St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
July 7, 1987, Tuesday, City Edition
Investigators question ex-sheriff's transactions
DATELINE: TALLAHASSEE
TALLAHASSEE - On May 29, 1979, state investigators say, the wife of then-Sarasota
Sheriff Jim Hardcastle made a $ 2,000
cash down payment on a 1979 two-door Lincoln coupe.
Five months later, the sheriff paid $ 2,000 cash for a 1966 Ford
Mustang. Hardcastle gave the car to their daughter for her 16th birthday,
friends told investigators.
Then, in April 1980, Hardcastle used $ 3,400 cash as a down payment on a
1978 Chevrolet pickup truck.
In each case, and eight others cited in a report sent to prosecutors,
Hardcastle or his wife used cash that investigators could not track to any
"legitimate" source, such as the couple's checking accounts or loans. At the
same time, the investigators' report says, the cash could have have come from
a sheriff's department investigative fund that is missing money.
Despite the report by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), a
special prosecutor concluded that there was not enough evidence to support a
criminal charge against Hardcastle, who was defeated in his 1984 bid for
re-election. The report outlined charges for prosecutors to consider based on
evidence that investigators collected in two years of audits and interviews.
Hardcastle could not be reached for comment Monday, and his lawyer is on
vacation in Europe, the lawyer's secretary said.
Hardcastle was interviewed for the audit but refused to take a lie
detector test and would not provide personal financial statements from 1977
to 1984.
Although the prosecutor reached his decision in December 1985, the
state's investigative files were not opened until recently after they were
returned by officials with the Internal Revenue Service.
The investigators' report, obtained by the St. Petersburg Times Monday,
also shows that: Hardcastle "instructed" his personal secretary to
"withhold information or lie" about $ 5,000 he gave her so she could buy a
car.
At one point he suggested she refuse to reveal the source of the money,
saying it came from a socially prominent, married man she could not
compromise, she told investigators.
Department ledgers documenting use of investigative funds disappeared
after Hardcastle collected them from his subordinates. The records supervisor
in Hardcastle's department said he gave her records to shred.
Prosecutors decided that the evidence was too sketchy to charge
Hardcastle with stealing from the investigative fund, officials said Monday.
It was clear that Hardcastle "was spending more money than he had and
that there were funds missing from the (investigative) fund," said Barbara
Linthicum, deputy general counsel to the governor. "The basic problem was
connecting up the two."
The state has to "prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he got the money
from the fund," she said. "We couldn't."
Leon County prosecutor Peter Antonacci was preparing the case in
September 1985 when an expert witness convinced him not to bother, Antonacci
said Monday.
"There was no direct evidence that he (Hardcastle) took the money, only
that he had excess income," Antonacci said. The expert, former IRS supervisor
Richard Nossen, suggested instead that the IRS could sue Hardcastle,
Antonacci said.
"Our expert said it was a great civil collections case. . . . We packed
it up and sent it to the IRS," Antonacci said.
The IRS finished its investigation about a month ago without telling him
what was decided, FDLE investigator Ken Bridges said Monday.
IRS spokeswoman DeeDee Cobb-Byrd would not comment Monday on whether the
agency had investigated Hardcastle. She said only that no civil or criminal
charges have been brought.
Hardcastle did face a criminal charge once,
but he was acquitted on that count. In February 1984, a special prosecutor
said the sheriff took a pleasure trip to the Bahamas using his department's
airplane.
Hardcastle, who was suspended from office while fighting the charge, said
he was conducting an investigation and that he used his wife and another
couple as cover for his inquiry. The jury found the sheriff innocent.
Just as quickly as Hardcastle got back into office, state officials said
they were beginning an audit of the special investigative fund controlled by
Hardcastle and his chief deputy, Geoffrey Monge. The audit showed that $
171,596.50 was "unaccounted for" from 1978 through 1983.
In their report to prosecutors, investigators said, they paid close
attention to a safe in Hardcastle's office where the cash was kept.
Investigators also launched audits of the personal finances of Hardcastle and
Monge.
Monge, now Sarasota sheriff,
turned over his personal records, kept a log of investigative money he
handled and agreed to take a lie detector test, the report says.
Hardcastle did none of that.
But investigators documented that in three years, Hardcastle spent more
money than he made from "legitimate sources." His excess spending ranged from
$ 17,995 in 1979-80 to $ 5,157 in 1980-81. Thus, investigators focused on a
number of transactions in which they said Hardcastle used cash from a source
they could not document.
For two years, Hardcastle's income exceeded his expenses, in part,
because of $ 14,000 in loans Hardcastle said he received from his
mother-in-law, a resident of England.
But when authorities in England interviewed the woman, she said she did
not remember any such loan. She said she gave the Hardcastles about $ 2,000
in 1978, about $ 3,200 in 1980 and about $ 800 in the summer of 1983.
St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
January 27, 1995, Friday, Tampa Edition
Sheriffs who ran afoul of the law
A number of Florida sheriffs have been accused of violating the law. They
include:
The former sheriff of Hendry County, Earl Sermon Dyess Jr., indicted on federal drug smuggling charges and sentenced to 17 years in prison in 1993 for trafficking in cocaine.
Dyess was accused of providing protection and surveillance for Colombian smugglers.
Santa Rosa County Sheriff Mauriece Coffman, indicted and removed from office in 1992. Charged with racketeering, witness tampering, bribery, obstructing justice and intimidating a witness, he pleaded guilty to several misdemeanor charges and was given probation and a $ 10,000 fine.
Bay County Sheriff Lavelle Pitts, charged with perjury for allegedly lying to a grand jury about sexual harassment charges in 1988. He was acquitted by jurors.
Escambia County Sheriff Vince Seely, charged in 1987 with driving under the influence, pleaded no contest.
Pasco County Sheriff John M. Short, charged with accepting unlawful compensation and official misconduct in 1984, was acquitted by jurors in 1985.
Sarasota County Sheriff Jim Hardcastle was charged with grand theft in 1984 and acquitted by jurors.
Manatee County Sheriff Thomas Burton pleaded no contest to election law violations in October 1984.
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