North Country Gazette



FDLE Agent Ousted In Pinellas County Turf War

Posted on Friday, 9 of May , 2008 at 7:04 pm

COMMENTARY 

By June Maxam

© North Country Gazette

PINELLAS COUNTY, FLA—Pinellas-Pasco state attorney Bernie McCabe holds a grudge and acts childishly and vindictively if he doesn’t get his own way, utilizing his position to get even with state employees in personal disputes.

Just ask Moses Jordan.

Jordan was the second-in-command of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) in Tampa Bay until his retirement in January. After using his leave time, his official departure date from the FDLE was in March after 25 years of service. He is receiving a full pension.But his retirement wasn’t exactly voluntary. It stemmed from a turf war between the FDLE and the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.But the real issue was that Jordon publicly took on Bernie McCabe, embarrassed him, disrespected him in front of law enforcement and other officials—and Bernie McCabe retaliated.

Although Bernie McCabe has been in the state attorney’s office since 1972 and state attorney since 1992, according to both The Florida Bar and the Florida Commission on Ethics, no one has ever filed a complaint against McCabe—at least there are no complaints on file for this highly controversial individual, the agencies told The North Country Gazette.

Last Oct. 24, Jordan whose annual salary was $97,440, surrendered his agency-issued 40-caliber handgun and badge and was placed on paid administrative leave after the internal affairs division of the FDLE opened an investigation into allegations that Jordan had violated department policy although the incidents under review were over three years old.

Five days later, in a terse statement, Jordan’s boss, Lance H. Newman, a 23-year FDLE veteran, announced his retirement, apparently because he hadn’t taken action against Jordan three years previously when McCabe’s chief investigator had filed a complaint against him. Newman had been the special agent in charge of the Tampa office since October 2002 at a salary of $114,344.

Of course officials said Newman’s retirement wasn’t related to Jordan’s, that it was just “coincidental”.

The allegations against Jordan weren’t from last year–or even the year previous.  They were from one incident in December 2004, three eyars previous and another even earlier, in June 2004.

No explanation is given in the report why it took three years for the FDLE to open an internal investigation.  

Jordan, 47, had worked in FDLE’s Tampa Bay region since 1995, an area which encompasses eight counties including Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus.  From 1995 to 1998, Jordan was chief of investigative services for FDLE’s Tampa regional operations center.

Newman has been the special agent in charge of the Tampa office since October 2002 at a salary of $114,344. Abuse allegations in the high profile Terri Schiavo case were quashed in 2002 and again, and again—all while Newman and Jordan were in charge of the Tampa FDLE office but the new FDLE report indicates that it may not have been the FDLE who stymied any investigation into the case of the brain injured woman but most likely, as one FDLE agent has charged, Bernie McCabe.

In March, the FDLE issued a report concerning their internal probe of Jordan which concluded that Jordan had been “confrontational and abusive” in his dealings with Pinellas County prosecutors and sheriff’s officers. At issue was a verbal exchange between McCabe and Jordan at a shooting incident in St. Petersburg in December 2004 involving a state Alcohol, Beverage and Tobacco agent, when Jordan challenged the jurisdiction and involvement of the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department at the scene, allegedly pointing his finger at McCabe and yelling at him.

Pinellas sheriff’s deputies also complained that Jordan had used profanity and was disrespectful to them during a traffic stop of his daughter on June 24, 2004.

According to the FDLE report, the internal investigation against Jordan didn’t begin until more than three years after the traffic stop when Inspector Joseph Demma says he received on Oct. 5, 2007, a briefing regarding possible administrative violations by Jordan which alleged that Jordan utilized his position and FDLE status to affect the actions of other law enforcement officers concerning traffic stop encounters of his son, Brian, and various law enforcement officers.However, the report fails to mention anything about Jordan’s son.

The report, issued last month, says that the preliminary inquiry was terminated on Oct. 23, the day before Jordan’s leave began, and an official internal investigation was launched. According to a statement given by McCabe, the crux of the charges against Jordan involved a shooting by an off-duty Alcohol Beverage Tobacco agent in Pinellas County on Dec. 7, 2004.

According to the police report, during rush-hour traffic a male driver had sideswiped another vehicle, then left his car and walked away. As the man crossed the road, an off-duty Pinellas sheriff’s officer dressed in a PCSO T-shirt, tried to stop him. The man pulled a gun on the unarmed detention deputy, then tried to break into several cars in a parking lot. He then wandered in and out of traffic, waving his gun and pounding on passing cars.

David E. Merrill, 42, an off-duty state ABT agent was exiting the Wal-Mart parking lot with his family when he saw the gunman in traffic. He approached the man, armed with a handgun and ordered him to stop. Shots were exchanged and the gunman was shot in the chest by Merrill who was not injured. The man died shortly thereafter.

Some witnesses called the Pinellas County Sheriff’s office, others called the St. Petersburg Police Department and that’s where the dispute began.

In that ABT is a state agency, part of Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Jordan arrived on the scene and claimed jurisdiction for the FDLE.

McCabe as well as other representatives of the state attorney’s office including McCabe’s long-time compatriots, Bruce Bartlett and Robert Lewis, responded to the shooting scene. McCabe stated that he spoke with Cindy Sanz of the FDLE who was then Special Agent Supervisor, and informed her that the Sheriff’s Office had identified witnesses and that their forensic people had already taken care of the scene.

McCabe said a few minutes later Jordan, then an assistant special agent-in-charge, was highly agitated and the two subsequently argued. McCabe stated that in his view, ASAC Jordan was totally disrespectful to him in his position as the State Attorney of the 6th Circuit, claiming that Jordan pointed his finger at him “with an accompanying raised voice”.

Jordan did not give a statement during the investigation.

McCabe told FDLE investigators Jordan “tried to tell (McCabe) of some sort of agreement between the ABT and FDLE in that the FDLE would investigate any officer involved shooting involving one of their state officers. McCabe stated that he believes that he told ASAC Jordan “well, that is all fine and good, except this one is going to be done by our sheriff’s office and my office.”

McCabe told investigators that Jordan “was very rude and very disrespectful during the encounter”  He said he didn’t recall Jordan cursing at him.  However,  he stated that as an elected official in his circuit he was spoken to inappropriately.McCabe told Jordan that he was calling the shots but said Jordan wouldn’t take no for an answer. He said he was told that Jordan had contacted former FDLE commissioner Guy Tunnell in Tallahassee and McCabe claims that Tunnell told Jordan “basically told whatever the State Attorney wants is the way it is going to be”.

McCabe says that the chief investigator for his office, Doyle Jourdan, on his wasyhome from the scene, called Special Agent In-Charge Lance Newman and informed him of Jordan’s conduct.

McCabe says Newman wanted to meet with him and his chief investigator. This meeting occurred within the two weeks after the shooting and McCabe says he relayed to Newman in December 2004 essentially what was related in his statement given to FDLE investigators three years later in late 2007.

McCabe said that prior to his meeting with Newman, he had secured a copy of a Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office report from June 2004, involving a police pursuit and a collision with Jordan’s daughter. According to the sheriff’s report, the incident resulted in Jordan allegedly having a substantial altercation with sheriff’s deputies on the scene. McCabe said he wished to ensure that SAC Newman was also aware of this incident.

McCabe childishly told the FDLE investigators that he refused to have a working relationship with Jordan and said that he never had any case related work with Jordan before or since. According to the FDLE report, McCabe stated that “his relationship with FDLE is not affected, however, just does want to have anything to do with ASAC Jordan”.

The FDLE report gives a disturbing inside look of the actions of Bernie McCabe and how he runs the state attorney’s office. Most importantly, it gives a troubling look at the retaliatory nature and vindictiveness within the state attorney’s office.

McCabe’s chief investigator told the FDLE that as a matter of routine the State Attorney’s Office goes to all police shootings involving a death. In this instance the SAO was called to the scene immediately. McCabe, chief assistant Bartlett, assistant Lewis and Investigator Bob Engleke were on-scene. Homicide investigators from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and  personnel had secured and were processing the crime scene

Jourdan said that SAS Ray Velboom and SAS Cindy Sanz as well as several other FDLE agents were present on his arrival. He said the FDLE was under the assumption that they needed to take control of the investigation regarding the ABT Officer shooting. He said it was his understanding after speaking with Sanz and Velboom that the incident could be worked jointly but Jordan was “not happy with that”.

Jourdan stated that after speaking with FDLE personnel on the scene Jordan came up and met with McCabe. He says Jordan was pointing his finger at McCabe and “basically telling him that we (FDLE) were going to take charge of this investigation according to a memorandum of understanding and that was the way it was going to be. Mr. McCabe then explained to ASAC Jordan that it was not going to be like that and that the SAO was going to do their investigation as they always do”.

Jourdan told the FDLE that he was “embarrassed as to ASAC Jordan’s conduct. Chief Investigator Jourdan stated that he was dumbfounded that ASAC Jordan would speak to a State Attorney, an elected official, in that manner”. He said that on his way home he placed a telephone call to Newman, Jordan’s superior, and advised him “what had just occurred”. “Having grown up in FDLE, I was just a little bit ashamed of someone in Moses’ position to have been talking to a State Attorney like that”

Jourdan said that approximately a week after the incident Newman came to the state attorney’s office and met with McCabe and himself. He said that McCabe then went over the situation with Newman who said that he would get with Jourdan after he got the facts. But Jourdan was miffed that Newman never contacted him or McCabe again in regard to their complaints against Jordan.

“At one point in time since their meeting, Chief Investigator Jourdan called SAC Newman to inform him that Mr. McCabe was not real happy with ASAC Jordan. Jourdan stated that Mr. McCabe would have been willing to put this incident behind him and go about business had there been some acknowledgement or apology by ASAC Jordan for stepping over line”.

McCabe apparently carried the grudge for three years and when Jordan didn’t apologize, and perhaps another other incidents which have not been made public, McCabe went for the jugular and the jobs of both Jordan and Newman.

This revealing expose of the juvenile and oppressive way that McCabe controls the law enforcement agencies in Pinellas County including the FDLE gives an enlightened but troubling insight into how its possible and likely that efforts for criminal investigations, including into abuse allegations in the Terri Schindler Schiavo case, can be and are shut down, allegedly on orders of McCabe.

It was Newman and Jordan, along with special agent supervisor Norman T. Walker who were blamed for derailing a criminal investigation in the Schiavo case in 2003 after a special agent determined there was probable cause to believe criminal activity had occurred in the case. But another FDLE agent says he was told by McCabe to it shut it down.

Terri Schiavo sustained serious brain damage at age 26 in mysterious and suspicious circumstances following an incident at her home on Feb. 25, 1990, when presumably only her husband was present.

Michael Schiavo, while involved in an adulterous relationship, engaged in contentious courtroom proceedings with Terri’s parents for over seven years, from 1998 until her death by judicial order, trying to end his wife’s life.He succeeded and she died on March 31, 2005, 13 days after her feeding tube was removed and all food and water was withheld from her.

Criminal complaints in the Schiavo case were received by FDLE duty supervisor Mark Dubina in August, 2003, from St. Petersburg attorney Patricia Fields Anderson, then the lead attorney for Mary and Robert Schindler Sr., Terri’s parents. Anderson left the case in September, 2004 and was replaced by the Gibbs Firm of Seminole, Fla.

Reliable sources say that when special agent Dubina opened a file into the Schiavo case, he was called into his supervisor’s office and told to shut down the investigation not once, but twice. Was this a matter of jurisdiction too, that no one was going to usurp McCabe’s authority in Pinellas County and he had already decreed that no criminal investigation would be conducted?

In 1998, Dubina was promoted to Special Agent Supervisor and managed the Clearwater Field Office, before transferring to the Criminal Intelligence Squad. He supervised a variety of criminal cases, including domestic special interest groups and anti-government extremists.

Dubina supervised the planning and operation of dignitary protection details for the Governor of the State of Florida, the Governor’s family and other authorized dignitaries.

The North Country Gazette obtained copies of what FDLE special agent supervisor Norman T. Walker of the Clearwater FDLE field office claimed were “copies of all investigative reports authored by FDLE agents in the Schiavo case.

The reports indicate that Special Agent Terrell L. Rhodes of the Clearwater FDLE office opened a jacket (file) in the case on Aug. 10, 2003 but that the file was also closed out on Aug. 10, 2003—the same day—-as approved by Walker. According to the Aug. 10, 2003 report filed by Rhodes, the case pertained to a citizen reporting…evidence of a criminal complaint of assault and battery”.

http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/052806AnatomyCoverup.html http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2007/11/04/the-schiavo-shutdown/ 

http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/061506SpecialCircumstances.html

The undated final page of the unsigned FDLE report which contains no officer’s name consists only of a typed statement that “It should be noted that due to the length of time that Terri Schiavo has been in a non-responsive state (over 13 years) it would not be possible to prosecute Michael Schiavo of a crime if the allegation could be proven due to the statute of limitations of criminal proceedings under Florida State Statute 775.15″.

What the report fails to state is that there is no statute of limitations for homicide if the victim of the alleged abuse, assault and domestic violence dies.“

These findings were reviewed by Regional Director Lance Newman; Investigative Chief Moses Jordan, special agent supervisor (Norman) Troy Walker as well as SAS Dubina. A final decision was made that FDLE would not continue to investigate this allegation based on the previously stated information, but primarily due to the single jurisdictional issue that any criminal violation that might have occurred would have been within the City of St. Petersburg”, the Schiavo report said.

There’s that issue of jurisdiction again. In that the FDLE is a state agency, it has jurisdiction in ANY venue within the state.

But while the official report says that FDLE opted not to continue the investigation due to the statute of limitations, Dubina says that when he opened a criminal investigation into the Schiavo case, he was called into his supervisor’s office and told to shut down the investigation, not once—but twice—and that Newman and Jordan were involved in stifling any probe of the abuse allegations.Dubina also claims that McCabe is the person who shut down the investigation. According to NCG’s reliable sources, Dubina determined that there was probable cause to initiate an investigation in the area of fraud after he had conducted a preliminary investigation. He said that while the initial investigation would not have been enough to obtain an indictment of anyone at that stage, that in the past, the FDLE has opened a full-fledged criminal investigation with far less information than he had developed in the Schiavo case. He said that never in his many years of law enforcement had he ever been ordered to shut down an investigation.

There have been many other allegations of wrongdoing involving the FDLE under the direction of former commissioner Guy Tunnell and the former administration of Gov. Jeb Bush. Tunnell was forced to in April 2006 for his attempted cover-up in the boot camp death of black teen Martin Lee Anderson.

On Oct. 23, the day before FDLE opened their “official internal investigation” concerning Jordan and Jordan was placed on administrative leave, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida and acting assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed that a federal investigation is ongoing into the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson at a Bay County boot camp for juvenile offenders in January 2006.

http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2007/11/30/sudden-retirement-of-ex-fdle-commissioner-suspect/

Tunnell made no public comment about his retirement and there has been no explanation for his sudden exodus from public office. His sudden departure raised eyebrows in many arenas, especially since he retired six months early and at a loss of over $18,000 in retirement funds.  He wasn’t due to retire until early this summer and would have received a retirement payment of $535,163.

The North Country Gazette learned in March, 2005, a short time before Terri’s untimely death, that Dubina and another FDLE agent had stated that if they were served with subpoenas ordering them to give the information known to them regarding alleged corruption and collusion in the Schiavo case, including the alleged obstructionist tactics employed by McCabe, that they would inform the Court about the order which stifled their attempted investigation in 2003.

According to informed sources, Dubina had reportedly given a statement about the case to the Schindler family attorneys after Patricia Anderson left the case but reportedly the document was not presented to the court.

In addition to the well-documented complaint in the case submitted by Anderson to the FDLE in 2003, a complaint had also been presented to the McCabe’s office in 2003 with over 20 pages of supporting documentation verifying the need for an investigation. Assistant attorney general Robert Lewis, a contributor to the reelection campaign of Schiavo judge George Greer, claimed there were no crimes to investigate in the Schiavo case.

No subpoena was issued for Dubina and Rhodes so they could testify in court, without fear of retaliation and losing their jobs, that they had determined there was sufficient probable cause that crimes had been committed in the Schiavo case. Such information may have been enough in March 2005 for a court-ordered injunction to immediately reinsert the feeding tube of Terri Schiavo—-and that’s likely why they were never subpoenaed and the truth was stifled.

Allegations of Medicaid and Medicare fraud also surfaced in the Schiavo case as well as multiple violations of guardianship laws including the financial accountings of the monies awarded to Terri in the malpractice settlement. As a certified fraud examiner, Dubina had reportedly determined that fraud had been committed in the Schiavo case.

It was learned after Terri’s death that massive records of the Department of Health were scuttled and matters involving alleged abuse were not referred for criminal investigation as required, reportedly including complaints pertaining to the Schiavo case.

With the DOH scandal still smoldering and proof that vital records pertaining to the Schiavo case were destroyed and that other substantiated complaints in the case may have been swept under the rug in a massive cover-up, Terri’s advocates demanded that McCabe open a criminal investigation into the matter or else potentially face his own charges of alleged malfeasance and misconduct in office. http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/031606NoProbableCause.html

Undetered, McCabe refused again. One domino—that’s all it takes. Once one person involved in the Schiavo case comes forth, the cover-up will begin to unravel. United they stand, divided they will fall.

Piece by piece by piece over the months, the puzzle is coming together. When the first domino falls, the Schiavo charade will be unveiled. It’s getting closer with each passing day. Who knows, maybe Moses Jordan will be that first domino.

There have been numerous documented cover-ups in the Schiavo case. It appears Michael Schiavo has been given carte blanche to do whatever he wishes to do without fear of prosecution—total immunity.

He’s violated court orders, he’s made false written statements, he’s given perjured testimony of material facts-that’s all been established. There’s documented evidence that Michael Schiavo intentionally refused to cooperate with an investigation initiated by the Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities, there’s proof that supervisors in Florida’s Department of Children and Families refused to let investigations of alleged abuse, neglect and exploitation in the Schiavo case go forward well before the spring of 2005.

The nation’s conscience was shocked when it was revealed that North Carolina prosecutor Mike Nifong had withheld crucial DNA evidence in the rape case involving three Duke University lacrosse players which would have exonerated the athletes. Nifong was eventually prosecuted, removed from office and disbarred for prosecutorial misconduct and violating the civil rights of the athletes. It’s now been determined that 17 people who were convicted during Henry Wade’s tenure as Dallas district Attorney have been proven innocent and Project Innocence Texas is studying 200 other cases. “Convict at all cost”, was his battle cry when in office, exculpatory evidence was withheld from the defense and alternate suspects were not considered once a suspect was identified.

There’s a growing and troubling amount of alleged abuse of office by Pinellas-Pasco state attorney Bernie McCabe, shielding police officers from prosecution in wrongful deaths, refusing to bring charges in politically sensitive cases, wrongfully determining some cases as suicides when clear cut evidence exists a victim was shot by an officer’s gun; refusing to bring manslaughter charges in boating deaths.

Black’s Law dictionary defines obstruction of justice simply as any “interference with the orderly administration of law and justice”. Prosecutors and attorneys general commit obstruction of justice when they fail to prosecute judges and other government officials for malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance in office.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34303.pdf

Obstruction of justice is the frustration of governmental purposes by violence, corruption, destruction of evidence or deceit.

The seems to exist sufficient probable cause for a federal investigation to be launched into the office of the Pinellas-Pasco state attorney and in particular, Bernie McCabe, for possible obstruction of justice, not just an abuse of discretion, in McCabe’s handling of many cases.

The state attorney’s office wouldn’t be able to control jurisdiction in any investigation of their own office or McCabe. That’s a federal jurisdiction and just to insure that McCabe doesn’t have any puppets with local federal prosecutors or law enforcement, perhaps an outside special prosecutor should be appointed.P

ower corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The North Country Gazette is continuing to delve into the operations of McCabe’s office, his refusal to bring charges against police officers and in particular, his refusal to bring charges in the boating deaths involving Jimmy Spicer and Joey Turner.

Anyone with information regarding any of the above cases, Bernie McCabe and the operations of the Pinellas County state attorney’s office is asked to contact NCG at news@northcountrygazette.org  

Anyone who wishes to help defray the costs which will be associated with this special report or who wish to support the efforts of NCG may do so by using the PayPal button on the home page, www.northcountrygazette.org 5-8-08 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This article may not be reprinted or reproduced in its entirety without the express written permission of The North Country Gazette.

Category: Courts, Crime, Florida, Government, Opinion, Police, Politics, Schiavo

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