By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org
Poof! And just like that, Broward Sheriff “Dr.” Gregory Tony’s years of disturbing legal troubles, like failing to disclose his arrest for murder and history of drug use before Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed him sheriff in January 2019, appear poised to go quietly away.
You’ll recall that two weeks ago, Tony had his knuckles rapped by Florida’s Criminal Justice Standards & Training Commission (CJSTC) when it issued him a “letter of counseling” after he was found by an administrative law judge to have lied under oath when he applied for a Florida driver’s license shortly after taking office.
With that matter resolved, Tony was soon to face a second administrative trial on different, more serious charges brought by Florida’s Commission on Ethics in 2022. Those charges, which Tony appealed to the Division of Administrative hearings, were put on hold while the CJSTC’s case proceeded.
The case docket disclosed Monday that Tony and the ethics commission “have settled the matter” and “wish to forego a final hearing at the Division of Administrative Hearings in this case.” Judge John Van Laningham granted the motion Monday, returning the case to the ethics commission.
On Monday, Florida Bulldog obtained the ethics commission’s copy of the proposed five-page settlement agreement between Tony and the commission. It would both wrap up the case against him without any public trial and dish out more of the same limp punishment – public censure and a reprimand – for the ethics commission’s more serious violations.
Under its terms, Tony would now “accept” the findings of the administrative law judge that he largely rejected and fought during this month’s hearing before the CJSTC. Judge James Kilbride, who heard the CJSTC’s case against Tony, determined Tony had lied under oath by denying a past suspension of his driver’s license in Pennsylvania when he applied for a Florida driver’s license in 2019 – a criminal offense of felony perjury.
SETTLEMENT WOULD MAKE BAD THINGS GO AWAY
You might think that Tony’s withholding pertinent information about his background, like an arrest for murder, to convince the governor to appoint him sheriff would be serious enough to warrant consideration as part of any ethics settlement. But after a simple listing of the allegations against him in the settlement papers, that charge and others – like providing false information to the Coral Springs Police Department about his drug use, arrest history, traffic citation history and that he’d previously applied for and been denied a job as a cop in Tallahassee – just fade away.
(Florida Bulldog first reported on May 2, 2020 that when Tony was 14 and living in a poor Philadelphia neighborhood he shot and killed a man named Hector “Chino” Rodriguez. Tony has said he killed in self-defense and that Rodriguez was armed. Witness statements obtained by Philadelphia police say the opposite – that Rodriguez was unarmed and that Tony fired in cold blood. An autopsy found two bullet holes in the back of Rodriguez’s head, execution style.)
That vanishing act, plus Tony’s new acceptance of the judge’s findings about how he lied under oath to get his driver’s license renewed in 2019, apparently now facilitate the settlement Tony wants to put the case to bed. That is, his lone acknowledgement that he violated Section 112.313(6) Florida Statutes “by using his position to secure a benefit, privilege, or exemption regarding the February 2019 driver’s renewal” – the same offense he’s already been punished for by the CJSTC.
To make the deal even sweeter for Tony, the ethics commission’s advocate Melody Hadley – who believe it or not is actually an assistant attorney general assigned to the commission –agreed to a stipulation that would let Tony disavow the deal should the ethics commission, with eight of its nine seats filled, reject it at its March 7 meeting.
“In the event that it is not approved by the Commission on Ethics as written, this document shall be of no purpose and effect and shall not be deemed an admission by Respondent [Tony],” says the “Joint Stipulation of Fact, Law and Recommended Order” that Tony, his Tallahassee lawyer and Hadley all signed on Friday.
“The Advocate and Respondent have entered into this Joint Stipulation and urge the Commission on Ethics to approve it in lieu of further hearings in this cause,” the agreement says.
WILL A NEW ETHICS COMMISSION BUY IT?
The last time Advocate Hadley – read prosecutor Hadley – made a recommendation about Tony in 2022 the commission flatly rejected it, voting 8-1 to find probable cause that Tony violated Florida law by hiding his drug-use history, his homicide arrest and several other matters. Hadley, in an 11-page report, had recommended the commission find no probable cause.
“The commission rejected the recommendation of its Advocate and found probable cause to believe Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony misused his public position,” a commission press release at the time said.
Even the ethics commissioner who was the lone vote against finding probable cause against Tony, Fort Walton Beach attorney Michelle Anchors, called his behavior “despicable.”
Thus, it seems Hadley has at least the appearance of a conflict of interest to now be prosecuting the ethics commission’s case against Tony that she formerly opposed, and further by recommending a settlement that Tony clearly favors because it would demolish the other findings against him.
How things might go is anybody’s guess. The commission has completely turned over since its 8-1 ruling finding probable cause against Tony on Sept. 14, 2022.
The other former commissioners who voted to find probable cause and hold a public hearing on the matter were then-Chair John Grant, Vice Chair Glenton “Glen” Gilzean Jr. (who later resigned after the Florida Bulldog exposed his serious conflict of interest), former Gainesville-area State Attorney William Cervone, former Senate President Don Gaetz, former Leon County-area State Attorney Willie Meggs, ex-President and Chief Executive Officer of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida Ed Moore, former State Rep. Wengay Newton, D-St. Petersburg, and former State Rep. Jim Waldman, D- Coconut Creek.
The current ethics commissioners are Chair Luis Fuste, a Coral Gables attorney; Vice Chair Tina Descovich, an Indialantic resident and co-founder of Moms for Liberty; Tampa attorney Paul Bain; Freddie Figgers, a Fort Lauderdale businessman; Tallahassee attorney Ashley Lukis; ex-State Rep. James Bush III, D-Miami; Laird Lile, a Naples attorney, and ex-State Sen. Linda Stewart, R-Orlando.
While Tony has steadfastly refused to submit to interviews about the allegations against him by either the Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents who investigated him and brought the charges against him or by Florida Bulldog reporters, he did submit a message in the settlement agreement with an unusual bow of humility from Tony.
“Respondent enters into this joint stipulation with the understanding of the seriousness of the allegations and gives his assurance that this proceeding has affected the manner in which he conducts himself as a public official in a positive way,” it says.
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