WINTER HAVEN -- "I'm pissed," Sheriff Grady Judd said during a Monday news conference, after announcing disturbing allegations against three former members of his force.
Three deputies with the Polk Sheriff's Office have resigned and are facing charges, after they were accused of evidence tampering.
Polk Sheriff Grady Judd says Deputy John Raczynski (left) conducted a traffic stop December 21st in Winter Haven as part of an effort to cut down on drug and gang activity in a neighborhood. Two other deputies, Jamal Lawson and Garrett Cook (center, right) arrived as backup. Raczynski searched the driver's car and found drugs (marijuana and Xanax) and $723 cash in small bills. According to Judd, here's what happened next...
The deputies checked in several pieces of evidence... but not the $723. Raczynski said Lawson had the money, Lawson said Raczynski had the money, and Cook said he never had the money. Judd says the deputies all agreed to kick in and replace the money... a move Judd described as inappropriate... but they never followed up and never told a supervisor.
In March, the driver's felony charge was downgraded to misdemeanor marijuana possession. She then asked the sheriff's office for her money back. An evidence detective contacted Raczynski, who called the other deputies as well as a clerk in property and evidence, asking her to call back on her cell and to "forget this conversation occurred." She went to her sergeant, who went to Raczynski's supervisor.
Sheriff Judd says the three deputies resigned, the driver's charges were dropped, and the Sheriff's Office will audit every arrest or seizure of property involving them. He made this promise to those ex-deputies: "If we find evidence of any other criminal event... we will arrest you again and we will put you in jail."
Judd, who has served the Polk sheriff's office for most of his adult life, says going back to the Seventies, he can only recall one other incident in which multiple deputies were arrested. He said he will ask the Polk state attorney to require jail time as a condition of any potential plea deal.
"I am mad beyond words that these three have impugned their reputation and the thousand plus deputies who work here, with their criminal conduct," Judd said. He added that supervisors and all others involved in the case did what they were supposed to do.
Photo: Polk Sheriff's Office