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FDLE: No crimes, Sunshine Law violations

FDLE: No crimes, Sunshine Law violations

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Community News, Manatee County.

Updated March 22, 2021 at 5:22 p.m. – MANATEE COUNTY – A Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) investigation found no evidence that four Manatee County commissioners committed crimes or violated the Sunshine Law.

“In December, the state attorney for the 12th Judicial Circuit requested FDLE’s assistance with reviewing a citizen complaint concerning allegations of Sunshine Law violations and possibly other law violations by several Manatee County commissioners. FDLE agents met with the complainant who alleged that Manatee County Commissioners James Satcher, George Kruse, Vanessa Baugh and Kevin Van Ostenbridge conspired to reverse a controversial land purchase and to fire the Manatee County administrator,” according to the case summary that FDLE spokesperson Jeremy Burns provided on Friday, March 19.

“FDLE initiated a preliminary inquiry to determine if any criminal violations occurred. After the review of records provided by the complainant and conducting several interviews, there was no information obtained to substantiate that a criminal violation occurred,” according to the FDLE case summary.

According to Burns, FDLE considers the investigation closed.

The investigation was conducted in response to a complaint filed by paralegal Michael Barfield.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed. It seems the standard in this jurisdiction requires a confession before a Sunshine Law violation is charged,” Barfield said when contacted Friday afternoon. “We will look at the preliminary investigation FDLE conducted. I don’t believe they conducted a full investigation. My understanding is they didn’t even interview Mr. Van Ostenbridge.”

Van Ostenbridge, Satcher and Baugh are still named as defendants in a related civil lawsuit that Barfield filed in early December regarding the commissioners’ compliance with the Public Records Act and the public records he requested of them and Kruse in late November.

Barfield said the FDLE findings have no impact on the civil case.

“In a criminal investigation, you have to prove that there was a criminal intent to violate the law and the burden of proof is ‘beyond a reasonable doubt.’ Fortunately, a civil process does not require any intent. The standard of proof is much lower, and the judge makes that determination,” Barfield said.

Van Ostenbridge deposed

As part of the ongoing civil proceedings, Barfield deposed Van Ostenbridge under oath on March 12. Barfield said Van Ostenbridge did not invoke his Fifth Amendment rights or refuse to answer the questions posed to him – as was previously suggested in a motion that attorney Morgan Bentley filed on Van Ostenbridge’s behalf.

FDLE: No crimes, Sunshine Law violations
County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge has been deposed under oath regarding the still pending civil case. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

“We took Commissioner Van Ostenbridge’s deposition, and I am still waiting for additional records to be produced that I’ve been promised. There wasn’t anything terribly new in the deposition in terms of what we didn’t already know, but Mr. Van Ostenbridge did say he made the decision to terminate Cheri Coryea before he was sworn in on Nov. 17. He said he made that decision sometime between the 11th and the 13th of November,” Barfield said.

At the request of Bentley, the media was excluded from attending Van Ostenbridge’s deposition. Barfield said he will order and later place in the court records a copy of the verbatim transcript being prepared by the court reporter tasked with producing the official record of the deposition.

Barfield said he previously obtained email records that show Baugh, on Oct. 28, sent Van Ostenbridge, Kruse and Satcher a copy of then-County Administrator Cheri Coryea’s employment contract. Barfield said the emails containing Coryea’s contract included no additional comments from Baugh. The commissioners were subject to the Government in the Sunshine Law after being elected Nov. 3.

Barfield said he’s also still waiting on additional records to be produced by Baugh and Satcher.

“After I reach the point in time when I feel confident there’s no other records to recover, we’ll have time to review everything,” he said.

Additional investigations

The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office has not yet released any findings in a separate criminal investigation conducted in response to a criminal complaint Barfield filed regarding Baugh’s involvement in the pop-up vaccine distribution site she helped establish in her Lakewood Ranch district in February.

Baugh is also the subject of an unresolved ethics complaint that attorney Jennifer Hamey filed regarding the Lakewood Ranch vaccination site.

Officials lukewarm on new evidence

Officials lukewarm on new evidence   

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Featured.

BRADENTON BEACH – Kelly Osborn’s claims that her daughter did not commit suicide and was murdered – possibly by her fiancé – are unlikely to be revisited, according to local officials.

Osborn has released a report by her private investigative team, Pensacola-based Forensic Pieces, concluding that photos of Sheena Morris taken after her 2009 death in a hotel room indicate that she was placed in a chair after she died, then hung in a shower from her dog’s leash in a staged suicide.

Marks on her lower back match the pattern in a wicker chair visible in a photo of the hotel room taken after her death, according to investigator Jan Johnson, who said the marks were caused by lividity, a process in which blood pools in the body after the heart stops pumping at death.

The 12th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office forwarded the report to the Bradenton Beach Police Department (BBPD) and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) for review, Assistant State Attorney Art Brown said.

“Any investigation that they do, we will review,” he said.

“I didn’t see anything new,” said BBPD Det. Sgt. Len Diaz, who investigated the case in 2009, determining that Morris’ death was a suicide.

“I agree with Dr. Vega,” the District 12 medical examiner, he said, adding that he does not plan to reinvestigate the case based on the photograph.

“You can look at a picture like you look at a cloud and see a puppy,” he said.

Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Russell Vega’s office is not reconsidering the case either, a spokeswoman said.

The marks were not detected in the autopsy, according to Vega’s written response to the report, which notes the marks were likely made by seams and creases in Morris’ clothing, not the chair.

“In the photo of interest, the elastic waistband pattern is crisp and clear and appropriately positioned to have developed while the body was hanging in the shower,” the report states, noting that photos of her sweatshirt and undershirt are not available for comparison to the marks.

The report also notes that the photo of the chair and Morris’ back were taken from different angles, and “the difference in perspective of the photos only serves to exclude the chair as having caused the lividity pattern.

“In summary, we strongly disagree with the conclusions that, based on the lividity pattern, either 1) the pattern must have been caused by the chair; 2) the body must have been moved to the hanging position after the pattern developed, or 3) both.”

“It’s right there in front of everyone’s eyes and they’re turning a blind eye,” Osborn said. “It’s devastating.”

But she does not intend to give up, she said.

“There’s no way they’re going to keep shutting me down. Come hell or high water, I will make sure it goes to a grand jury,” Osborn said, “even if I have to get a statewide prosecutor.”

The FDLE did not return calls seeking comment.

Morris, 22, was found dead by police on Jan. 1, 2009 after BridgeWalk hotel staff heard dogs barking and called for assistance in evicting her.

Police had been called to the hotel about 12 hours earlier after an argument between Morris and her fiancé, Joseph Genoese, who left before police arrived.

He was not charged with any crime, and has repeatedly denied any involvement in Morris’ death.

Related coverage

New evidence in Morris case may point to murder

License plate readers coming to Holmes Beach

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – It’s official, a five-camera license plate recognition system is coming to the city, costing $105,240 for 5 years, not including $40 per month for wireless internet service to each camera.

Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer presented the quote for the system from Vetted Security Solutions LLC out of St. Petersburg for the Vigilant camera system. Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the project but also said that outside of the monthly charge for wireless internet access, any costs over the $105,240 will have to come back before commissioners for approval. The approved agreements include the purchase and installation of the cameras and related system, software to run it and five years of maintenance for the entire system.

Commissioners also voted unanimously to approve a LPR system user agreement with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that Tokajer will have to bring back before them annually for approval. The user agreement allows FDLE to access the LPR system’s records with cause in the event of a crime taking place on the Island or officers believing a suspect may have been on the Island before or after the crime was committed.

The LPR system reads everyone’s license plates, but it only sends an alert to officers in certain situations, such as a suspended driver’s license, the registration is more than a month or so out of date, the vehicle is stolen, or the owner has an outstanding warrant. Tokajer said police also will be able to pull the recordings from certain time periods to help solve crimes that occur on the Island.

“It’s a beneficial tool for law enforcement,” he said. “This system brings us up to date with current technology.”

Commissioner Jim Kihm said he would like to see reports regularly that show commissioners how the system is being used by police and how it’s helping to reduce crime in Holmes Beach.