The Issue The issue presented is whether Respondent is guilty of the allegations contained in the Administrative Complaint filed against him, and, if so, what disciplinary action should be taken against him, if any.
Findings Of Fact At all times material hereto, Respondent Homer Rozier has been certified as a correctional officer in the State of Florida. On February 17, 2003, Respondent was employed at the South Bay Correctional Facility. He resigned from that employment on or about July 16, 2003. On February 17, 2003, Chad Pelham was employed as a loss prevention officer at the Wal-Mart located in Clewiston, Florida. As a law enforcement officer certified by the State of Florida for the five years previous, Pelham had been trained in law enforcement techniques, including observation, and was qualified to perform store security duties. On that date, Respondent and his wife entered the Wal- Mart to shop. Since other Wal-Mart employees told Pelham they suspected that Respondent had stolen items from the store on previous occasions, Pelham and his partner followed Respondent and his wife, watching them as they shopped. Respondent and his wife selected some baby shoes from the shelf, removed the tags, and placed the shoes on their infant. They continued walking through the store, stopping to remove a bottle of water from the Wal-Mart cooler, and drinking the water as they shopped. Respondent and his wife proceeded to the houseware section. Respondent removed two wallpaper borders and a bathroom tumbler from the displays and hid them in his baby's diaper bag that he had in the shopping cart. In the deli department of the store Respondent and his wife obtained a bag of chicken. They ate the chicken as they walked through the store and then discarded the bag. In the electronics section of the store Respondent took two magazines related to certain electronic games, such as Nintendo X-box, and put them in his shopping cart. These magazines were sold by Wal-Mart for approximately $15 and $13. When Respondent was in the housewares section he placed the magazines under some towels (or rugs), concealing them. Respondent and his wife then proceeded to the cashier and paid for some of the merchandise they had taken. They did not pay for the chicken they had eaten or the water they had drunk or the baby shoes they had placed on their baby's feet. After paying for the items in their cart and having those items placed in blue Wal-Mart bags, Respondent and his wife left the register area as they would do to exit the store. They did not exit, however. Instead, carrying the Wal-Mart bags containing the items they had paid for, they split up, with Respondent returning to the housewares section and his wife returning to the groceries section. In the housewares section, Respondent retrieved the gaming magazines he had hidden under the towels (or rugs) and placed them in the Wal-Mart bags containing items that had been purchased. He then rejoined his wife in the grocery aisles where they placed some small items in the bags containing the items that they had purchased. They then proceeded to exit the store without returning to a cashier to pay for the items they had not purchased. After Respondent and his wife exited through the first of two sets of exterior doors, Pelham and his partner detained them. Pelham and his partner retrieved the merchandise Respondent and his wife had not paid for and contacted the City of Clewiston Police Department. Officer Demetrius Scruggs responded to the call, coming to the store and arresting Respondent for retail theft.
Recommendation Based on the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, it is RECOMMENDED that a final order be entered finding Respondent guilty of the allegations contained in the Administrative Complaint filed against him and suspending his certification as a correctional officer for a period of 90 days. DONE AND ENTERED this 23rd day of September, 2004, in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida. S LINDA M. RIGOT Administrative Law Judge Division of Administrative Hearings The DeSoto Building 1230 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3060 (850) 488-9675 SUNCOM 278-9675 Fax Filing (850) 921-6847 www.doah.state.fl.us Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 23rd day of September, 2004. COPIES FURNISHED: Rod Caswell, Program Director Division of Criminal Justice Standards and Training Department of Law Enforcement Post Office Box 1489 Tallahassee, Florida 32302-1489 Michael Ramage, General Counsel Division of Criminal Justice Standards and Training Department of Law Enforcement Post Office Box 1489 Tallahassee, Florida 32302-1489 Linton B. Eason, Esquire Department of Law Enforcement Post Office Box 1489 Tallahassee, Florida 32302-1489 Homer Rozier 633 Southwest Eighth Street, No. 5 Belle Glade, Florida 33430
The Issue The issue is whether Respondent's certification as a Firefighter II Compliance should be permanently revoked for the reasons stated in the Administrative Complaint (Complaint), dated June 6, 2018.
Findings Of Fact The Department is the state agency responsible for licensing and regulating firefighters in the State. Respondent is certified in Florida as a Firefighter II Compliance. He holds Certificate No. 139586. Until the incident underlying this controversy arose, Respondent was employed by the Sarasota County Fire Department as a firefighter/paramedic. He now is working in the emergency room of a local hospital. The parties have stipulated that on March 21, 2018, Respondent entered a plea of nolo contendere to aggravated assault with a weapon, a third-degree felony punishable by imprisonment of one year or more under Florida law. Adjudication was withheld, Respondent was placed on probation for a period of two years, and he was ordered to pay court costs, fines, and fees in the amount of $1,525.00. See also Dep't Ex. 19. In response to the Complaint, Respondent essentially argues that: (a) he should not have been charged with the underlying criminal offense because he was defending himself against an aggressor in a road rage incident, and (b) he entered a nolo contendere plea based on bad advice from his attorney. At hearing, Respondent gave his version of the events resulting in his arrest. Also, two police officers involved with his arrest testified to what they observed and reported. Their testimony conflicts in many respects with Respondent's testimony. The undersigned will not attempt to reconcile the conflicts, as this proceeding is not the appropriate forum in which to relitigate the criminal charge. During the criminal case, Respondent was represented by a criminal law attorney who presented him with two options: enter into a plea arrangement or go to trial and risk a harsher penalty if he were found guilty. Respondent says he accepted his counsel's recommendation that he enter a plea of nolo contendere on the belief that he would not have a felony arrest on his record. After the plea agreement was accepted by the court, Respondent learned that the plea required revocation of his certification and loss of his job. Respondent also testified that even though he paid counsel a $15,000.00 fee, his counsel did little or no investigation regarding what happened, as he failed to depose a single witness before making a recommendation to take a plea.1/ In hindsight, Respondent says he would have gone to trial since he now believes he had a legitimate claim to the "castle defense," and the so-called victim in the incident (the driver of the other car) has a long criminal history and is now incarcerated. At this point, however, if Respondent believes an error in the legal process occurred, his only remedy, if one exists at all, is through the court system and not in an administrative proceeding. A felony plea constitutes noncompliance with the certification statute and requires permanent revocation of a certification. According to a Department witness, however, five years after all requirements of the court's sentencing have been met, the Department has the authority "in a formal process" to make a "felony conviction review" that may result in the reissuance of a certification. Except for this incident, Respondent has no other blemishes on his record. He served in the United States Marine Corps, with combat tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, he was honorably discharged, and he was honored for saving a life at a Target store while off-duty. He has apologized for his actions, taken an anger management course, and received further treatment for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder at a local Veteran's Administration facility.
Recommendation Based on the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, it is RECOMMENDED that the Department of Financial Services enter a final order permanently revoking Respondent's certification. DONE AND ENTERED this 15th day of February, 2019, in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida. S D. R. ALEXANDER Administrative Law Judge Division of Administrative Hearings The DeSoto Building 1230 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3060 (850) 488-9675 Fax Filing (850) 921-6847 www.doah.state.fl.us Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 15th day of February, 2019.
