According to the Sun Sentinel, the city has suspended two Fort Lauderdale police officers who may
have violated department policy in their off-duty work last year for
Ponzi suspect Scott Rothstein.
Suspended
with pay Friday were Sgt. Steve Greenlaw and Officer DeAnna
Garcia-Lemieux, city officials confirmed. The two guarded Rothstein's
Harbor Beach home, his Bova Prime restaurant and his law firm, Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler, city records show.
They also were in charge of scheduling other officers' Rothstein
shifts. For their work as coordinators Rothstein paid each of them an
extra 5.5 percent of the overall off-duty pay, the records show. With
an estimated $300,000 in off-duty work last year, the two would have
received $16,500 each, plus payment for their individual guard work.
The city has no record of their total intake.
"I can confirm
they were suspended with pay, and it was for issues arising out of the
Rothstein detail," Mayor Jack Seiler said Sunday morning.
After
months of the city and police department defending the Rothstein
off-duty work, the suspensions were the first official acknowledgement
of possible wrongdoing.
City policy prohibits officers acting
as personal bodyguards, but officials wouldn't say Sunday whether
Greenlaw or Garcia-Lemieux or both are suspected of traveling with Kim
or Scott Rothstein, or which policies may have been violated. As their
off-duty employer, Rothstein could have given officers a higher rate of
pay than the city suggests, or could even have given bonuses without
necessarily running afoul of city policy.
Only if he'd given an
expensive item or large financial bonus would it draw the city's
investigative attention, officials have said.
The guarding of
Rothstein's residence was unique: No other person in the city's history
has hired officers on a permanent, 24-hour basis for a private home.
Still, top city officials, including Police Chief Frank Adderley,
considered the work to be distinct from being a bodyguard, and approved
it last spring.
Seiler recently said he will try to have the
police union contract rewritten to ban prolonged guarding of homes, so
a detail like Rothstein's would never again be allowed.
Every day, the continued Rothstein investigation reveals more reasons why society's trust in police officers, public officials and attorneys has diminished. Those who we are supposed and should be relying upon the most are creating a perception that no one, whether it be elected official or hired hand is trustworthy. The perception unfortunately has become that all that matters is the almighty dollar regardless of the cost to the rest of us. What a shame, what a shame!