MEDIA ARTICLE: DeSantis officials assigned $10 million to his wife’s charity. Was it legal? (Tampa Bay Times, 4-8-25)

DeSantis officials assigned $10 million to his wife’s charity. Was it legal?

State officials are refusing to give details on a legal settlement.

Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference alongside first lady Casey DeSantis on July 29 in Tampa. [ Times (2024) ]

By

• Lawrence MowerFormer Times staff
• Alexandra GloriosoTimes/Herald Tallahassee Bureau Reporter

Published April 8, 2025|Updated April 25, 2025

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration diverted $10 million in state settlement money last year to the charity arm of a welfare initiative led by his wife.

The unusual injection of cash was part of an undisclosed settlement agreement involving Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration. The money went to the Hope Florida Foundation, a nonprofit that was established by the state to help realize Casey DeSantis’ vision to reshape welfare.

Under Florida law, money from certain settlement agreements must be deposited into a state trust fund or the general revenue fund, where lawmakers can decide how to spend it.

It’s not clear whether the law applies because the state is refusing to release the settlement’s details, including the circumstances or parties involved.

A state spokesperson said the law does not apply because “this money was not paid to the state.” She did not elaborate.

The $10 million infusion could be the latest question to arise about the foundation, which was established two years ago to raise money to assist Hope Florida, a state program created by the DeSantises.

Formally launched in 2022, Hope Florida aims to get residents off government aid, such as food assistance or health care services, by connecting them with faith-based groups and other nonprofits. Those groups are supposed to lift recipients out of poverty through their connections and guidance. It is the DeSantises’ alternative to welfare.

Last week, staffers working for the Republican-controlled House of Representatives asserted that Hope Florida’s fundraising arm was not complying with state laws governing its oversight, ethics or fundraising.

Reporters for the Times/Herald visited Hope Florida Foundation’s headquarters Friday to review the records it filed with the IRS. As a registered nonprofit, the IRS requires the foundation’s documents be made available immediately if someone requests them in person. But an employee told the reporters their request “will be returned in the order it was received” and told them they could leave.

The foundation has never publicly disclosed its donors or the names of the churches and nonprofits receiving its funds. It has not responded to journalists’ records requests.

Yet a $10 million contribution was mentioned in a copy of the foundation’s board meeting minutes from October obtained by the Times/Herald.

“The resolution of a longstanding dispute with the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) and the state has resulted in a $10 million allocation to the Hope Florida Foundation,” the Oct. 14 minutes state.

What the “longstanding dispute” was regarding, or who it involved, is unclear. The settlement does not appear in the Agency for Health Care Administration’s online settlement database.

Agency Deputy Chief of Staff Mallory McManus did not answer questions Monday about what the settlement was regarding or who was involved. She said there was no lawsuit filed.

McManus said it was a “pre-suit settlement” in the agency’s “favor” that was “directed, in part” to Hope Florida Foundation. She did not answer when asked where the rest of the settlement money went.

She wrote that no state funds were spent, so the Legislature did not need to be notified of the settlement under state law. She did not answer why the agency was giving money to Hope Florida Foundation, a state-created “direct support organization” that reports to a different agency, the Department of Children and Families.

McManus is the registered agent for the Hope Florida Foundation on state records.

Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, whose committee oversees the Agency for Health Care Administration’s budget, said he didn’t “want to jump to any conclusions” about the $10 million donation but that he did want more information.

“I’m still unclear about Hope Florida’s mission and purpose,” Andrade told the Times/Herald. “Without details and transparency, I can’t say if this transfer was done for a proper purpose or not.”

Ron DeSantis is pushing the Legislature to enshrine Hope Florida into state law this session. It would give his wife a major legislative victory and a platform to discuss her qualifications for the job should she run to replace her husband as governor in 2026. Casey DeSantis has never been elected to office.

But the bills have stalled as the Legislature stops taking up policy and moves on to the budget before the expected May 2 end of the legislative session.

“There’s still a long way to go before it passes the floor,” House Speaker Daniel Perez, a Miami Republican, told CBS News Miami’s Jim DeFede on Sunday. “I know the first lady cares about it, but we’ll take it on a stop-by-stop basis as it goes through the committee process.”

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2025/04/08/desantis-casey-hope-charity-legislature-legal-welfare/

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• 

  Lawrence Mower

  Former Times staff

• 

  Alexandra Glorioso is a state government reporter for the Miami Herald and is based in Tallahassee.

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MEDIA ARTICLE: Sheriff puts 7 deputies on leave, saying 3 killings stemmed from ‘piss poor’ domestic violence probe (CNN US, 2-20-25)

Sheriff puts 7 deputies on leave, saying 3 killings stemmed from ‘piss poor’ domestic violence probe

Feb 20, 2025

ByHanna Park,Dakin Andone

Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony speaks during a press conference.

WPLG

A South Florida sheriff delivered a blistering rebuke of his own deputies this week, saying his department “failed” in its handling of a lengthy domestic violence case that he says culminated in a triple homicide.

Seven deputies have been placed on leave with pay, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office told CNN, as it investigates what Sheriff Gregory Tony described Wednesday as “shortcomings” leading to last weekend’s killings, in which a man is accused of fatally shooting his estranged wife, her father and a neighbor in the city of Tamarac.

Tony decried deputies’ “piss poor performance” and “bullsh*t work,” telling reporters they failed to take appropriate action after domestic violence calls related to the couple last year, and that the wife in December repeatedly told a deputy she was afraid her husband would kill her. 

Deputies “could have potentially pursued” an arrest of the man then, but didn’t, he said.

“There will be people that will lose their job over this,” Tony said in a Wednesday news conference, “and I’m focused on making sure they don’t win a damn arbitration, because that happens too repeatedly in this profession.”

Nathan Gingles, 43, is accused of fatally shooting his estranged wife Mary Gingles, 34; her father, David Ponzer, 64; and her neighbor Andrew Ferrin, 36, on Sunday morning at two homes in Tamarac, near Fort Lauderdale, according to the sheriff’s office.

Nathan Gingles also is accused of kidnapping his and Mary’s 4-year-old daughter as he carried out the killings, authorities said. 

Following a statewide Amber Alert issued for the child, investigators found him and the girl late that morning outside a store in nearby North Lauderdale, and he was arrested, authorities said.

Nathan Gingles was being held on a slew of charges, including three counts of first-degree murder, a count of violating a domestic violence protection injunction, and a count of interference with lawful custody. He was being held without bond at the Broward County jail, online records showed Thursday.

His case has been provisionally appointed to the county’s public defender’s office, according to court records. CNN has sought comment from the public defender’s office, as well as from an attorney listed in court records as having represented in the case accusing him of domestic violence.

The deaths are “on my watch,” Tony told reporters at the news conference, adding, “We could have done better — and we didn’t.”

In a release, the Broward Deputy Sheriffs Association – the union representing Broward deputies – said “it is still very early in the investigation regarding the tragic murders in Tamarac,” and described the deputies’ leave “as a matter of internal protocol.”

“We believe in due process, and we await the facts which will be revealed by a full investigation,” union Vice President Dan Rakofsky said. “Furthermore, we are confident that the Broward Sheriff’s Office will be thorough and complete throughout the process.”

‘Dozens’ of calls preceded killings, sheriff says

Court records indicate Nathan and Mary Gingles were involved in a divorce case dating from February 2024, in addition to two domestic violence cases, one of which concluded in July.

Court records also indicate Mary Gingles had sought a restraining order against her estranged husband. 

These documents were marked confidential and were not fully accessible online Thursday. 

The office of the county clerk of courts did not respond to a request about the documents after initially directing CNN to the online records.

According to his arrest warrant in Sunday’s killings, deputies exploring one of the shooting scenes found a court order prohibiting Nathan Gingles from contacting two people – someone whose name is redacted, and “their daughter.”

More should have been done considering a history of reports relating to allegations of domestic violence involving the couple, the sheriff said Wednesday.

“Dozens of calls for services” involving the couple had been made “over a span of a couple years,” said Tony, who characterized the calls as “one conflict after the next, whether the husband’s reporting the wife, now she’s reporting him, and so on.”

Deputies failed to take appropriate action specifically after domestic violence calls in October and December, Tony said, though he provided few details about what prompted those calls and how deputies responded.

Nathan Gingles

Broward County Sheriff's Office

“From my assessment, this is really just a shortcoming of performance,” Tony said about an October call, “whether it be complacency, not taking a greater interest and not doing their due diligence to make sure that they’re documenting everything in an accurate manner, so that when it does arrive in the investigator’s hand, they have a comprehensive report that allows them to make better judgment and decisions.”

Tony pointed specifically to a December incident. In that situation, Tony said, Mary Gingles repeatedly expressed fears for her life to a responding deputy.

“The totality of times that she had made (statements) related to ‘I fear he’s going to kill me’ … there was enough there that we could’ve potentially pursued a probable cause affidavit so we could arrest him and take him off the street,” Tony said. “And that didn’t happen.”

The case was eventually escalated to a district detective, but critical time had already been lost due to “a multitude of shortcomings,” Tony said.

“We fell short on this one,” Tony said.

4-year-old girl witnessed killings, warrant says

On Sunday, Broward County sheriff’s deputies went to a Tamarac home just after 6 a.m., according to an arrest warrant for Nathan Gingles, after a 911 caller reported hearing the sound of gunfire and a woman crying and screaming, “Oh my God!” from a nearby home. The caller then heard two more gunshots, the warrant says.

“The totality of times that she had made (statements) related to ‘I fear he’s going to kill me’ … there was enough there that we could’ve potentially pursued a probable cause affidavit so we could arrest him and take him off the street,” Tony said. “And that didn’t happen.”

The case was eventually escalated to a district detective, but critical time had already been lost due to “a multitude of shortcomings,” Tony said.

“We fell short on this one,” Tony said.

4-year-old girl witnessed killings, warrant says

On Sunday, Broward County sheriff’s deputies went to a Tamarac home just after 6 a.m., according to an arrest warrant for Nathan Gingles, after a 911 caller reported hearing the sound of gunfire and a woman crying and screaming, “Oh my God!” from a nearby home. The caller then heard two more gunshots, the warrant says.

Deputies found Ponzer – Mary Gingles’ father – lying in the home’s backyard with a gunshot wound, according to the warrant and a news release from the sheriff’s office. He was declared dead at the scene, the warrant says. Inside the home, deputies found gun lockboxes that appeared to be unlocked, as well as the restraining order with Nathan Gingles’ name.

As deputies searched the area, one noticed a man wearing all black clothing, walking with a child. The information was broadcast over police radio, but deputies continued their search, not yet knowing what had unfolded, the warrant says.

Outside, a neighbor told deputies he was woken up around 6:07 a.m. to the “sound of loud banging on his front door,” the warrant says. In surveillance footage captured outside his home, he saw a woman – his neighbor – running to the door and knocking on it frantically, followed seconds later by a person wearing all black with what appeared to be a firearm and a small girl following behind. The woman then fled.

Deputies found Mary Gingles dead inside another home, where they also located Ferrin, according to the news release. Investigators believe Mary Gingles fled into the home and was followed by Nathan Gingles, authorities allege he shot his wife and the “innocent and unsuspecting resident,” according to the warrant.

A background search of Nathan Gingles led deputies to an apartment he was renting in nearby Lauderhill, where he had registered a vehicle with a Texas license plate, the warrant says. That vehicle was later located in the parking lot of a Walmart, where Gingles was found with his daughter and taken into custody, according to the warrant.

Detectives determined the 4-year-old girl witnessed the killings and saw her father dispose of his gun in a black backpack, which he threw into a trashcan, the warrant says. The weapon and backpack have not been recovered, according to the warrant. The girl also said her father told her they were going to visit her cousin in Texas, and that she would never see her mother or grandfather again, the document says.

Nathan Gingles had previously surrendered firearms and ammunition as part of the terms ordered by the restraining order, the warrant says, citing a February 2024 incident report. The weapons were later returned to him, per the warrant.

Asked why the seized firearms were returned, Tony said deputies were legally required to do so due to court proceedings. Part of the current investigation will focus on whether the guns should have been taken a second time, he said, following additional domestic violence calls to police.

He apologized to the victims’ families, saying the preliminary findings about authorities’ failures “only hurts them even more” after their loss.

“Because I’m basically saying we had a chance to save your loved one’s life and we failed,” the sheriff said.

CNN’s Chenelle Woody contributed to this report.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/20/us/tamarac-florida-triple-homicide-deputies

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MEDIA ARTICLE: Florida Lawmakers Target 'Negligent' DCF With Record $70 Million in Claims Bills (The Floridian Press, 8-27-24)

 

Florida Lawmakers Target 'Negligent' DCF With Record $70 Million in Claims Bills

Liv Caputo

August 27, 2024

TALLAHASSEE, FL—As Florida lawmakers gear up for the 2025 legislative session in March, the Department of Children and Families' alleged child endangerment will be at the forefront of discussions, with a whopping five of 17 filed claims bills targeting the agency.

Almost $70 million from the state is demanded in these bills.

Breaking a record, this is the first time since DCF's creation in 1996 that it's the subject of more than three claims bills in one year. For 2025, it's the headliner for five—an unfortunately natural progression for the heavily-criticized department, whose call center has the second-longest wait times in the country with up to 48% of calls getting abandoned, Florida Politics reported.

Now, Republican Senators Ana Maria Rodriguez, Joe Gruters, and Alexis Calatayud are trying to approve a staggering $67,023,040 from the General Revenue Fund to be divvied out among five different families via claims bills, which are designed to compensate Floridians harmed by state agencies.

These claims bills are the first and currently only bills of the session, having been filed by the August 1 deadline.

SB 2, the first filed bill of the session, by Miami's Sen. Rodriguez asks that $20 million be appropriated from the state for the relief of C.C., a Fort Myers boy born in 2014 to Anna Highland, a registered foster parent with DCF. In the seven months before and directly after his birth, six complaints were filed alleging that Highland was abusing drugs and a child she was fostering.

DCF still allowed C.C. to leave the hospital with Highland. Two more complaints were filed—both of which were dismissed without investigation—in the following months. At 13 months old, C.C. overdosed on his mother's methadone, was hospitalized for a month, and now, at 9 years old, suffers seizures, strokes, and cognitive impairment, among other things.

Rodriguez seeks to appropriate $20 million from the General Revenue Fund to DCF for the relief of C.C. This is her third time attempting to get the bill over the finish line.

Gruters, who filed two DCF-related claims bills, is trying to allocate a massive $28 million in SB 12 for Sarasota six-year-old L.P. after her mother tried to disembowel her. This happened after family members requested a wellness check on the unnamed mother, who sent a suicide video to relatives.

DCF said L.P. was safe.

Hours later, she was stabbed 14 times. It's estimated that she will incur medical and "psychological costs" for the next 65 years of her life. After a jury found DCF negligent in 2022, they awarded L.P. and her grandparents—her current guardians—$28 million.

In SB 18, also by Gruters, he asks that $14,926,640 be approved for H.H. When the girl was 18 months old, DCF investigated their first child abuse complaint, which alleged that the mother and stepfather were abusing drugs, selling drugs, and "harboring a fugitive". DCF found that the stepfather had been released from the correctional system just seven months prior, had only been seeing the mother for four months, and had been involved in at least 35 criminal issues in ten years.

Even though the stepfather refused to submit to a drug test and the mother tested positive for marijuana, DCF decided H.H. was in "no present danger." This was after they had received a second child abuse complaint, which they did not properly investigate, the bill says.

Two months after the investigation was closed, H.H. was admitted to the hospital with life-threatening injuries and stayed there for 109 days. Now, she can't walk, talk, eat, or sit up.

Sen. Calatayud, who also filed two DCF-related bills, asks in SB 32 that the General Revenue Fund provide $3.8 million to L.E., who tested positive for amphetamines at birth. Two child abuse complaints were filed shortly after her birth—not including the fact that L.E.'s parents got into a "violent altercation" at the hospital the day of her birth—causing DCF to initiate an investigation.

Not only did they discover her mother's drug and criminal history, but both parents had a collective 20 DCF complaints against them in the past. For example: the father fractured his 6-month-old daughter's bones, and that child was removed from his custody. Two of the mother's children had been removed due to "verified child abuse".

DCF found a "present danger" if L.E. stayed with her parents, choosing to place her with the mother's friend. Soon after, the friend told DCF she could not care for L.E., so DCF shockingly put the baby back into her parents' custody.

A month later, L.E. was brought to the hospital—she was seizing, bloodied, and bruised. She was later diagnosed with shaken baby syndrome and malnourishment.

The final DCF claims bill, Calatayud's SB 34, aims to compensate Michael Barnett, the parent of R.B., with $296,400. A man named Patrick Dell was arrested in 2009 for threatening his estranged wife Natasha Whyte-Dell with a knife; he told her he would kill her and ended up flattening her tires.

DCF was notified because Whyte-Dell lived with her five children. They found no "significant risk of harm"—though allegedly were not aware of the 34 times the police department had been called out to the home. Less than a year later, Dell fatally shot Whyte-Dell and four of the children, wounding the fifth by shooting him in the neck.

Dell committed suicide shortly after.

Now, Calatayud is looking to secure Barnett, the father of the fifth child, compensation for DCF's negligence. This is the second attempt to get this bill passed.

With this onslaught of appropriation requests, it remains to be seen if questions on DCF's effectiveness will be raised as the session draws closer. They could not be reached for comment.

https://floridianpress.com/2024/08/florida-lawmakers-target-negligent-dcf-with-record-70-million-in-claims-bills/

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