FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

INVESTIGATIVE SUMMARY

FDLE CASE NUMBER: CASE AGENT(S): ALLEGATIONS: COPIES TO:

MI-14-0120 Special Agent William V. Saladrigas Official Misconduct, Theft, Bid Tampering Miami-Dade State Attorney, Eleventh Judicial Circuit, Public Corruption Unit Ricardo Gomez (Chief, Doral Police Department), et al. Yvonne Soler-McKinley, (Manager, City of Doral)

TARGET(S): COMPLAINANT:

On Monday April 4, 2011, Assistant State Attorney (ASA) Joseph Centorino, Chief of the Miami-Dade State Attorneys Office (SAO) Public Corruption Unit, contacted the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Miami Regional Operations Center (MROC) to report that they had been provided with an anonymous letter received by the City Manager at the City of Doral, which outlined certain allegations of misconduct by the Chief of Police and other high-ranking police officials at the municipality. While the letter, according to ASA Centorino, did not contain anything patently criminal, he thought that the FDLE should review it and decide whether or not to follow up. On Thursday, April 14, 2011, Special Agent Supervisor (SAS) Robert L. Breeden assigned the inquiry to Special Agent (SA) William V. Saladrigas. At that time, the identity of a Doral Police Officer, Yvette Gomez, had surfaced as someone who could corroborate the contents of the anonymous letter. Officer Gomez was questioned by FDLE. Based on the ensuing investigation, several areas of concern were identified. This summary will encapsulate the various areas of concern as separate narratives. They will be allegation-specific and contain the broader facts that were uncovered from the investigation of those leads. This information will form the basis for the ultimate investigative conclusions reached by FDLE. 1) That former Doral Police Detective Anthony Tony Rodriguez was targeted for termination for political reasons and that steps were taken by Chief Ricardo Gomez and others, including the fraudulent alteration of official departmental records, to ensure that the employee was forced to resign under the guise of it being voluntary.

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Former Doral Police Detective Anthony Tony Rodriguez was interviewed, along with other relevant witnesses, vis--vis the above-captioned allegation(s). Relevant documents were acquired by FDLE and analyzed for probative value. The FDLE investigation revealed that two internal probes launched by the Doral Police Department targeting Tony Rodriguez, according to the testimony of witnesses, were politically motivated. Moreover, the testimony and document evidence revealed that Sergeant George Gulla, the Internal Affairs Supervisor who conducted the two inquiries, was ordered by Police Chief Ricardo Gomez to alter his investigative findings in both instances to arrive at conclusions not supported by the evidence uncovered by the IA Supervisor. Additionally statements given to the Miami-Dade SAO, after Tony Rodriguez filed a complaint that he was fired in violation of the Doral Municipal Charter, indicated that he was terminated for budgetary reasons. Both the City Manager and the Chief of Police testified that he was targeted for termination due to budget cutbacks. However, when City Manager Yvonne Soler-McKinley rendered her sworn, digitally recorded statement to FDLE, she contradicted her earlier testimony to the SAO, claiming that she first heard of Tony Rodriguezs termination when the Chief identified him for removal; she denied having any prior knowledge of or participation in that decision. She also denied that it had anything to do with their budget or fiscal considerations. Lastly, witnesses interviewed evidenced the fact that Tony Rodriguez was disliked by Doral Mayor Juan Carlos (JC) Bermudez due to the formers perceived relationship with Doral Councilwoman Sandra Ruiz, one of the Mayors alleged political enemies. In one instance, a witness testified that Mayor Bermudez told Chief Gomez that he needed to deal with this [expletive deleted] Tony, or the Mayor would deal with him personally. After the conversation, Chief Gomez told the witness that the Mayor wanted him to get rid of somebody. A statement made by the Chief in his SAO testimony indicated that he picked Detective Rodriguez for termination after the Manager instructed him to consider cutting staff and only because he had been the target of some internal investigations, which according to the evidence, the Chief manipulated to achieve a desired outcome. 2) That Officer Rafael Cubela was hired under pressure from City Manager Yvonne Soler-McKinley and steps were undertaken in pursuit of that task that included the destruction of official records and the material, fraudulent alteration of other official records to ensure a favorable outcome. During the course of the FDLE investigation, SA Saladrigas learned that a former South Miami Police Officer, identified as Rafael Ralph Cubela, had been hired by the Doral Police Department shortly after Detective Tony Rodriguez had been terminated, according to Doral officials for budgetary reasons. According to witnesses, Officer Cubela had essentially been forced out of the Bal Harbour Police Department, in or about 2004, after a protracted internal investigation revealed that he had violated numerous departmental policies and had engaged in conduct which called into question the officers integrity. Despite this, the officer was subsequently hired by South Miami PD. However, when he first applied to the Doral Police Department, approximately one year before he was actually hired there, he voluntarily agreed to withdraw his application after Doral Background Investigators discovered evidence of his problems at Bal Harbour PD. Approximately a year later, weeks after Rodriguez was terminated and only months after the former South Miami City Manager had become Manager at the City of Doral, the original Background Investigation report was collected and subsequently disappeared. A second Background Investigation report was ordered by the Chief of Police. In the second Background Investigation report, favorable statements were attributed to the Bal Harbour Chief of Police about Officer Cubela, which the Chief would categorically deny making
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during his questioning by FDLE agents. The Chiefs denials were corroborated by his second in command, Captain Jay Smith, who was reportedly present during both meetings with Doral Background Investigators. When the Background Investigator, Charles Miller, was questioned about his report, he could not explain the contradiction, but he did emphasize numerous times during his statement the fact that his report was unsigned by him, which he deemed suspicious. When SA Saladrigas checked with Doral PD, it was discovered that the Cubela Background Investigation report was the only one unsigned by Mr. Miller during his tenure at Doral. Ms. Yvonne Soler-McKinley had been the City Manager in South Miami during part of Cubelas tenure there as a police officer. It was said that the Chief made disparaging remarks about the officer but claimed that he was being forced to hire him. When questioned by FDLE under oath, Ms. Soler-McKinley claimed that she had nothing to do with the hiring of Officer Cubela; the decision, according to the Manager, was singularly made by the Chief without input or influence from her. Ms. Soler-McKinley stated that if the Chief had insinuated that she had ordered Cubelas hiring, he would have been lying. 3) That Chief Gomez and others took steps, against the directives of the City Manager at the time, to fund the Police Departments Inaugural Swearing-In ceremony by secretly misappropriating City funds masked as a donation from a vendor that was doing business with the City. At one point, witnesses questioned by FDLE revealed the above-captioned allegation. After questioning all of the persons involved and collecting and reviewing all of the relevant document evidence, FDLE uncovered the following facts: In or about the middle of 2008, as the Doral Police Department was planning its inaugural swearing-in ceremony, the City Manager at the time, Sergio Purrinos, informed the Chief that there was no money in the budget to fund the elaborate event that the Chief wanted. At or about the same time, the Chief and one of his commanders, Jose Ramos, met with the General Manager at Emergency Vehicle Supplies (EVS). EVS was a company that retrofitted the Departments vehicles under contract. In that meeting it was learned that EVS had approximately $28,000 in contract overages, which they were legally required to refund to the City. Based on the evidence, the Chief and Commander Ramos convinced the EVS officials to issue a check directly to the Doral Golf Resort and Spa as a donation for the inaugural ceremony. This money (refund) was never revealed to City leaders; it had been represented as a sponsorship by EVS on behalf of the Department. Upon review by the SAO, it was determined that the secret misappropriation of City funds was highly unethical and wrong, but it did not violate Florida State Statute because the funds were used to pay for a quasi-public event that ultimately benefitted Doral. 4) That the Chief and others within his command staff conspired with an outside vendor during the plans to purchase furniture for the Police Department, by disclosing material information about the bidding process to one of the competing vendors and causing the alteration of a submitted bid to influence the competitive process and to provide a competitive advantage to one bidder. During the sworn statement of former Doral Police Commander James Montgomery, a licensed attorney, he alleged that Chief Gomez had manipulated the outcome of a public bid for a government purchase of furniture by disclosing material information about the bidding process to one of the bidders; by causing the alteration of a submitted bid to influence the competitive process; and by providing a competitive advantage to one bidder.
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According to Commander Montgomery and other witnesses interviewed by FDLE, the Doral Police Department put out a request for bid to four area furniture vendors, which according to the de jure winning bidder, Pradere Office Products, was competitive in nature. However, the Chief, according to the testimony and evidence, contacted one of the other bidders, Corporate Express, and gave them information, which allowed them to reduce their bid by a sufficient amount to guarantee success. The Chief then instructed the Commander to accept the altered bid and replace the previous one with the newly submitted, revised bid. When the Commander objected, he was taken off the project and the bid(s) were destroyed under orders of Chief Gomez. Given Commander Montgomerys vocal objections to the bid manipulation, the Chief petitioned the Manager for a bid waiver, abandoning the earlier bidding process, and organized a piggy-back contract purchase of the furniture with the vendor with whom he had colluded earlier. Ultimately the furniture was purchased from Corporate Express. The representative from Corporate Express, pursuant to a subpoena, rendered a sworn statement wherein he admitted being contacted by the Chief and instructed to lower his price by a specified amount, which when compared with the Pradere bid, corresponded almost exactly. 5) That Chief Gomez and select members of his Command Staff maintained a secret checking account, under the Doral Police Explorers Program, which they used internally to fund Explorer events, but also was used to fund other, non-explorer expenses at the direction of the Chief. During questioning by FDLE agents, several witnesses revealed that the Doral Police Department, under orders from the Chief of Police, maintained a bank account, which was purposely kept secret from the City of Doral leadership. The account was maintained purportedly to fund the Doral Police Explorer program; however, witnesses testified that the secret account was funded through outside donations, primarily from Univision, and used in large part to fund explorer-related activity. But in several instances, the account was used to purchase items needed by the Department, such as a refrigerator for the break room, two barbecue grills, and to cater quasi-political events for Doral elected officials, none of which, according to witnesses, had anything to do with the Explorers program. A forensic analysis of the account and the interview of an executive from the Explorer parent organization lead to the conclusion that, while greater transparency and oversight was advisable with regard to the account and some misuse of funds may have occurred, there was no evidence of theft or other criminal activity with the account. The Police Financial Investigator concluded that all of the money donated by outside sources had been deposited into the account, and all the expenses were accounted for. Also, Ms. Diane Hickman, an executive with the South Florida Council, Learning for Life organization, stated that no monies donated to the Explorer program should be used by the sponsoring organization for activities not related to the Explorers, particularly political activities, but she conceded that there are no strict, clearly defined agreements that define this fact. She stated that the governmental entitys policy and ethical considerations are the guiding factors. Spin-Off Intelligence Case (MI-48-2758) While conducting the criminal/corruption investigation into allegations of official misconduct and bid tampering involving Chief Gomez, et al, SA Saladrigas received ancillary information on another allegation of impropriety involving the Chief of the Doral Police Department. Investigation revealed that Chief Gomez completed construction on a regulation-sized basketball court with full stadium lighting just feet from a neighbors contiguous property line. That neighbor and others tolerated the ensuing troubles for a time: Chief Gomez would
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frequently host practices for two basketball teams on which his son played; occasionally the Chief would host mens competitive pick-up games, which regularly went on until midnight and beyond. These events led to considerable neighborhood disruption and ill will amongst the neighbors. It was discovered that Chief Gomez had completed all of the aforementioned construction without required permits and failed to conform with setback requirements. A hearing by the Miami-Dade Community Zoning Appeals Board 12 culminated in an understanding that Chief Gomezs actions would be grandfathered in and awarded permits after the fact; however, the Board greatly restricted the Chiefs time of use and type of use to better conform to the tranquility of the neighborhood. The day after the hearing, the neighbor who had led the complaint process against the Chief, discovered that her mailbox had been vandalized and several epithets had been scrawled on the mailbox itself. The vandalism would continue for months before it ceased. The matter was investigated by the MiamiDade Police Department and the U.S. Postal Inspector, but no arrests were made. A Close-Out Memo, dated December 16, 2011, was received by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) on December 20, 2011, regarding the investigation into allegations against the Doral Chief of Police, Ricardo Gomez, et al. Assistant State Attorney (ASA) Isis Perez, after reviewing the facts of the case as reflected in the FDLE investigative documentation submitted to the SAO for their perusal, concluded that no crimes had been committed by Chief Gomez or any other person(s) named in the investigation, and the SAO closed out the case without prosecution.