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!