Barnes to W. J. Gladwin, Assistant General Counsel for the Department of State. This memorandum stated in summary that Mr. Johnston, as attorney for the applicant Givens, had complied with the Order of Continuance. The memorandum stated further regarding the material supplied by Mr. Johnston, "This does meet the requirements for additional information need to substantiate Givens' license."
Thereafter, there was no activity in the case file of the Division of Administrative Hearings until entry of the order to Show Cause dated February 20, 1980. The Order to Show Cause indicated that the Division of Administrative Hearings case file reflected that the controversy between the parties possibly had been resolved, the license issued, and the Division of Administrative Hearings had not been advised. The order to Show Cause gave the parties 20 days to show cause why a recommendation to issue the license should not be entered.
Following the Order to Show Cause, the Department of State responded indicating that the memorandum from Barnes to Gladwin did not mean that the information provided by the applicant met the requirements for licensure, but was intended only to indicate receipt by the Division of License Issuance of the material from the applicant's attorney. The Petitioner (applicant) responded by filing a Motion to Impose Sanctions for the Department's failure to follow the directives contained in the Order of Continuance. This matter was set for formal hearing in Pensacola, Florida, on June 5, 1980, by agreement of the parties.
APPEARANCES
For Petitioner: James A. Johnston, Esquire
Number 1 North Palafox Street Pensacola, Florida 32501
For Respondent: W. J. Gladwin, Jr., Esquire
Assistant General Counsel Department of State
The Capitol
Tallahassee, Florida 32301
At the formal hearing argument on the Petitioner's Motion to Impose Sanctions was heard, and testimony was taken on the issue of whether the Department of State had complied with the Hearing Officer's Order of Continuance. The testimony of Steven Barnes indicated that he was the author of the memorandum to William Gladwin, and that he had received the material from Petitioner's counsel. Barnes further testified that this material was not checked and assessed within 15 days because the Department's investigator in Pensacola had been hospitalized. Barnes was unable to explain why other investigative personnel of the Department were not used to comply with the Order of Continuance. Barnes explained that he had not advised the Petitioner whether his application was approved because Barnes had been involved in preparing materials for the legislative session. The case file revealed that the Petitioner's application has been pending since April of 1979, during which time the Petitioner has been unable to work as a private investigator. Based on this testimony, sanctions were imposed.
The Order Imposing Sanctions reflected the Stipulation of the parties at the hearing that the Petitioner was fully qualified except for his experience, which was the sole issue in the case. The applicant had to present the prima facie case of his entitlement to licensure. To provide the applicant with that opportunity, the Petitioner was given 15 days from the date of the Order Imposing Sanctions to file an affidavit of his experience with the Hearing Officer upon which a factual determination of the applicant's qualifications could be made. The Department of State was denied a further opportunity to present evidence, to examine or cross-examine witnesses and to file further pleadings in the cause.
The applicant caused to be filed with the Division of Administrative Hearings an affidavit of Eugene Harold Givens, the applicant, and I. H. Givens, the applicant's father. Said affidavit was appropriately notarized and timely filed with the Division of Administrative Hearings. Said affidavit constitutes the record in this proceeding pursuant to the Order Imposing Sanctions. The following Findings of Fact are based upon the information contained in said affidavit.
FINDINGS OF FACT
The applicant, Eugene Harold Givens, worked 30 hours per week from January of 1974 until June, 1976, for I. H. Givens, a Class "A" private investigator. The applicant surveilled and investigated prostitution and drug trafficking for a total of 3900 hours during this two-and-a-half-year period at the San Carlos Hotel in Pensacola, Florida.
The applicant worked 200 hours for I. H. Givens in interviewing witnesses, locating witnesses and taking statements from witnesses for attorney James A Johnston.
The applicant worked 10 hours per week for two years, 1977 and 1978, for Ronald McNesbitt attempting to gain information concerning illegal drug trafficking and stolen property in Escambia County, Florida. This constituted a total of 1040 hours.
The applicant worked on various cases for I. H. Givens between 1976 and 1978 for a total of 780 hours as indicated:
20 hours investigation of stolen tax checks;
40 hours investigation and surveillance in a child custody case;
80 hours investigation into the cause of death of the son of Charles Walker; and
640 hours of surveillance and general private detective work with various attorneys and individual clients of I. H. Givens.
The applicant worked 20 hours per week for four months for I. H. Givens in investigation of stolen property for a total of 320 hours. This investigation was conducted in conjunction with the offices of the sheriffs of Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties.
The total number of hours worked by the applicant was 6240 hours. Applying the Department of State's procedure of dividing the number of hours worked by an applicant by 40 hours, the work hours in a full-time week, the applicant worked a total of 156 weeks, or three years.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
By virtue of the Stipulation entered into between the parties, the only matter at issue was the applicant's experience. Section 493.04, Florida Statutes, provides that an applicant for a Class "A" license must have three years' experience performing the type of services to be performed under the license. The facts show that the applicant has worked three years performing
the type of services performed under a Class "A" private investigative agency license.
Section 493.04 also requires that one year of the three years experience be within the State of Florida. The record reflects that the applicant's experience included 3900 hours, or 1.875 years, worked between 1974 and 1976 in investigating prostitution and drug trafficking at the San Carlos Hotel in Pensacola, Florida. This exceeds the one year's experience required to be within the State of Florida.
