Findings Of Fact Based upon the evidence adduced at hearing, and the record as a whole, the following Findings of Fact are made: The Department is a state government licensing and regulatory agency. Respondent Agency is a Florida-licensed (Class "A" license number A88- 00297 private investigative agency. Respondent Foreman is the owner of the Agency. He is a Florida-licensed (Class "C" license number C00-02486) private investigator. He has been licensed for approximately the past 20 years. At no time during the period of his licensure has the Department taken any disciplinary action against him. At around 10:00 a.m. on the morning of September 30, 1994, Foreman interrupted his work schedule to drive a male tenant living in an apartment that he owned (hereinafter referred to as the "Tenant") to the Henderson Mental Health Clinic, an outpatient mental health facility located in Broward County, Florida. The Tenant needed to receive treatment at the clinic. After parking his vehicle, Foreman escorted the Tenant to the reception area of the facility. Foreman was wearing a gun belt and a holster. A loaded firearm was encased in the holster. It was a warm day and Foreman did not have on a jacket. 2/ Consequently, the holstered firearm was in plain view. At the time, Foreman had a Department-issued Class "W" Concealed Weapon or Firearm License, but he did not have a Class "G" Statewide Firearm Permit. 3/ Detective Joel Maney of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department was working a uniformed off-duty security detail at Henderson Mental Health Clinic that morning. From his position behind the reception counter, Detective Maney observed Foreman enter the reception area with the Tenant and noticed that Foreman was carrying a firearm. Not wanting to cause a disturbance inside the facility, Detective Maney did not immediately confront Foreman. He did, however, monitor Foreman's activity. After informing the receptionist that the Tenant had arrived and was waiting to be seen, Foreman left the facility. Detective Maney followed Foreman outside. As Foreman was walking on the sidewalk toward his vehicle, Detective Maney approached him and asked for identification. Foreman responded to the request by stating that he was a detective/investigator and that he did not have time to talk inasmuch as he was in the middle of an investigation. Eventually, Foreman produced his Florida driver license, his Class "C" Private Investigator License, and his Class "W" Concealed Weapon or Firearm License for Detective Maney. He also showed Detective Maney a five-pointed, star-shaped badge. In the center of the badge was a replica of the Great Seal of the State of Florida. The words, "Special Investigator Foreman Investigative," were inscribed around the seal. When Detective Maney first saw the badge, he thought it was a Broward County deputy sheriff's badge because of its shape and because it bore the Great Seal of the State of Florida. Unlike a Broward County deputy sheriff's badge, however, Foreman's badge did not have a map of Florida superimposed on the seal. Moreover, the written inscription on the badge was different than that found on a Broward County deputy sheriff's badge. Throughout the period that he has been licensed, Foreman has used this badge as a means of identifying himself in connection with the performance of his duties as a private investigator.
Recommendation Based upon the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, it is hereby RECOMMENDED that the Department enter a final order (1) finding the evidence sufficient to establish that Respondent Foreman committed the violations alleged in Counts II and II of the Amended Administrative Complaint, disciplining Respondent Foreman him for having committed these violations by imposing an administrative fine in the amount of $500.00, and (3) dismissing the remaining counts of the Amended Administrative Complaint. DONE AND ENTERED in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida, this 12th day of October, 1995. STUART M. LERNER Hearing Officer Division of Administrative Hearings The DeSoto Building 1230 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1550 (904) 488-9675 Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 12th day of October, 1995.
Findings Of Fact Respondent, Rolando Mirabet, was first licensed as a commercial driving instructor in 1981. His current license will expire February 1, 1983. On March 26, 1982, a cameraman for WTVJ, Channel 4, Miami, while posing as a driver's license applicant at the Central Driver License Office was approached by Respondent. The cameraman/applicant told Respondent he was looking for the answers to the driver's license examination. They entered an automobile, Respondent showed the cameraman/applicant papers which he represented to be test questions from the actual driver's license examination, and the cameraman/applicant told Respondent he needed to take the questions and answers home with him to study. Respondent sold the questionnaire to the cameraman/applicant for twenty-five dollars ($25). Other employees of WTVJ filmed the encounter between Respondent and the cameraman/applicant from inside a surveillance van. The document sold by the Respondent to the WTVJ cameraman/applicant contains fifty-three questions with multiple-choice, alternate answers provided for each question and with one of the alternate answers for each question being marked as the correct answer. The document is in Spanish. Applicants for a driver's license are required, among other things, to pass a written examination concerning rules and regulations for driving in the State of Florida. Petitioner uses four different written examinations for testing applicants. During the hearing, one of Petitioner's witnesses compared the questionnaire sold by the Respondent to the cameraman/applicant and one of the Spanish versions of Petitioner's examination. Although the witness identified five questions as being the same on both documents, he also recognized some of the questions on the document which Respondent sold as being questions from the other versions of Petitioner's Spanish examination. A close review of the actual examination admitted in evidence and the document sold by Respondent reveals, however, that all twenty questions on the actual examination are found verbatim in the document sold by Respondent, and the alternate, multiple-choice answers to each question are also verbatim. Respondent admits giving the questions and answers to driver's license applicants. Respondent denies any knowledge of the rules and regulations enacted by Petitioner. Petitioner publishes a driver's handbook. That handbook contains a number of questions that are general in nature. No answers to those questions are suggested, and a reader needs to understand the entire book in order to answer those questions. Only one sample question with multiple-choice answers is given in order to illustrate to applicants the type of question which the applicant will encounter on the licensing examination.
Recommendation Based upon the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, it is, therefore, RECOMMENDED THAT: A final order be entered permanently revoking the commercial driving instructor's certificate card of Respondent, Rolando Mirabet. RECOMMENDED this 27th day of July, 1982, in Tallahassee, Florida. LINDA M. RIGOT, Hearing Officer Division of Administrative Hearings The Oakland Building 2009 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, Florida 32301 (904) 488-9675 Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 27th day of July, 1982. COPIES FURNISHED: Judson M. Chapman, Esquire Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Neil Kirkman Building Tallahassee, Florida 32301 Alan Goldfarb, Esquire 12th Floor, Roberts Building 28 West Flagler Street Miami, Florida 33130 Mr. Chester F. Blakemore Executive Director Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Neil Kirkman Building Tallahassee, Florida 32301
Findings Of Fact The Respondent was certified by the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission on March 19, 1982, and was issued certificate number 99-4437. The Petitioner is an agency of the State of Florida charged with enforcing the standards for law enforcement officer certification contained in Chapter 943, Florida Statutes, and related rules. It has concomitant authority to discipline such law enforcement officers as to their certification status if certain violations of the provisions in that Chapter are established. On October 25, 1980, the Respondent was cited by a law enforcement officer in Hillsborough County, Florida, for speeding. The fine and disposition of the case remained outstanding regarding that citation until September 27, 1984. In 1981 the Respondent moved to Florida from Ohio to accept employment with the Sarasota County Sheriff's Department. Soon after relocating in Florida, the Respondent attempted to obtain a Florida driver's license. A representative of the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles informed him that he was "under suspension." Some months prior to June 1984, one of the Respondent's supervisors at the Sarasota County Sheriff's Department, Captain Johnson, informed the Respondent that his driving privilege in Florida was under suspension. He was instructed to get the matter "squared away." On June 30, 1984, the Respondent was involved in an automobile accident. The accident was investigated by Trooper Linda Perkins of the Florida Highway Patrol. During the course of the accident investigation, Trooper Perkins asked the Respondent for his driver's license. The Respondent furnished Trooper Perkins a piece of paper which had written on it the letter "F" followed by nine digits. The Respondent represented this number to the Trooper to be his Florida driver's license number. The structure and sequencing of the number was inconsistent with Florida driver's license numbers as well as those issued by the State of Ohio. The Respondent at the time possessed a valid Ohio driver's license. The Respondent, however, had no valid Florida driver's license on the date of the accident and was aware that his privilege to drive was under suspension in Florida on the date of the accident. On September 15, 1984, Sergeant Gerald Poole, Lieutenant Blakely, and Sergeant Kremm, each employed by the Sarasota County Sheriff's Department, met with the Respondent. The Respondent acknowledged that Captain Johnson had earlier notified him that he was aware of the license suspension in Florida and was requested to explain why the suspension had not been corrected, but remained outstanding. The Respondent informed his superiors that an "imposter" had obtained a California driver's license in his name, (after allegedly stealing his wallet), and had impersonated him when ticketed in Hillsborough County in 1980 for speeding. Respondent maintained at this meeting that he had a valid Florida driver's license, which was not the case. The Respondent was confronted with the fact that the "imposter's" ticket contained the address of 58 Brittany Drive, Cincinnati, Ohio. The Respondent denied that that address existed. The Respondent's employment application, which was on file at the Sarasota County Sheriff's Department, contained as the Respondent's prior address, 58 Brittany Drive, Fairfield, Ohio. The Respondent's employment application also listed Pomona, California, as a prior address. The Respondent had spent a short period of time in California shortly prior to his leaving his employment as a police officer in Ohio, at which time he apparently obtained a California driver's license. He elected not to remain in California, however, returned to Ohio and shortly thereafter moved to Sarasota County. In any event, Sergeant Poole obtained a computer check of the registrant of the tag number listed on the "imposter's" 1980 Hillsborough County traffic ticket. The car's license plate was registered in the name of Edward Foy. On September 27, 1984, the Respondent met with Lieutenant Vernie Skeens of the Sarasota County Sheriff's Department. Lieutenant Skeens had been assigned to conduct an "internal affairs" investigation regarding allegations that the Respondent gave false information to his superiors, had driven Department vehicles while unlicensed, and had driven under suspended driving privileges. The Respondent presented Lieutenant Skeens with a valid Florida driver's license which bore an issue date of the same day, September 27, 1984. Lieutenant Skeens questioned the Respondent regarding the unpaid 1980 speeding ticket which had caused his privilege to drive in Florida to become suspended. The Respondent repeated his explanation that an imposter was responsible for using his name in conjunction with the citation and that is why suspension had been entered against his name in the Florida driving records. The Respondent later that day admitted that it was he and not an imposter who received the 1980 ticket in Hillsborough County. When asked if he had lied to his superiors concerning this, the Respondent replied, "I believe I may have. I don't think I was..." The Respondent admitted that he had not obtained a Florida driver's license since moving to Florida until September 27, 1984, the day of his interview with Lieutenant Skeens. He also told Lieutenant Skeens that, at the scene of the June 30, 1984 traffic accident, he gave no driver's license number to Trooper Perkins and had no idea how she came to obtain such a number. The Respondent testified at the formal hearing, however, that he did give Trooper Perkins a driver's license number on the date of the June 30, 1984 accident, at the scene. He testified he believed the number to be that of his Ohio driver's license. Although the Respondent maintained he told Trooper Perkins he did not have a Florida driver's license, her testimony is accepted over his as more credible and worthy of belief. Her testimony establishes that, indeed, he represented the number he gave Trooper Perkins to be that of his Florida driver's license. He never told the Trooper that the number was an Ohio driver's license number or that of any other state. Indeed it has not been established that it was other than a bogus driver's license number and it was not proven that the number was that of his Ohio driver's license. The Respondent's own testimony establishes that the number Trooper Perkins was given does not have the same number of digits as the Ohio driver's license. The Respondent was confronted at the hearing with his prior statement in which he denied ever giving the Trooper any number. He testified "...I can't believe I said that." Trooper Perkins' testimony refutes that of the Respondent to the extent that he contended he told the Trooper he did not have a Florida driver's license. Indeed he never represented that the number he gave the Trooper was anything other than a Florida driver's license number. The Respondent has never before been subjected to disciplinary action regarding his licensure status in Florida or Ohio. He has had an exemplary record as a law enforcement officer, earning numerous awards including that of "Officer of the Year" in Ohio in 1982.
Recommendation Accordingly, the Respondent's certification as a law enforcement officer should be revoked on account of his failure to maintain good moral character as a necessary prerequisite to continued certification. DONE AND ORDERED this 14th day of November, 1986 in Tallahassee, Florida. P. MICHAEL RUFF, Hearing Officer Division of Administrative Hearings The Oakland Building 2009 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, Florida 32301 (904) 488-9675 Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 14th day of November, 1986. COPIES FURNISHED: Joseph S. White, Esquire Assistant General Counsel Post Office Box 1489 Tallahassee, Florida 32302 Edward A. Foy 2910 Wood Street Sarasota, Florida 33577 Robert R. Dempsey Executive Director Department of Law Enforcement Post Office Box 1489 Tallahassee, Florida 32302 Janet E. Ferris, Esquire General Counsel Department of Law Enforcement Post Office Box 1489 Tallahassee, Florida 32302 Rod Caswell Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission Post Office Box 1489 Tallahassee, Florida 32302 APPENDIX Paragraphs 1-15: Accepted.
