some of his views are controversial.
This year’s per student funding is the highest of Scott’s three years as governor. But it is still lower than each of the five previous years under his predecessors, Charlie Crist and Bush. Scott also signed into law the legislation that siphons off school construction money to privately run charter schools. And the governor’s last two hand-picked education commissioners have shown more interest in advocating for charter schools and expanding voucher programs than in creating successful public schools.
Now there is another interim education commissioner, and the revolving door in Tallahassee leaves local school districts without clear direction from the state. Will Scott fold on Common Core and the student assessments needed to make them work?
Environment
The governor staged another media show last week to promote a worthy project to improve water flow into Everglades National Park. That is a drop in the bucket compared to the damage he has done to the environment.
The governor decimated growth management and eliminated the agency that enforced it. He fought the federal government over clean-water standards, neutered the water management districts by slashing their tax base and manipulated the regulatory process to put politics above science. His money for Florida’s springs is hardly meaningful. The deal he cut with the federal government on restoring the Everglades put the deadline off again. And to raise money to buy sensitive lands, the state’s solution is to sell land it already owns.
Scott is still looking at toll roads to nowhere across the middle of Florida. The state still has no cohesive energy policy. And the governor’s environmental agency is more focused on quickly approving the requests of developers than on protecting wetlands. A news conference on one worthy project cannot mask years of bad policy.
Jobs
Scott inaccurately claims he is more than halfway toward meeting his pledge of creating 700,000 jobs, and he keeps cranking out the news releases. Last week: 100 jobs at Boeing in Miami; 105 new air cargo jobs in Orlando; 200 jobs at technology company Citrix in Fort Lauderdale. The week before that: 40 jobs at the moving and storage company PODS in Clearwater.
Many of the jobs Scott counts won’t be created for years, if ever, and the bigger picture is darker. The state’s unemployment rate has been stuck at 7.1 percent for three months, better than the national average of 7.4 percent. A report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics says the labor force expanded in the Tampa Bay area, Jacksonville and Orlando in the past year but in other areas — South Florida, the Panhandle, Bradenton, Sarasota and Lakeland — the labor force contracted. And the jobless rate in Pasco and Hernando counties is still 8 percent or higher.
Scott’s heavy-handed attempt to lure companies from other states is a public relations nightmare, and it isn’t working. While Florida now has roughly as many jobs as before the recession, people earn less and there are more part-time jobs. Jobs in the low-paying leisure and hospitality sectors are up. Better paying jobs in construction, manufacturing and professional/business services are still down.
The bottom line: The job situation is not nearly as rosy as Scott projects.
Health care
After Florida failed to persuade the courts to block health care reform, Scott called for the state to accept billions in federal dollars and expand Medicaid to 1 million uninsured residents. “I cannot, in good conscience, deny Floridians the needed access to health care,” he declared in February.
Then he stopped listening to his conscience. Scott sat by as House Speaker Will Weatherford blocked expansion, and he has dropped the issue. What the governor has done is reject millions in federal dollars to implement health care reform and left the creation of an insurance exchange to the federal government. He also foolishly signed into law a ban on state regulation of health insurance rates for two years.
New U.S. Census figures show nearly 1 in 4 Floridians lack health insurance, the second highest rate in the nation. Hospitals in Orlando, Vero Beach and elsewhere are laying off workers and reducing pay in part because the new Medicaid dollars aren’t coming.
Scott isn’t expanding access to health care. He is working against it. He is making it harder for hospitals to make ends meet, harder for the uninsured to get coverage and harder for businesses to comply with the federal law.
Openness
Scott promised an unprecedented effort toward government transparency: Regular releases on the Internet of nearly all emails received or written by the governor and his top staff. The goal was to eventually extend the service, known as Project Sunburst, to Scott’s 11 agencies as well.
Sunburst has been a bust. Efforts to meet a seven-day window in posting emails to the site routinely goes unmet and are incomplete. Agencies were never added to the project and Scott and his aides avoid creating public records when they can. Scott’s chief of staff isn’t shy about reminding subordinates that anything they send to him by email is a public record. Contrast that with the first e-governor, Jeb Bush, who was such a believer in efficient communication his state portrait includes his Blackberry in the background.
It’s not just Sunburst. The governor also helped kill one of the most promising efforts for open government. He refused to take ownership of a software project, Transparency 2.0, that would have allowed the public to easily track how state government allocates and spends taxpayer money. The project died from neglect.
http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-governor-phony/2139239

Former South Daytona Mayor, Magistrate Start Prison Terms For Taking Bribes



Mayor Ron Clifton

 Two former South Daytona city officials convicted of accepting bribes from an FBI informant are reporting to prison this week.
Former South Daytona Mayor Ron Clifton left for the Federal Prison Camp in Pensacola on Wednesday and former special magistrate Jerome Mitchell -- a disbarred attorney -- is expected to arrive there today. The men were sentenced by U.S. Judge Mary Scriven for their roles in a bribery scandal that shocked South Daytona last year. The men's prison is just outside the Pensacola Naval Air Station.
Clifton was sentenced to 24 months and Mitchell to 37 months. The bribes -- $7,500 paid to Clifton and $5,000 to Mitchell -- were given in exchange for Clifton and Mitchell agreeing to reduce city code liens lodged against the River Club Condominium, 3131 S. Ridgewood Ave.
The maximum penalty for bribery is up to 10 years in prison.
A confidential informant sent in by the FBI paid both men after meeting with them several times. On each occasion, the informant was equipped with a wire and a small camera, according to court documents and court proceedings.



Jerome Mitchell -- a disbarred attorney

 On one of the occasions when Clifton and the informant talked alone at Clifton's residence, the former mayor's children could be heard playing in the background, an audio played in open court revealed.
It has never been revealed why the FBI targeted the two men, who were once close friends.
The confidential informant's cover was blown by Clifton at his sentencing hearing in federal court in Orlando on Sept. 15, when he blurted out the man's first name in a moment of raw emotion.
The informant was identified as Stuart Buchanan, a Brevard County planner who has been working with the FBI for several months on various investigations. Buchanan has also worked for the cities of South Daytona, Holly Hill and Daytona Beach.
Both Mitchell and Clifton accepted the cash in exchange for Mitchell's guarantee that the $241,000 in liens piled against the River Club property would be lowered. Mitchell then lowered those liens to $12,500 at a code enforcement hearing that Buchanan attended, records show.
The Federal Prison Camp in Pensacola is a minimum-security facility.

Federal Prison Camp In Pensacola florida

Clifton left for Pensacola on Wednesday and Mitchell is expected to report sometime this afternoon, said his attorney Mike Lambert.
Scriven had ordered both men to surrender today, but Clifton decided to go early.
"He wanted to go early and get things started," said Clifton's attorney James Dickson Crock. "He wants to get on with his life."
But not before he had a small gathering at a Port Orange establishment.
Clifton's wife, Sherry Clifton, sent out an invitation of sorts asking friends to report to the First Turn Steakhouse and Lounge in Port Orange on Tuesday night.
In the invite Sherry Clifton wrote: "For all of you that know Ron and I so well, you really didn't think that I was going to let him go without a party!!

Attorney Mike Lambert

In a "P.S." in the invitation, Sherry Clifton also wrote: "He can't take any gifts with him on Wednesday!! LOL."

http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/east-volusia/2011/10/21/former-south-daytona-mayor-magistrate-start-prison-terms-for-taking-bribes.html

Investigators Turn Up More Conflict of Interest at Florida AG Bondi’s Office

In New York we see elites attacking the Attorney General for doing his job. In Florida, however, there’s a different dynamic going on.


June Clarkson and Theresa Edwards,



I’ve written about June Clarkson and Theresa Edwards, the two foreclosure fraud investigators at the state Attorney General’s office fired for being too competent in their investigations. This appeared to be a US Attorney-like scandal at the state level, but I wasn’t hopeful that much would come of it. Boy, was I wrong. The news media in Florida picked up on this and wouldn’t let go. Set against a backdrop of a foreclosure crisis, firing the people closest to getting at the corruption and fraud resonated sharply against the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and her staff. Bondi, after making nods toward defending the decision, then initiated an outside investigation into the firing. And that still wasn’t enough to satiate the press. This is a devastating article from the Orlando Sentinel a couple days ago:



Attorney General Pam Bondi


Eight months after she took office as a first-time elected official, Attorney General Pam Bondi is facing a management crisis replete with allegations of old-fashioned political interference in cases and a revolving door between lawyers and the companies they investigate.
An outside investigator is looking into the circumstances surrounding the May firings of foreclosure fraud investigators June Clarkson and Theresa Edwards. This week, another investigator abruptly resigned after giving the media a 16-page memo noting that two other high-profile lawyers in the attorney general’s office had taken jobs with companies under investigation, and accusing top management of interfering in an investigation of a prominent Tampa car dealership [...]
The latest blast came from Andrew Spark, who resigned from Bondi’s Tampa economic crimes office and said in a 16-page, memo that he was speaking out because the public deserved “fair and honest government, independent of personal connections and powerful interests.”



Bill McCollum

 He complained that two top lawyers, former assistant attorney general Joe Jacquot and former Economic Crimes Division Director Mary Leontakianakos, had both taken jobs with foreclosure companies under state investigation, Jacksonville-based Lender Processing Services and the Law Offices of Marshall C. Watson in Fort Lauderdale. Both had worked for Bondi’s predecessor, Bill McCollum, who lost a primary bid for governor last fall.
Jacquot said Friday he had avoided any involvement in the investigation into LPS months before taking a job with the company, and is legally banned from representing the company before his old office. Leontakianakos, a 25-year veteran of four administrations, was hired this summer by the Watson law firm two months after it reached a $2 million settlement with the AG’s office. She said Friday she cleared the job with the state Ethics Commission and made certain the investigation into the Watson firm was closed before she interviewed for the job.

So not only were Clarkson and Edwards fired for, among other things, pursuing investigations against LPS, but other lawyers at the AGs office were JOINING LPS after they settled with the state.
Some of Bondi’s other troubles concern an adverse judicial ruling that really undercuts her consumer protection responsibilities. And that’s just garden-variety ideology trumping the law. But even in that case, Bondi’s office declined to appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court, apparently preferring to tie their own hands.
The pressure is on Pam Bondi. I didn’t think that, in this environment, she would go the way of Alberto Gonzales. But with an independent investigation sure to produce more revelations, it’s certainly possible.

UPDATE: The Sentinel article made it sound like Bondi’s office settled with LPS, but their only settlement as it relates to foreclosure fraud was a $2 million deal with the Law Offices of Marshall C. Watson, a foreclosure mill law firm.

By: David Dayen Monday August 15, 2011 6:55 am

http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/08/15/investigators-turn-up-more-conflict-of-interest-at-florida-ag-bondis-office/

Miami-Area Psychiatrist Pleads Guilty For Role In $200 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

U.S. Department of Justice

June 30,  2011

WASHINGTON – A Miami-area psychiatrist pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Miami for his part in a fraud scheme that resulted in the submission of more than $200 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare, the Department of Justice, FBI and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced.
Dr. Alan Gumer, 64, of Tamarac, Fla., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.   Gumer was charged on Feb. 15, 2011, with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and four counts of health care fraud.
According to court documents, Gumer was a psychiatrist at American Therapeutic Corporation (ATC), a Florida corporation headquartered in Miami.   ATC purported to operate partial hospitalization programs (PHPs) in seven different locations throughout South Florida and Orlando.  A PHP is a form of intensive treatment for severe mental illness.

Gumer admitted that he signed evaluations, notes and other documents in medical files for patients who did not need the treatment for which ATC billed Medicare.   Specifically, as a psychiatrist, Gumer knew that the patients attending ATC did not need intensive mental health treatment, and that the treatments offered by ATC were not the type of intensive treatments a PHP should provide.   Gumer admitted that he signed these files without examining the patients, or writing and reading the statements he was signing.   Gumer also admitted to writing prescriptions for psychiatric medications for patients who did not need them in order to make it appear to Medicare that the patients qualified for PHP treatment.   According to court documents, Gumer also referred hundreds of ATC patients to a related company, the American Sleep Institute (ASI), for unnecessary diagnostic sleep disorder testing.

According to court filings, Gumer’s co-defendants and ATC’s owners and operators paid kickbacks to owners and operators of assisted living facilities (ALFs) and halfway houses and to patient brokers in exchange for delivering ineligible patients to ATC and ASI.  In some cases, the patients received a portion of those kickbacks.  Throughout the course of the ATC and ASI conspiracy, millions of dollars in kickbacks were paid in exchange for Medicare beneficiaries, who did not qualify for PHP services, to attend treatment programs that were not legitimate PHP programs so that ATC and ASI could bill Medicare for more than $200 million in medically unnecessary services.

According to the plea agreement, Gumer’s participation in the fraud resulted in $19.3 million in fraudulent billing to the Medicare program.   Sentencing for Gumer is scheduled for Jan 19, 2012.  Gumer faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
ATC, its management company Medlink Professional Management Group Inc., and the owners and lead manager of ATC, Medlink and ASI, were charged with various health care fraud, money laundering and other offenses in a separate superseding indictment unsealed on Feb. 15, 2011.   Two of the three owners and the lead manager, as well as both ATC and Medlink, have pleaded guilty and have admitted to the fraudulent scheme and that more than $200 million in billings were submitted to the Medicare program as a part of the scheme.   They are scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 14, 2011, by U.S. District Court Judge James Lawrence King.   The trial of the third owner charged in the separate superseding indictment is scheduled to begin on Aug. 15, 2011.
The remaining 17 co-defendants named in the indictment in which Gumer was charged are scheduled to stand trial on Nov. 7, 2011, before U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz.


Judge James Lawrence King.

 An indictment is merely an accusation and defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

Today’s guilty plea was announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida; John V. Gillies, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI’s Miami field office; and Special Agent-in-Charge Christopher Dennis of the HHS Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Office of Investigations Miami office.
The criminal case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Jennifer L. Saulino of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.  The case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.



Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer



Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations in nine locations have charged more than 1,000 defendants that collectively have billed the Medicare program for more than $2.3 billion.  In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/June/11-crm-871.html
To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to:  www.stopmedicarefraud.gov .



http://www.cchrint.org/2011/07/01/miami-area-psychiatrist-pleads-guilty-for-role-in-200-million-medicare-fraud-scheme/

Joseph Wiggins Sanford Police Officer Arrested For Soliciting A Bribe

News

Sanford police officer arrested for soliciting a bribe

Nov 02, 2011

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s (FDLE) Orlando Regional Operations Center arrested Joseph Wiggins, 38, of Sanford, Fla. for one count of bribery and one count of accepting unlawful compensation. Wiggins is an officer with the Sanford Police Department.

The investigation began in July when the Sanford Police Department asked FDLE to look into allegations that Wiggins had solicited a bribe from an individual during traffic stop in June. The investigation found that Wiggins had solicited the driver and accepted money in exchange for not writing a ticket or taking the driver into custody.

Wiggins was booked into the Seminole County Jail. The case will be prosecuted by the Office of the State Attorney, Eighteenth Judicial Circuit.

For Further Information Contact:
Heather Smith, Keith Kameg or Kristi Gordon
FDLE Office of Public Information
(850) 410-7001