Florida sheriff under investigation for loan
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Thu Jun 01, 2006 at 11:45:00 AM EST
Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne is under investigation for his failure to disclose a $20,000 loan from a developer with business before his office:
Developer Philip Procacci and one of Jenne's secretaries, Marian Yoka, told federal prosecutors and state investigators that Procacci gave her a loan of $20,000 with the understanding that she would give the money to Jenne to pay his 2003 income taxes, said the sources, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity. As part of the investigation of Jenne's business dealings and finances, investigators are questioning why he appears to have concealed the source of the money and why he did not declare it on his state ethics disclosure forms. They are also trying to determine if the developer or Jenne got any other benefit as a result of the loan.
More of the story after the jump.
As if that isn't bad enough:
Jenne and his agency have been under a cloud for 2 1/2 years since the Broward State Attorney's Office began investigating allegations that the Sheriff's Office falsified confessions and blamed crimes on the wrong people to inflate solved-crimes statistics. Several detectives have been charged with official misconduct and two have pleaded guilty to misdemeanors.
Common Cause Florida is suspicious:
Ethics experts said public officials are advised to avoid even the appearance of a possible impropriety and the allegations, if true, are troubling. "It creates an appearance that he's using his public position to benefit himself," said Ben Wilcox, executive director of Common Cause of Florida. Government officials can take personal loans while in office, the experts said. But any loan would be illegal if it were based on an understanding that an official would use his position to benefit the lender.
Tags: Florida, In the States, Broward County, Sheriff Ken Jenne, Ethics in Government, bribery (all tags)
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