The truth behind the embattled City of South Miami police chief Orlando Martinez de Castro's ethics hearing.

As you all know embattled City of South Miami police chief Orlando Martinez de Castro got a slap on the wrist and a small fine that was classified as "investigative costs" by the ethics commission.  A total farce in my opinion.  Our friend Al Crespo did a bang up job covering the hearing and also included a short video of what went on, check it...

That's all well and good, to the average guy it seems like the chief had his day before this quasi judicial panel and after a year and a half this was the outcome.

The Miami Herald even follows up their original story and gives the reader a glimmer of hope that the chief might still suffer a more serious punishment than what was doled out last week...

The draft final order written by Murawski states the commission “specifically made no finding as to whether the violation was or was not ‘willful.’”
That draft order has not yet been adopted by the commission, and each side will present draft final orders for the ethics commission to consider next month.

This part about the violations that the chief pled no contest to being "willfull" is the most important part though as if the commission finds that the violations are willful, the chief automatically forfeits his job as the chief of police.  While the commission is going to vote on this part of the chief's deal next month, it's just a matter of them deciding which final order the commission is going to adopt, the one written by the commission or the one written by the chief's attorney.  That's a good one isn't it?  The commission adopting an order written by the defendants attorney?!

In case there's any of you who don't realize what went on here and need further clarification, let's make it a bit clearer using some photos.  Before we start, let's preface this discussion with the claim that City of South Miami police chief Orlando Martinez de Castro makes about his relationship with our State Attorney, Katherine Ferndandez Rundle, according to everything I've heard, the chief claims that he is one of Rundle's closest friends and confidants, so close in fact that they're borderline family.  Good enough.  With that in mind, let's take a look at who attended this ethics hearing, starting with the head of the ethics commission himself, Joe Centorino...

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/07/12/v-print/3497731/south-miami-police-chief-pleads.html#storylink=cpy

I know it's a shitty picture, I lifted it from Al Crespo's video of the actual hearing.  Look how interested Joe looks in what's going on and what's being discussed.  Let's not forget that Mr. Centorino was the former head of public corruption over at the state attorneys office, Rundle's golden boy for when she wanted to prosecute political figures.  From his own bio...

Joseph Centorino assumed the position of Executive Director of the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust on September 1, 2011, following his laudatory 25-year career at the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office. For most of that time, he served as Chief of the Public Corruption Division where he oversaw the investigation and prosecution of crimes committed by public officers and employees.

Good enough, anyone with a modicum of common sense can see that there is a pretty strong relationship between Mr. Centorino and our state attorney Ms Rundle.

Now, let's move on to the chief's attorney, Mr Simon Steckel, from an old New Times article regarding Mr. Steckel...

Steckel nonetheless was at the peak of his professional life. As a successful prosecutor he had moved quickly up the ladder at the Dade State Attorney's Office. Over four short years he had risen from intern to supervisor, then division chief.

Another former prosecutor, a division chief no less.  While I don't know of any direct relationship between Mr. Steckel and our state attorney, the possibility for some sort of connection is there.

Now, the last member of the chief's defense team is in my opinion the most interesting, take a look at this guy...

That's attorney Michael Band, another former top prosecutor with close ties to our state attorney, Mr. Band was one of our state attorneys most trusted division chief's as well as a close personal and family friend.  What exactly was he doing at this hearing?  Just how many attorney's does the chief need to defend a case before the ethics commission?

Regardless of what Mr. Band was doing at the hearing, the scene that played out was an obvious one, an alleged good friend of one of the most powerful people in South Florida, Katherine Fernandez Rundle, is being prosecuted by a commission that's led by one of her former top and closest employees and as luck would have it, another former top employee and family friend is representing her friend in front of the ethics commission.  Come on, honestly, did anyone expect an outcome any different than what we got?  Can you possibly think of a better example of how this network of politically connected folks down here protects their own?

From the get go, this entire ethics case has been nothing more than a sham, a dog and pony show, an orchestrated scheme to make the citizens of our county think there was some sort of watchdog watching over politicians and public employees.  I think the relationship between the folks that run the ethics commission, the attorneys that represented the chief and our state attorney will make you think twice about how "ethical" the handling of this case was.

A meeting of the unethical over at the Miami Dade County Commission on Ethics...

We left off last time discussing the meeting we saw take place in the hallway just outside the Miami Dade County Commission on Ethics offices, take a look at that photo from last weeks post again...

We were able to identify most of the folks in the photo, all but this fellow here...

One of our readers identified this man as Michael Band an ex assistant state attorney that was so ethically and morally challenged that he had to resign in disgrace from his job as a division chief over at the state attorneys office!  Take a look at this excerpt from the lawsuit that resulted from his activities over at the sao...

This is an employment discrimination case, which has garnered significant media attention. Plaintiff was formerly employed as a secretary by the Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office (hereinafter the "SAO"). In February of 1998, Plaintiff was suspended pending the outcome of an investigation into a highly publicized phone-sex scandal. The incident involved personnel from the Major Crimes Unit of the SAO and an incarcerated felon, who was to testify for the SAO in a murder prosecution.

This part is the best... 

During the investigation of the phone-sex scandal, Plaintiff alleged that she had been sexually harassed and assaulted by the chief of the Major Crimes Unit, Michael Band. Soon after these allegations became public, Band resigned from the SAO.

SWEET!  From what I've been able to find out about Mr. Band, he seems to be one of our state attorney's closest allies and has a history of representing her "friends & family".  Interesting.  I wonder what Mr. Band was doing over at the ethics commission?  Think about it for a moment, the ethics commission is run by a former prosecutor and close Katherine Ferndandez Rundle friend, Joe Centorino, then out in the hallway we have two ex prosecutors, Band and Steckel, representing Orlando Martinez de Castro who also claims to be a close family friend of our state attorney, Katherine Rundle.  At this point, am I the only one that gets an icky feeling about this whole interaction especially after we heard the deal that Mr. de Castro was given by the ethics commission?

Whatever.  The shit is so rigged it's not even funny, like our friend Al Crespo said, even if you were on drugs, you couldn't make this shit up.  This makes you really wonder about the full name of Joe Centorino's dog and pony show...

The Miami Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust

Public Trust?  LOL!

If the broad light of day could be let in upon men’s actions, it would purify them as the sun disinfects.

Yesterday we soldiered over to the Miami Dade Commission on Ethics for their monthly hearing where we expected to see the ethics case against embattled city of South Miami police chief Orlando Martinez de Castro come to a conclusion.  As we had mentioned in yesterday's post, the good folks over at the Ethics Commission had cut a sweet heart deal with the chief and his attorneys where he essentially plead no contest and was given a small fine (which wasn't classified as a fine) and then sent on his way.

Unfortunately though not enough of the ethics commission board members showed up to form a quorum so the board couldn't vote on the plea deal, essentially it was a total waste of time for everyone that showed up.  With that said, I can't begin to describe how disappointed I am in how things have turned out over at the Commission on Ethics regarding this matter.  I personally met several times with investigators and the advocate, Michael Murawski, who theoretically is there to represent the people of Miami Dade County.  Generally, I think I'm pretty good at reading people and I have to tell you, Mr Murawski and his staff did one hell of a job bullshitting me about this case, they had me convinced that they were moving forward at all costs against the chief and that they had an open and shut case.  Unfortunately though, I was wrong, the fix was in long ago in this case, Mr Murawski and company were doing nothing but what they've been accused of time and time again, simply giving free passes to the politically connected here in Miami Dade County.

Go back and listen to Mr Murawski in the recording we posted yesterday where he vehemently states that he had a strong enough case where if he went forward, he was certain he was going to prevail.  With that said, he then goes on to say that it was in the public's interest to go ahead and cut a deal with a man who he knew was guilty of the ethics violations that were filed against him.  I ask you this, if we're talking about the public's interest to cut a deal with this character and let him off the hook, how the hell did it take nearly a year and a half to come to this conclusion?  Was it in the public's interest for the ethics commission to spin it's wheels for the past year and half?  Just how much did it cost the tax payers before you came to this conclusion Mr. Murawski?  The fine, I'm sorry, investigative costs that you billed Mr de Castro for, just how many hours of your "investigation" does that actually cover?

It's all bullshit folks, the Miami Dade Commission on Ethics is nothing more than a dog and pony show, a sham, a total waste of money.  

As frustrating as the whole experience was, I emerged from the aborted meeting in a funk and a cloud of confusion, that is until I made it out to the hallway outside the ethics commission's offices where at the other end of the hallway just out of earshot I found this scene...

Granted, that's a pretty shitting photo that's been cropped but what you see there is a meeting between Mr Murawski, Orlando Martinez de Castro and his attorneys and way in the back you can see possibly one of the worst former police chiefs in the history of the City of Miami, Kenneth Harms.  This scene made me as well as everyone else who saw it extremely uncomfortable.  What we see here is the advocate for the people of Miami Dade County, Murawski, cavorting with the very people he was supposedly fighting against on our behalf.  While it's technically not a violation of the state's sunshine laws, this meeting gave off an air of impropriety and definitely erased any veneer of impartiality that these ethics proceedings may have had.

With that said, our friend and fellow blogger, Al Crespo, came to the rescue and decided to confront Mr Murawski and crew, I managed to capture a shitty video of the entire interaction...



In case you couldn't make out the audio, here's how it went down...

Al Crespo: We figured we'd stand in and listen to the conversation, you got a public hallway, you got a public official here...

Murawski: Well we'll go someplace that's not public.

Al Crespo: Oh ok!

Unknown: Thank you for giving us this opportunity.

Emaciated looking old man under his breath: Straw buyer

Al Crespo: Always good to see transparency in government!

SWEET!  There you have it!  We no longer have to imagine how these backdoor deals go down, now you see it right before your eyes!  A perfect example of how things are done here in Miami Dade County, of all places at the Ethics Commission no less, which brings us to the title of today's post, a quote from former supreme court justice Louis Brandeis...

If the broad light of day could be let in upon men’s actions, it would purify them as the sun disinfects.

As soon as the sunlight hit the characters in the hallway, they scurried away like rats!  

Fuck it, just another day in Miami!  Till next time...

Meanwhile at the Ethics Commission....

Last month the Miami Dade County Ethics Commission met to discuss a possible plea deal for embattled City of South Miami police chief Orlando Martinez de Castro in the ethics case that was filed as a result of his sending city business to his wife's tag agency.  We've had an audio recording of what went on during that meeting but have been struggling for weeks to try to figure out how the hell to post it in such a way that you guys can listen to it.  With that said, hopefully this link will let you listen in on what went on at the last ethics commission meeting...

The man you hear speaking on behalf of the citizens of Miami Dade County is Michael Murawski who is the staff attorney over at the commission who is responsible for handling the case against Mr de Castro.  The recording speaks for itself, according to Mr Murawski the South Miami cops are protecting their chief and refuse to testify against him and aside from paying some fines that the ethics commission have reclassified as "investigative costs", the chief is pleading "no contest" and being given a letter of instruction.  That was what was supposed to happen but then at the last minute the chief's criminal attorney, Simon Steckel, said that he had to talk to his client before he could accept the deal therefore delaying the plea till the next ethics commission meeting, which turns out to be today, June 13.  Hopefully we'll be able to get a recording of today's meeting, as soon as we get it we'll post it up.

The question that remains unanswered though is that if Mr. Murawski and his colleagues over at the ethics commission are so sure that they'd prevail if they went forward against the chief, then why the hell did they cut such a sweet deal and basically give him a slap on the wrist for what was an open and shut case?

An update on embattled City of South Miami Police Chief Orlando Martinez de Castro's ethics case.

There's been plenty of rumors leading up to the deadline given to embattled City of South Miami Police Chief Orlando Martinez de Castro to accept a plea in his ethics case that's before the Miami Dade county ethics commission.  We've heard all sorts of stories ranging from the ethics commission dropping the charges or even having the chief admit no guilt and pay a fine.  To say those rumors were disheartening would be an understatement, if indeed any of those rumors were true, it would just feed into the overall belief that the Ethics Commission is nothing but a paper tiger that was solely in existence to give free passes to those who are politically connected in our town.

With that said, I reached out to my source at the ethics commission to see what was going on since the deadline that we were told for the plea offer, May 22, had come and gone and to see if this rumor about the chief dispensing of the case with a simple fine and no admission of guilt was true.  The response I got regarding the rumors was short and sweet, THEY ARE FALSE and it appears that the ethics case is going to trail!

It looks like it's going to be an interesting next few months as the ethics commission moves forward with it's case against the chief.  Till then, next week we'll pick up where we left off with our first amendment rights being trampled on by the state attorneys office and we'll deal with a public information request from the City of South Miami regarding the federal NCIC database.

The clock is ticking for embattled City of South Miami police chief Orlando Martinez de Castro...

That's right folks!  You all remember the ethics complaint we filed against embattled City of South Miami Police Chief Orlando Martinez de Castro, don't you?  For those of you who don't remember, after we discovered that the Chief was steering city business to his family's tag agency, we went ahead and met with the head of the Miami Dade County Ethics Commission, Joe Centorino, and filed a formal complaint against the chief for his nefarious activities.  If you're keeping track, that was over a year ago, we keep pestering the folks over at the ethics commission and have even met with the investigators in charge to get an answer on what's going on with the case against the chief.  At first I was told that they couldn't comment on the case then it seems that they warmed up to me and gave me details of what was going on, unfortunately though, I can't discuss what they told me!

Now our sources tell us that despite of the stall tactics the chief and his lawyers have used to avoid depositions and a trial, the ethics commission has given the chief an ultimatum, he's got till May 22, 2013 to accept a plea deal or his case goes to trial.  The only problem with the plea offers he's gotten is that if he were to accept either one of them, he'd automatically lose his job as the police chief of South Miami.  

Isn't that ironic?  It seems like just yesterday when the three tellers that worked at the chief's wife's tag agency were getting a plea deal crammed down their throats in the bullshit case the chief and his wife put together against their former employees, now it's the chief himself who's contemplating a plea deal that could mean the end of his law enforcement career!

It's rather obvious that the chief won't accept a plea deal, so despite the deadline, we're going to have to wait for his case to go to trial.  It's refreshing to see the folks over at the Ethics Commission take a stand and see this case through the end rather than give the chief a slap on the wrist and send him on his way.    

So what happened to the ethics investigation we initiated?

Joe Centorino

A while back after we stumbled upon the incestuous relationship between the City of South Miami and it's police chief's wife's business, we just happened to be over at the Miami Dade County Ethics Commission where we discussed how the city was doing business with an auto tag agency that was owned by the police chief's wife.  During my meeting with the head of the Ethics Commission, Joe Centorino, we were assured that they were going to look into the matter immediately and get to the bottom of what was going on.  

Mirabile

Although it's been several months since the investigation began, after repeated emails and phone calls, I was never able to get a definitive answer as to the status of the investigation.  The first problem with the investigation arose when I found out that the investigator assigned to the case was a personal friend and former colleague of the City of South Miami's city manager, Hector Mirabile.  So much for a fair investigation right?  After all, how could we expect anything other than a bullshit result when the investigator was in cahoots with the city manager who appointed the very police chief that was being investigated for wrong doing?  Regardless, about a month into the investigation, I received word that the investigator was removed from the case and a new one was assigned who hopefully didn't have any ties to the people that were at the center of the investigation.

With that said, I finally got word yesterday from the lead investigator on the case that indeed the case was still open and is going forward.  I take that with a grain of salt as I have no idea what the Ethics Commissions findings are to date regarding this matter.  If their past findings in similar cases are any indication, I wouldn't get my hopes up but at least we know that even if they don't find anything wrong with the city doing business with the police chief's wife's business, at least we're beginning to peel back the layers of previously unreported graft and corruption and expose those involved.

Now on another note, I'm sure most of you are aware of the hotly contested race for the Miami Dade State Attorneys Office between incumbent Kathy Rundle and her challenger Rod Vereen.  The Miami Herald conducted an informal debate between the two candidates the other day, while I can't embed the video, take a look at this link that takes you to the Herald page with the video.  The video is worth watching, if nothing else for the subtle jabs that the two candidates take at each other.

Now, on to more serious business, our Miami Heat are one win away from winning the NBA finals, it's going to be a long night tonight.  With that said, GO HEAT!

Whoops! Looks like the city of South Miami's police chief has a problem!

I'm not really sure how we've ended up where we are today.  It seems like we started writing about mortgage fraud years ago, then a few months back we stumbled upon the story of three tellers at a tag agency getting arrested for allegedly stealing tens of thousands of dollars from the tag agency.  Through a weird chain of events we then found out that the tag agency was owned by the wife of the City of South Miami's police chief and oddly enough we found that despite the fact that the tag agency in question was no where near the City of South Miami, somehow the city still sent this tag agency it's business.  Strange chain of events, huh?

Let's disregard how fucked up the case against the three tellers in the tag agency story is for a moment, as a matter of fact, let's just forget about the whole tag agency story for the time being.  When we exposed the City of South Miami doing business with the police chief's wife's company, there seemed to be an air of impropriety around that business relationship, especially when the city could have gone ahead and done business directly with a county owned tag agency and saved themselves some money or at least done business with a tag agency that's within their own city limits.  It just doesn't seem kosher for the city to be conducting business like this.  It turns out that it's not only not kosher, but it seems to be against the city's own code of ethics!

Let's take a look at the language in the City of South Miami's own code of ethics ordinance Section 8A-1...

(a)

Designation. This section shall be designated and known as the "City of South Miami Conflict of Interest and Code of Ethics Ordinance." This section shall be applicable to all city personnel as defined below, and shall also constitute a standard of ethical conduct and behavior for all autonomous personnel, quasi-judicial personnel, advisory personnel and departmental personnel. The provisions of this section shall be applied in a cumulative manner. By way of example, and not as a limitation, subsections (c) and (d) may be applied to the same contract or transaction.

(b)

Definitions. For the purposes of this section the following definitions shall be effective:

(1)

The term "commission members" shall refer to the mayor and the members of the city commission.

(2)

The term "autonomous personnel" shall refer to the members of autonomous authorities, boards and agencies, such as the city community redevelopment agency and the health facilities authority.

(3)

The term "quasi-judicial personnel" shall refer to the members of the planning board, the environmental review and preservation board, the code enforcement board and such other individuals, boards and agencies of the city as perform quasi-judicial functions.

(4)

The term "advisory personnel" shall refer to the members of those city advisory boards and agencies whose sole or primary responsibility is to recommend legislation or give advice to the citycommission.

(5)

The term "departmental personnel" shall refer to the city clerk, the city manager, department heads, the city attorney, and all assistants to the city clerk, city manager and city attorney, however titled.

(6)

The term "employees" shall refer to all other personnel employed by the city.

(7)

The term "compensation" shall refer to any money, gift, favor, thing of value or financial benefit conferred, or to be conferred, in return for services rendered or to be rendered.

(8)

The term "controlling financial interest" shall refer to ownership, directly or indirectly, of ten percent or more of the outstanding capital stock in any corporation or a direct or indirect interest of ten percent or more in a firm, partnership, or other business entity at the time of transacting business with the city.

(9)

The term "immediate family" shall refer to the spouse, parents, children, brothers and sisters of the person involved.

(10)

The term "transact any business" shall refer to the purchase or sale by the city of specific goods or services for consideration and to submitting a bid, a proposal in response to a RFP, a statement of qualifications in response to a request by the city, or entering into contract negotiations for the provision on any goods or services, whichever first occurs.

Ok, so far so good.  This section defines who's who, let's move on to subsection C...

(c)Prohibition on transacting business with the city. No person included in the terms defined in paragraphs (b)(1) through (6) and in paragraph (b)(9) shall enter into any contract or transact any business in which that person or a member of the immediate family has a financial interest, direct or indirect with the city or any person or agency acting for the city, and any such contract, agreement or businessengagement entered in violation of this subsection shall render the transaction voidable. Willful violation of this subsection shall constitute malfeasance in office and shall effect forfeiture of office or position. 

Could that be any clearer?  According to what we just read NO ONE defined in paragraphs (B)(1) through (6) and in paragraph (B)(9) can do any kind of business with an entity in which that person or a member of that person's immediate family has a financial interest in!  In other words, the City of South Miami can not do any business with the police chief's wife's company!  And what's the penalty for breaking this code of ethics? From the same ordinance...

Willful violation of this subsection shall constitute malfeasance in office and shall effect forfeiture of office or position.  

YIKES!

How about that?  If you're a city employee and you're caught steering business to an entity that you have an interest in or worse that's owned by a family member, your ass will get fired!  

So what now folks?  Does anyone think anything will happen to the Orlando Martinez de Castro, the chief of police of the City of South Miami, for steering work to his wife's tag agency?  I don't know, the word on the street says that there are some investigators from the county already snooping around to see what's going on...