FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT
INVESTIGATIVE SUMMARY
FDLE CASE NUMBER:
MI-14-0120
CASE AGENT(S):
Special Agent William V. Saladrigas
ALLEGATIONS:
Official Misconduct, Theft, Bid Tampering
COPIES TO:
Miami-Dade State Attorney, Eleventh Judicial Circuit,Public Corruption Unit
TARGET(S):
Ricardo Gomez (Chief, Doral Police Department), et al.
COMPLAINANT:
Yvonne Soler-McKinley, (Manager, City of Doral)
On Monday April 4, 2011, Assistant State Attorney (ASA) Joseph Centorino, Chief of theMiami-Dade State Attorney’s Office (SAO) Public Corruption Unit, contacted the FloridaDepartment of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Miami Regional Operations Center (MROC) toreport that they had been provided with an anonymous letter received by the City Managerat the City of Doral, which outlined certain allegations of misconduct by the Chief of Policeand other high-ranking police officials at the municipality. While the letter, according to ASACentorino, did not contain anything patently criminal, he thought that the FDLE shouldreview it and decide whether or not to follow up.On Thursday, April 14, 2011, Special Agent Supervisor (SAS) Robert L. Breeden assignedthe inquiry to Special Agent (SA) William V. Saladrigas. At that time, the identity of a DoralPolice Officer, Yvette Gomez, had surfaced as someone who could corroborate the contentsof the anonymous letter. Officer Gomez was questioned by FDLE.Based on the ensuing investigation, several areas of concern were identified. This summarywill encapsulate the various areas of concern as separate narratives. They will beallegation-specific and contain the broader facts that were uncovered from the investigationof those leads. This information will form the basis for the ultimate investigative conclusionsreached by FDLE.
1)
That former Doral Police Detective Anthony “Tony’ Rodriguez was targeted fortermination for political reasons and that steps were taken by Chief Ricardo Gomezand others, including the fraudulent alteration of official departmental records, toensure that the employee was forced to resign under the guise of it being voluntary.
1/12/2012 Allegations of Misconduct, Doral Police Department MI-14-0120
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Former Doral Police Detective Anthony “Tony” Rodriguez was interviewed, along with otherrelevant witnesses, vis-à-vis the above-captioned allegation(s). Relevant documents wereacquired by FDLE and analyzed for probative value. The FDLE investigation revealed thattwo internal probes launched by the Doral Police Department targeting Tony Rodriguez,according to the testimony of witnesses, were politically motivated. Moreover, the testimonyand document evidence revealed that Sergeant George Gulla, the Internal AffairsSupervisor who conducted the two inquiries, was ordered by Police Chief Ricardo Gomez toalter his investigative findings in both instances to arrive at conclusions not supported by theevidence uncovered by the IA Supervisor. Additionally statements given to the Miami-Dade SAO, after Tony Rodriguez filed acomplaint that he was fired in violation of the Doral Municipal Charter, indicated that he wasterminated for budgetary reasons. Both the City Manager and the Chief of Police testifiedthat he was targeted for termination due to budget cutbacks. However, when City ManagerYvonne Soler-McKinley rendered her sworn, digitally recorded statement to FDLE, shecontradicted her earlier testimony to the SAO, claiming that she first heard of TonyRodriguez’s termination when the Chief identified him for removal; she denied having anyprior knowledge of or participation in that decision. She also denied that it had anything todo with their budget or fiscal considerations.Lastly, witnesses interviewed evidenced the fact that Tony Rodriguez was disliked by DoralMayor Juan Carlos (JC) Bermudez due to the former’s perceived relationship with DoralCouncilwoman Sandra Ruiz, one of the Mayor’s alleged political enemies. In one instance,a witness testified that Mayor Bermudez told Chief Gomez that he needed to deal with this“[expletive deleted] Tony,” or the Mayor would deal with him personally. After theconversation, Chief Gomez told the witness that the Mayor wanted him “…to get rid ofsomebody.” A statement made by the Chief in his SAO testimony indicated that he pickedDetective Rodriguez for termination after the Manager instructed him to consider cutting staffand only because he had been the target of some internal investigations, which according tothe evidence, the Chief manipulated to achieve a desired outcome.
2) That Officer Rafael Cubela was hired under pressure from City ManagerYvonne Soler-McKinley and steps were undertaken in pursuit of that task thatincluded the destruction of official records and the material, fraudulent alteration ofother official records to ensure a favorable outcome.
During the course of the FDLE investigation, SA Saladrigas learned that a former SouthMiami Police Officer, identified as Rafael “Ralph” Cubela, had been hired by the Doral PoliceDepartment shortly after Detective Tony Rodriguez had been terminated, according to Doralofficials for budgetary reasons. According to witnesses, Officer Cubela had essentially beenforced out of the Bal Harbour Police Department, in or about 2004, after a protracted internalinvestigation revealed that he had violated numerous departmental policies and hadengaged in conduct which called into question the officer’s integrity. Despite this, the officerwas subsequently hired by South Miami PD. However, when he first applied to the DoralPolice Department, approximately one year before he was actually hired there, hevoluntarily agreed to withdraw his application after Doral Background Investigatorsdiscovered evidence of his problems at Bal Harbour PD.Approximately a year later, weeks after Rodriguez was terminated and only months after theformer South Miami City Manager had become Manager at the City of Doral, the originalBackground Investigation report was collected and subsequently disappeared. A secondBackground Investigation report was ordered by the Chief of Police. In the secondBackground Investigation report, favorable statements were attributed to the Bal HarbourChief of Police about Officer Cubela, which the Chief would categorically deny making
1/12/2012 Allegations of Misconduct, Doral Police Department MI-14-0120
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during his questioning by FDLE agents. The Chief’s denials were corroborated by hissecond in command, Captain Jay Smith, who was reportedly present during both meetingswith Doral Background Investigators. When the Background Investigator, Charles Miller,was questioned about his report, he could not explain the contradiction, but he didemphasize numerous times during his statement the fact that his report was unsigned byhim, which he deemed suspicious. When SA Saladrigas checked with Doral PD, it wasdiscovered that the Cubela Background Investigation report was the only one unsigned byMr. Miller during his tenure at Doral.Ms. Yvonne Soler-McKinley had been the City Manager in South Miami during part ofCubela’s tenure there as a police officer. It was said that the Chief made disparagingremarks about the officer but claimed that he was being forced to hire him. Whenquestioned by FDLE under oath, Ms. Soler-McKinley claimed that she had nothing to dowith the hiring of Officer Cubela; the decision, according to the Manager, was singularlymade by the Chief without input or influence from her. Ms. Soler-McKinley stated that if theChief had insinuated that she had ordered Cubela’s hiring, he would have been lying.
3) That Chief Gomez and others took steps, against the directives of the CityManager at the time, to fund the Police Department’s Inaugural Swearing-In ceremonyby secretly misappropriating City funds masked as a donation from a vendor that wasdoing business with the City.
At one point, witnesses questioned by FDLE revealed the above-captioned allegation. Afterquestioning all of the persons involved and collecting and reviewing all of the relevantdocument evidence, FDLE uncovered the following facts:In or about the middle of 2008, as the Doral Police Department was planning its inauguralswearing-in ceremony, the City Manager at the time, Sergio Purrinos, informed the Chiefthat there was no money in the budget to fund the elaborate event that the Chief wanted. Ator about the same time, the Chief and one of his commanders, Jose Ramos, met with theGeneral Manager at Emergency Vehicle Supplies (EVS). EVS was a company thatretrofitted the Department’s vehicles under contract. In that meeting it was learned that EVShad approximately $28,000 in contract overages, which they were legally required to refundto the City. Based on the evidence, the Chief and Commander Ramos convinced the EVSofficials to issue a check directly to the Doral Golf Resort and Spa as a “donation” for theinaugural ceremony. This money (refund) was never revealed to City leaders; it had beenrepresented as a sponsorship by EVS on behalf of the Department.Upon review by the SAO, it was determined that the secret misappropriation of City fundswas highly “unethical and wrong,” but it did not violate Florida State Statute because thefunds were used to pay for a quasi-public event that ultimately benefitted Doral.
4) That the Chief and others within his command staff conspired with an outsidevendor during the plans to purchase furniture for the Police Department, bydisclosing material information about the bidding process to one of the competingvendors and causing the alteration of a submitted bid to influence the competitiveprocess and to provide a competitive advantage to one bidder.
During the sworn statement of former Doral Police Commander James Montgomery, alicensed attorney, he alleged that Chief Gomez had manipulated the outcome of a public bidfor a government purchase of furniture by disclosing material information about the biddingprocess to one of the bidders; by causing the alteration of a submitted bid to influence thecompetitive process; and by providing a competitive advantage to one bidder.
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