By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org
The non-jury trial of Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony on charges that he repeatedly lied under oath to obtain Florida driver’s licenses took a startling twist Tuesday when his defense’s lone witness admitted she was also his lover.
While not a criminal trial, what’s happening is a high-stakes affair for Tony. If he loses, it could lead to the revocation of his license to be a police officer. He wouldn’t lose his job as sheriff, but he’d no longer be able to wear a police uniform or carry a badge and a gun.
In what proved to be a major blunder, Tony’s lawyers called Sonia Colon to testify about her experience as a longtime manager with the Florida Division of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV). Asking only about Colon’s knowledge of her job and her office, attorneys Stephen Webster and Louis Jean-Baptiste elicited testimony useful to Tony’s defense. Specifically, Colon described the Lauderdale Lakes office where the sheriff obtained a new license on Feb. 1, 2019 at an understaffed “supercenter” where approximately 30 overworked examiners rushed to process “roughly about 700-800” applicants a day.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and a panel of its Criminal Justice Standards & Training Commission have accused Sheriff Tony of lying under oath that day when he allegedly said “no” when driver’s license examiner Brittni Romero, now Brittni Wong, asked him a routine question: “Has your driving privilege ever been revoked, suspended or denied in any state?” Colon’s testimony buttressed the defense narrative that under such hectic conditions mistakes could have happened when Tony’s answers were entered into a DMV computer.
Under oath in court later, Sheriff Tony denied ever answering that question in the negative.
NOT AN UNBIASED WITNESS
But Colon’s testimony and credibility regarding Tony appeared to evaporate when FDLE Assistant General Counsel Natalie Alexandra Bielby brought out the fact that Colon was not an unbiased witness.
“Miss Colon, isn’t it true that you have known Sheriff Gregory Tony for quite a long time?”
“That is true.”
“You’ve known him for decades?”
“Yeah. I’ve known him for several years, but with all due respect, I don’t see how this is relevant.’’
Administrative Law Judge Robert Kilbride then scolded Colon, telling her “It’s not for you to decide what’s relevant.”
TONY AND COLON
Colon went on to say under oath that she’s known Tony since she was eight years old when they both lived two blocks away in Philadelphia.
“Isn’t it also true that you and Sheriff Gregory Tony used to live at the same address here in Tallahassee?” Bielby asked.
“That is true,” Colon replied.
“In fact, you lived together at two separate addresses on two separate occasions.”
“That is true… we actually lived at the same apartment.”
Then the big admission. The two had a long “romantic relationship,” Colon confirmed.
The damage continued: “Isn’t it also true that Sheriff Gregory Tony has used you on several occasions as a character reference for employment applications?”
“That could be correct. I mean, I’ve known him for a long time. I know his character, yes.”
NOT CLOSE ENOUGH FOR PERJURY
Colon also acknowledged that she helped him when he sought a job years ago at the DHSMV. And she acknowledging helping to smooth his appearance at the motor vehicles licensing office in Lauderdale Lakes on Feb. 1, 2019 where he was alleged to have lied under oath to obtain a license.
“It’s fair to say that you care about Sheriff Gregory, Tony?”
“Yeah.”
“You were close, correct?’’
“We are close, but not close for me to commit perjury, not for him or anybody.”
Tony wasn’t asked about his relationship with Sonia Colon, and didn’t bring it up himself.
‘I GET SHOT AT FOR A LIVING’
Prosecutor Bielby asked Tony about the circumstances and commotion at the Lauderdale Lakes DMV office when he went there to have his home address removed from his driver’s license. She wanted his thoughts after his lawyers suggested extra pressure on examiner Romero might have caused her to make mistakes as she walked him through the process.
“If you were in a situation and you were under pressure and had people watching you, observing you, would you feel the need to do your job correctly?”
“That’s most certain, but I I get shot at for a living unlike someone who’s going to driver’s license examination,” Tony said.
As the trial drew to a close, Judge Kilbride informed the parties that a transcript will soon be prepared by the court reporter and once it is finished both sides will have 10 days to submit their proposed recommended orders to him. Kilbride will then “write my own recommended order within 20 days.”
Kilbride will file his recommendation order with the Criminal Justice Standards & Training Commission, which should, in about three months, file its own final order with Tony’s punishment, if any.
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