MEDIA ARTICLE: Years into investigation of Margate girl’s abuse, fifth adult to face charges (Sun Sentinel, 8-28-26)

 Years into investigation of Margate girl’s abuse, fifth adult to face charges

Denaria Graham, 24, was arrested Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026, on charges of aggravated child abuse, child neglect and failure to report child abuse. (Broward Sheriff’s Office/Courtesy)

By Angie DiMichele | adimichele@sunsentinel.com | South Florida Sun Sentinel

PUBLISHED: August 28, 2026 at 10:00 AM EDT | UPDATED: August 28, 2026 at 3:11 PM EDT

A fifth person accused in the years-long abuse of a girl in Margate turned herself into jail Wednesday to face charges stemming from the investigation that began two years ago, police said.

The abuse came to light in 2023 after the girl messaged her online teacher asking for help because one of her legal guardians punched her in the head, according to a probable cause affidavit. The investigation that ensued found the girl had endured horrific “forms of punishment” for years, leading to the arrest of her two legal guardians, who are her family members, and three other women who allegedly participated in or knew of the abuse of that began when the girl was age 11 in 2019.

Those facing charges are: Latricia Crawley, 49; Benjamin Lockett, 46; Shankyria Clayton, 23; Treaunshae Gibbons, 32; and, as of this week, Denaria Graham, 24.

An amended charging document filed by the State Attorney’s Office earlier this year said the girl had been tortured, punished, caged and battered between 2019 and October 2023. She had been locked inside of closets and tied to furniture; hit with belts, extension cords and metal pipes; and bound with zip ties or rope on her hands and feet.

When police were called to the Margate home in October 2023, they found the girl had “evidence of significant long-term trauma” on her body, according to the probable cause affidavit for Crawley’s arrest. The girl told officers that, over the 10 years she lived with Crawley and Lockett, she would be locked inside of a closet, where she slept and was given a bucket to use as a toilet.

Crawley also allegedly tied the girl to a pole and hit her toes with a hammer, threw boiling water on her, held her head under water, forced her to stand for extended periods of time by tying her hair to a clothing rack, pierced her back with a staple gun, among other forms of punishment, according to the state’s charging document.

Crawley has pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated child abuse and child neglect.

Lockett, who is Crawley’s husband, has been accused of kicking the girl in her chin, leaving a permanent scar; hitting and punching her; and placing his hands around her neck, according to court records. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated child abuse, child abuse and child neglect.

Treaunshae Gibbons, top left; Shankyria Clayton, top right; Bejamin Lockett, bottom left; and Latricia Crawley, bottom right. They are each facing charges related to the alleged abuse or failing to report the alleged abuse of a 15-year-old Margate girl. (Courtesy/Broward Sheriff's Office)

Clayton allegedly participated in locking the girl inside of closets in the home without access to food and water and in neglecting the girl, the charging document showed. While living in the same house as the girl, Clayton never reported the abuse to the Department of Children and Families, which is required by state law.

Clayton has pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated child abuse, child neglect and failure to report child abuse.

Gibbons, whose mother is Crawley, also lived at the home between 2015 and 2019 while the girl was being abused, a probable cause affidavit for her arrest said. She worked for Kids in Distress beginning in November 2020 — a nonprofit based in Wilton Manors that aims to prevent child abuse and provides services for victims of abuse and families.

She noted in her job application for the nonprofit that she had over a year of experience as a case manager for Children’s Home Society and ChildNet, the lead child welfare agency in Broward and Palm Beach County, according to the affidavit. Gibbons was fired from the organization for violating policy related to reporting abuse, the South Florida Sun Sentinel previously reported.

She has pleaded not guilty to one count of failure to report child abuse.

Graham is accused of participating in locking the girl in the closet and in neglecting her, the charging document showed. She also lived in the home and knew or suspected the girl was being abused but failed to report it.

She was held in the North Broward Bureau as of Friday on charges of aggravated child abuse, child neglect and failure to report child abuse. A Margate Police spokesperson said in an email that she turned herself in to the jail on Wednesday.

Graham’s arraignment is scheduled for Monday. She has not yet entered a plea to the charges.

All of the defendants will be tried together, court records show.

The alleged victim, then age 17, filed a lawsuit last year against Childnet, alleging the agency put her in an abusive home without properly vetting the guardians.

The lawsuit, in part, identifies two members of Crawley’s family as people who allegedly sexually abused her, though neither has been criminally charged, the Sun Sentinel previously reported. One is a man who is a registered sex offender and who lived in the home with the girl.

Childnet in its response to the lawsuit denied all allegations and said, in part, that the agency could not be held liable for the actions of her legal guardians.

Co-defendant in the lawsuit are the Partnership for Community Health, The Children’s Place at Home Safe, Inc. and the Broward Sheriff’s Office, court records show.

Attorneys representing the Sheriff’s Office in its response to the lawsuit denied all allegations of negligence against the agency and said, in part, that the agency enjoys sovereign immunity and is immune from the lawsuit.

The Children’s Place at Home Safe, Inc. denied all allegations and argued as a defense, in part, that the organization is not liable for any alleged damages that resulted from other parties and that any damages arose from the girl’s “own negligence and/or actions,” according to their response to the lawsuit.

Attorneys for Partnership for Community Health in their response denied all allegations and, in part, argued that the girl was responsible for any injuries and damages through her own “negligence and carelessness.” The girl had run away from a group home run by the company for children in the foster system and “willing exposed herself to potential and actual harm,” the response said.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2026/08/28/years-into-investigation-of-margate-girls-abuse-fifth-adult-to-face-charges/?lctg=E4BB6471B5A4C4E8D5E29509E9&utm_email=E4BB6471B5A4C4E8D5E29509E9&active=yesP&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=https%3a%2f%2fwww.sun-sentinel.com%2f2026%2f08%2f28%2fyears-into-investigation-of-margate-girls-abuse-fifth-adult-to-face-charges%2f&utm_campaign=trib-sun_sentinel-breaking_news-nl&utm_content=alert

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MEDIA ARTICLE: Child sex abuse allegations went nowhere years before Mike Caruso arrest. It happens all the time. (Sun Sentinel, 8-27-26)

 

Palm Beach County Clerk of Courts Mike Caruso appears for his Aug. 20 arraignment at the Orange County Jail in Orlando, with his attorney Jason Weiss. Caruso is charged with five felony counts related to sexual abuse of a child and was denied bond in the hearing. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

Child sex abuse allegations went nowhere years before Mike Caruso arrest. It happens all the time

By Shira Moolten | smoolten@sunsentinel.com | South Florida Sun Sentinel

PUBLISHED: August 27, 2026 at 7:00 AM EDT

Months before police arrested embattled public official Mike Caruso on child sexual abuse charges, a different child sexual abuse case wound its way through Florida’s court system.

An Orlando mother hoped that system would protect her two daughters after they divulged horrific details about their father’s sexual abuse last year.

The girls, ages 5 and 7, spoke directly to the Florida Department of Children and Families, which found that one of them was sexually abused. Their therapist had testified that they had shown classic symptoms of trauma, such as nightmares, and should have no contact with their father. Detectives began investigating the claims. But instead of keeping the girls away from the man they accused of repeatedly assaulted them, a family court judge gave him full custody in May, and prosecutors declined to pursue criminal charges. DCF refused to investigate additional abuse allegations.

The mother, whom the South Florida Sun Sentinel is not identifying, has not seen her daughters in months. Her experience highlights a deeply entrenched pattern in the family court system in Florida and throughout the country: The existence of an active custody dispute drastically reduces the chance that a parent or child will be believed when they report sexual abuse, legal experts say.

It is the same systemic blind spot currently dominating headlines following the arrest on Aug. 18 of Caruso, the now-suspended clerk of the Palm Beach County courts.

Caruso is facing child sex abuse charges, prompting an outpouring of questions about how he managed to attain a high-level public office — especially given that accusations of him sexually abusing a child had emerged more than a decade earlier during his divorce from his former wife. DCF had investigated a sexual abuse claim about Caruso in 2012, according to a police report, though authorities concluded it was unfounded. Still other claims, including that Caruso had physically abused one of his children, had emerged as far back as 2001, according to a Delray Beach Police report, also determined unfounded. Since the arrest, Gov. Ron DeSantis has said twice in public forums that Caruso had a “clean vet” when asked about his history.

But the fact that Caruso went years without facing criminal charges — while maintaining custody of his children — is not a surprise, according to attorneys, family court researchers and parents who say they have had similar experiences. Only a small percentage of all child sexual abuse reports turn into prosecutions, studies show, and custody disputes add layers of confusion that make it even more difficult for police to investigate. Meanwhile, those within the family court system regularly dismiss the allegations, often going as far as to remove custody from the parent bringing them forward and giving full custody to the accused parent instead. The pattern is so entrenched that family attorneys often advise clients not to mention sexual abuse during divorce or custody proceedings, even if there is evidence.

“If it’s in a divorce or custody case, nobody believes it, even if there is proof,” said Susan Brown, a family attorney based in Plantation. “Usually the only proof is the child’s statements.”

A spokesperson for Caruso told the Sun Sentinel in an email that “Mike emphatically maintains his innocence of the current charges.”

“As to the prior allegations you reference, none of them resulted even in a finding of probable cause that Mike had committed wrongdoing,” he said. “I think that is important context when presenting allegations from different periods together as though their repetition establishes a pattern.”

‘The Wife is intentionally alienating the minor children’

Like many people accused of sexual abuse, Caruso repeatedly argued that his former wife was inventing the allegations against him and engaging in a behavior called parental alienation, according to police reports and court records.

In December 2012, DCF began investigating Caruso after receiving an anonymous call stating that he had been molesting and sharing a bed with the child, according to a Delray Beach police report. The anonymous caller also said that “the suspect had sexually abused another [redacted] in the past.”

Caruso was “distraught” and in “disbelief” over the allegations, according to the report.

“The suspect and [redacted] are currently going through a [redacted],” the report states. Investigators spoke with the child’s mother, who denied hearing about any sexual abuse of her child. The investigation was closed as unfounded due to the fact that there were no witnesses and the alleged victim did not say Caruso had sexually abused him.

Weeks later, Caruso filed a motion accusing his former wife of inventing sexual abuse allegations about him.

“The Wife has intentionally orchestrated and caused a false sexual abuse case to be filed and pursued against the Husband, accusing him of sexually abusing the parties’ minor son,” reads a motion filed by Caruso’s attorneys in his divorce case. “The Wife has full and complete knowledge that the allegations are not true. The Husband has been unable to see his son since the false sexual abuse report. In addition, the Wife is intentionally alienating the minor children and all of their other children.”

The couple has seven children, five of whom were adults at the time.

Though Caruso’s wife had sought to have majority custody initially, the parents ended up splitting custody of the two minor children equally.

In a probable cause affidavit released last week, when Caruso was confronted with the new allegations regarding a different family member that led to his arrest, he continued to suggest that the sexual abuse was a lie propagated by his former wife, characterizing her “as evil and as having possibly fabricated the allegations in an effort to poison the child against him.”

Parental alienation, or the undermining of a relationship between a parent and a child, is commonly cited in response to sexual and physical abuse allegations during custody battles. The theory first emerged directly as a response to claims of sexual abuse in the 1980s. Psychologist Richard Gardner coined the term Parental Alienation Syndrome, claiming that parents — particularly mothers — were regularly accusing their children’s fathers of sexual abuse in order to turn the children against their fathers and win custody. Gardner believed that 90% of children in custody cases suffered from the “syndrome.” He had stated in writings that sexual activity between children and adults is an “ancient tradition” and that Western society is “excessively punitive” towards pedophilia. In response to criticism, Gardner vehemently denied being sympathetic to pedophiles.

Gardner died by suicide in 2003. Since his death, the syndrome has been widely discredited. But his research has continued to influence the court system, where parents who allege abuse are often not believed due to parental alienation claims, according to advocates and attorneys.

The concept of parental alienation — separate from the syndrome — remains controversial in the research community, but is widely considered legitimate in family court. And it is still closely linked to child sexual abuse.

Judges are less likely to believe sexual abuse claims than claims of intimate partner violence or physical child abuse, despite the fact that researchers have found that roughly two-thirds of child sexual abuse claims are credible, according to Joan Meier, a professor at George Washington University Law School who runs the National Family Violence Law Center. In a study she conducted of family court outcomes in 2019, Meier found that courts rejected 85% of child sexual abuse claims, a pattern largely driven by arguments of parental alienation and the “stereotype of the vengeful ex-wife.”

“Courts don’t want to believe sexual abuse,” Meier said. “Alienation fuels that denial.”

Children are particularly vulnerable when they come forward about sexual abuse, Meier said, because adults generally find them less believable. Family court professionals or law enforcement might be more quick to assume the abuse allegations are the product of another parent’s influence or the child’s imagination.

Some of this skepticism is legitimate because false child sexual abuse allegations do emerge most often during custody disputes, according to family attorneys and psychologists who study child sexual abuse.

“When we know there are false allegations, the majority of them do happen in context of custody disputes,” said Elizabeth Jeglic, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice who studies sexual abuse. “But it’s not the child that makes allegations, it’s one parent or the other.”

Brown, the attorney, said that she has personally represented clients who she believes were falsely accused.

Police unlikely to pursue

Prosecutors and police are already more reticent to pursue sexual abuse cases due to the lack of witnesses and evidence, legal experts say. When those allegations emerge during a contentious custody battle, those within the justice system are even less likely to pursue them.

After the Orlando mother separated from the girls’ father, the children began splitting their time between the two parents. That was when they began telling their mother stories of what their father would do to them when they were in his care, according to DCF reports and court records. He would sexually abuse the girls and, among other allegations, tell the older daughter that she was his “wife” and her younger sister was their baby, the older daughter told investigators, according to a DCF report. The girls described severe abuse during forensic interviews with child services investigators. A 2025 DCF report concluded that there were “positive findings” of sexual abuse of one of the girls.

But the father told investigators that their daughters had been “coached” by their mother into making the allegations. A judge agreed, then sent the two girls to live with their father full time. Deputies with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office had also investigated the claims and sent the case to the State Attorney’s Office, which declined to pursue charges.

In an email in June, the chief of the Sex Crimes Unit told the mother that prosecutors could not proceed due to a lack of “quality, consistent and credible evidence.”

“I understand that you are disappointed in the State Attorney’s Office decision to not proceed in this case,” he wrote. “The family court system will continue to set the parameters of your shared parenting moving forward and will determine what is in the continuing best interest for you and your children.”

In response to questions about the office’s decision not to pursue the case, State Attorney Monique Worrell told the Sun Sentinel in a statement that “cases involving allegations of sexual abuse of a child are among the most difficult and sensitive cases a prosecutor can handle. We have a responsibility to protect children and pursue justice, but we must also ensure that every prosecution is based on reliable, admissible evidence and not assumptions or allegations alone. These cases can become especially challenging when there are concerns about a child being coached, influenced, or otherwise exposed to conflicting narratives. Our prosecutors must carefully evaluate the totality of the evidence, follow the law, and make decisions that protect the integrity of the justice system while keeping the best interests of the child at the forefront.”

The mother is not the only Florida parent to lose custody after alleging sexual abuse. In 2022, a Broward mother began fighting for custody after fleeing her former boyfriend, taking their daughter with her to another state where her parents reside. He was controlling and abusive throughout their relationship, she said in court records and to the Sun Sentinel. Toward the end of their relationship, she said, she discovered he had been sexually abusing their 4-year-old daughter as well. The Sun Sentinel is not identifying the mother.

Child services investigators in the other state forensically interviewed the daughter, at which point the girl described being sexually abused. Investigators concluded that findings of sexual abuse, physical abuse and neglect were all “indicated,” according to a 2024 child services report.

The reported abuse had taken place in Broward County, where a detective with the Broward Sheriff’s Office had also been assigned to investigate.

The Sheriff’s Office sent the case to the State Attorney’s Office, but the father was never arrested or criminally charged. In a memo explaining the decision not to pursue charges, prosecutors wrote that what the girl was describing took place when her father was helping her go to the bathroom and “does not amount to a crime.” The father’s attorney had also emailed the BSO detective, telling him that the mother “has fabricated this case to use during her contentious child custody case or to cause harm to the Subject.”

Last year, a court-appointed psychologist who evaluated the family determined that the mother was manipulative and dishonest, according to court records. A Broward family court judge gave the father full custody, concluding that the mother had alienated the daughter and convinced her that she was sexually abused.

The mother can now see her daughter only during supervised visits at a visitation center, which cost her over $3,000 a month, more than her own salary.

“I can’t even afford to see my kid,” she told the Sun Sentinel.

Still, she does not regret bringing forward the sexual abuse claims.

“Everyone was like, ‘you are going to lose your kid if you say anything,'” she said. “I was like, ‘I know what’s right.’ I would be not doing the right thing if I didn’t say anything. As a parent you’re supposed to put your child first.”

If a family or dependency court has already rejected claims of child sexual abuse, the chances of criminal charges are exceedingly low, according to Danielle Pollack, a policy manager at the National Family Violence Law Center who has worked with Meier.

“If you can’t prove it in dependency court and you can’t prove it in family court, the likelihood that a prosecutor’s going to take it up and really think that they’re going to win the case with the highest burden of proof in the criminal court is even less likely,” Pollack said.

The number of child sexual abuse cases drops off at each stage of the criminal justice system, from investigation, to prosecution, to trial, said Jeglic, the professor, something known as a “funnel” effect. And that’s taking into account only the cases that reach law enforcement in the first place; research suggests that only 5% to 13% of child sexual abuse instances are reported to law enforcement.

Caruso was investigated by DCF and Delray Beach Police at least twice: in 2001 over allegations that he physically abused his son, according to a police report, and again in 2012, over the claims that he had sexually abused one of his children. Both times, officers determined the allegations to be unfounded. Such an outcome is common for child abuse investigations, experts say.

Meanwhile, parents in the middle of a divorce or custody battle are often discouraged from going to police with allegations in the first place due to concerns that they will lose their children, legal experts say.

Brown told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that she had a client who discovered sexual abuse allegations against the father of their young daughter well into her custody case in Palm Beach County. But by that point, Brown said, the judge had already determined that the mother was an “alienator.”

“I begged her not to bring it up until the case was over because I thought it would result in the judge ruling against her,” Brown said. “… I asked her to focus on non-sexual abuse allegations. Because they never believe you; they put on the alienator hat, and I’ve seen people lose their children for allegations that they made false sexual abuse claims.”

But the majority of sexual abuse takes place within families, experts say, and parents who become aware of such abuse often leave or file for divorce, meaning that allegations frequently come to light only during a family court dispute.

Adriana Alcalde, a former Broward prosecutor who now represents victims of sexual violence, said she regularly took on sexual abuse cases where the accusations emerged during a divorce. She recalled winning one such trial early in her career. As is often the case, the only witness was the child.

“People told me I shouldn’t go forward,” Alcalde told the Sun Sentinel, because it was an “impossible case.” But the defendant ended up making an admission while on the stand and is now serving life in prison.

Alcalde thinks prosecutors should be more open to taking on sex abuse cases. During trials, they should seek to place the focus on the children, she said, and, if possible, let them testify against their abusers. Law enforcement should also have a better system in place to keep track of patterns of abuse, Alcalde said, even if each isolated report is closed as unfounded. Detectives could make it a point to follow up with children again after a few years have passed, sometimes once they have become adults, when they might be more open to speaking.

“They can articulate more what happened to them,” Alcalde said. “When you revisit, reopen, now you have a better case. I can’t tell you how many times I had cases with adults who were like, ‘This is what happened to me as a child and no one believed me.’ That’s the standard, is to not believe them.”

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2026/08/27/child-sex-abuse-allegations-went-nowhere-years-before-mike-caruso-arrest-it-happens-all-the-time/?lctg=E4BB6471B5A4C4E8D5E29509E9&utm_email=E4BB6471B5A4C4E8D5E29509E9&active=yesP&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=https%3a%2f%2fwww.sun-sentinel.com%2f2026%2f08%2f27%2fchild-sex-abuse-allegations-went-nowhere-years-before-mike-caruso-arrest-it-happens-all-the-time%2f&utm_campaign=trib-sun_sentinel-breaking_news-nl&utm_content=alert

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MEDIA ARTICLE: Judge Stefanie Moon suspended, fined for Code of Judicial Conduct violations (7-18-25, Florida Bar News)

 Judge Stefanie Moon suspended, fined for Code of Judicial Conduct violations

Jul 18, 2025 By Mark D. Killian Editor Top Stories

The Florida Supreme Court has ordered 17th Circuit Judge Stefanie C. Moon to be suspended, fined, and to appear before the court for a public reprimand for violations involving inappropriate campaign activity, prohibited ex parte communication, and prohibited political contributions.

The court acted unanimously July 17 in Case No. SC2025-0071.

“Our Court does not often come upon a judicial discipline case in which a single judge has violated the Code of Judicial Conduct in such distinct ways in wholly unrelated incidents,” the court said. “Judge Moon’s conduct is unacceptable especially given that the [Judicial Qualifications] Commission had already cautioned her in 2019 for improper campaign activities. Nonetheless the Commission’s recommended discipline in this matter credits Judge Moon for cooperation, remorse, and acceptance of responsibility.”

The court went on to say that while it defers to the JQC’s assessment of Moon’s contrition, “We stress that the Court cannot tolerate any further misconduct by Judge Moon.”

Judge Moon admitted to Code of Judicial Conduct violations, and the JQC and Moon agreed that she should be suspended for 10 days without pay, fined $2,115, and be publicly reprimanded.

The stipulation resolves three JQC cases against Judge Moon. She admits that, from the bench and while wearing her robe, she asked an attorney why he had not returned her call about serving on her re-election committee; that she engaged in ex parte communication with the mental health therapist of a party in a divorce case pending before her; and that between 2020 and 2024, she made financial contributions totaling approximately $2,000 to political organizations and candidates, including ActBlue and the campaign funds of President Biden and Vice President Harris.

Judge Moon’s conduct implicates multiple provisions of the Code of Judicial Conduct, the court said.

“Judges must always act in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary,” the court said, noting that except in limited circumstances, judges may not engage in communication about a pending or impending proceeding outside the presence of the parties and judges may not make financial contributions to political organizations or candidates.

“Judge Moon’s acknowledgement that she has violated these canons is amply supported by the record,” the court said.

The court said the 10-day suspension without pay is effective on a date within 30 days of the issuance of the opinion, as determined by the chief judge of the 17th Judicial Circuit. The $2,115.40 fine equals the amount of her improper political contributions.

https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-news/judge-stefanie-moon-suspended-fined-for-code-of-judicial-conduct-violations/

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MEDIA ARTICLE: Florida DOGE orders Broward Sheriff Tony to turn over financial records; Tony tells staff he complied (FloridaBulldog.org, 6-13-26)

 

The Broward Sheriff’s Office’s controversial Regional Training and Development Center, which figures prominently in the Florida DOGE task force’s demands for financial information.

By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org

Florida DOGE orders Broward Sheriff Tony to turn over financial records; Tony tells staff he complied

Jun 13, 2026 4:58 AM

The Florida DOGE task force created by Gov. Ron DeSantis to identify wasteful government spending has ordered Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony to turn over a broad set of BSO financial records dating to 2022.

Florida Bulldog obtained a copy of DOGE’s four-page May 28 letter to Tony seeking detailed information about BSO contracts, bid documents, all purchase orders and payments over $5,000, invoices, change orders, vendors and personnel costs. The letter, signed by DOGE “team leader” Eric Soskin and budget office director Leda Kelly, said the information was to be compiled by Thursday, June 11, and warned of “financial penalties” for an “untimely response.”

Tony told his staff in a Friday afternoon email that “BSO has fully complied with all the information requests and will continue to collaborate with them throughout the review process.” He also said he had volunteered for DOGE’s scrutiny. “We welcomed the opportunity to participate with DOGE to demonstrate the transparency, accountability and fiscal responsibility that guide our organization,” he said.

BSO’s compliance with the state financial review comes as the sheriff has submitted a new budget request to the county of $937.4 million for 2026-27. It also comes as Tony continues to seek an additional $73.7 million from the county for the current year. He has called that a “funding gap” created when the county cut his initial $1 billion request last year.

Tony has appealed the county’s cuts to the Florida Administration Commission, chaired by DeSantis and including Attorney General James Uthmeier, Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson. A hearing had been set for last February but was abruptly called off. In his Friday email to staff, Tony said a hearing is still pending.

“The next possible date is September 15,” he wrote.

WHAT DOGE WANTS TO SEE

The letter from DOGE, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, sought 13 categories of BSO records, including some tied to the sheriff’s most controversial spending. 

They include:

• BSO’s purchase of Airbus helicopters. BSO’s aviation unit has three Airbus H125 aircraft, the most recent purchased in late 2024. The agency’s Fire Rescue division recently bought two H145 Airbus helicopters. Tony has described them as “state-of-the-art.” Last year, the helicopters were part of the budget dispute between the sheriff and the County Commission, which said Tony misspent about $15 million allocated to replace a crashed helicopter as a down payment on the three new aircraft. The county, and ultimately taxpayers, later had to pay the remaining $24 million balance.
  
  
• All contract documents for BSO’s Regional Training and Development Center. The center, largely a gymnasium where Tony regularly trains and promotes himself in social media videos, was originally estimated to cost $34 million. But after the county allowed Tony to personally oversee the project, multiple change orders helped push developer ANF Group’s construction costs to nearly $74 million by the time the center opened in July 2024. Auditors also found that BSO made $1.4 million in apparent overpayments to the Davie-based builder. Florida Bulldog also reported that ANF contributed a total of $30,000 to Tony’s political committee, Broward First.
  
  
• BSO’s active contracts with SaferWatch LLC, which makes a panic button and emergency mass-alert system popular with public officials and law enforcement. In February, SaferWatch founder and CEO Geno Roefaro was arrested in New York on federal bribery charges and is awaiting trial. Tony personally promoted Roefaro’s business and, through his political committee, accepted tens of thousands of dollars from him.
  
  
• BSO’s municipal services contracts for FY 2022-23 and 2023-24. Under previous sheriffs, BSO expanded as the police force of choice for more than a dozen municipalities and the county. Under Tony, that trend has reversed. Deerfield Beach ended its contract earlier this year, and the county is considering dropping its agreements with BSO for service at the airport and Port Everglades.
  
  
• Personnel costs for 2024-25 and 2025-26. DOGE sought full position counts by division, the share of those costs tied to municipal service contracts, copies of BSO salary studies, and the related contracts, including vendor names, contract values and scope of work. The sheriff has fought with the county for years over deputy pay. Tony says deputies are underpaid and that the result has been a steady loss of talent. The county has countered that Tony used money allocated for raises on other priorities, including BSO’s training center.

Sheriff Tony’s top staff model the gold rings he gave them in February 2025.

WHAT DOGE DIDN’T ASK ABOUT

DOGE did not ask about several other controversial financial matters. Among the most prominent are the gold rings, topped with a sheriff’s gold star set against an emerald-green backdrop and ringed by what appear to be small diamonds, that Tony presented to members of his executive command staff in March 2025. The sheriff has said no public funds were used to buy as many as two dozen of the rings, but he has declined to identify how and from who the rings were obtained.

DOGE also did not ask BSO to document how much Tony spends on the video crews that appear to follow him regularly, especially in the gym. Tony uses those videos, often enhanced with special effects and sound, to bolster his image and maintain a near-constant presence on Instagram and other social media platforms.

Nor does the letter indicate that DOGE will examine tens of millions of dollars in discrepancies in the lengthy budgets BSO releases each year for both police and fire rescue services. Florida Bulldog reported on those discrepancies in February.

DOGE, which this week filed a similar demand for financial records with the City of Fort Lauderdale, asked Tony for direct access to BSO’s computer system to obtain the records. “We prefer that you make available read-only electronic access to the relevant data systems to our team so that we can download information directly.”

It was not immediately known if such access was given.

in A1 Top Story, Broward County, Broward County Commission, Broward Sheriff’s Office, Cabinet, Fort Lauderdale, Governor

ANF Group Broward Sheriff’s Office DOGE Eric Soskin Geno Roefaro Gregory Tony helicopters Leda Kelly Ron DeSantis

https://www.floridabulldog.org/2026/06/florida-doge-orders-sheriff-tony-turn-over-financial-records/

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