Suit Filed by Fired Homestead Police Captain

A lawsuit has been filed by fired Homestead Police Captain William ‘Bobby’ Rea against the City of Homestead alleging public records laws may have been violated in the Homestead Police Department. Rea was terminated by the City of Homestead in December following a recommendation from Homestead Police Chief Alexander E. Rolle Jr.

According to the lawsuit, “Edna Marie Hernandez, an Internal Affairs Secretary, Captain Marie Kent and Chief Rolle had been involved in the unlawful withholding and destruction of public records.”

Rolle denied the allegations saying they were false.

“Our records speak for themselves,” said Rolle. “We are going to continue to be ethical and professional. And we are going to take care of our city.”

Rea said, “Hernandez told him about destruction of the records in a conversation at the station.”

The lawsuit alleges Rea was fired from the department after he reported the allegations that documents were being destroyed and others created to the State Attorney Office and Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).

Rolle denied that was the reason for Rea’s firing and stated he recommended Rea’s termination to City Manager, George Gretsas for several reasons.

In a Termination Notice given to Rea in December 2013, Rolle listed five reasons for the termination. These included “failure to complete a court tracking program after being directed to do so, failure to create a 4/10 schedule, inadequate supervision and instruction of the Information and Technology department, failure to perform tasks related to crime watch projects which he was assigned to and failure to ensure that the communications radio system functioned properly.”

Rolle believes the lawsuit is a retaliation of Rea’s termination.

Rea denies that claim.

“For someone to come to me with this outlandish allegation, I would expect to have some information to lead me to believe the allegation maybe true,” Rea said. “It was troubling to me. I made a phone call to the state to seek advice because it was a criminal matter. I told them what I was told. I followed the advice they gave me.”

The allegations detailed in the whistle blower lawsuit begin in 2011 when Hernandez, was ordered to lawfully destroy files that had exceeded the time of retention. In Florida, documents can be destroyed after a certain period of time based on a retention schedule.

According to the lawsuit, a public records request was made in April 2011 by former Sergeant Lizanne Deegan for personnel files. At the time of Deegan’s request she was under criminal investigation after being one of three officers accused of beating and pepper-spraying a migrant worker outside a Homestead bar.

According to the lawsuit, Hernandez told Rea she was ordered by Captain Marie Kent to not send out personnel files and to say the records had exceeded retention.

A public records request was also made by Police Benevolent Association attorney, Luis Fuste, for the logs and destruction reports. According to the lawsuit, Kent told Hernandez to create a second log book.

The lawsuit states, “Hernandez created false destruction reports that Captain Kent and Chief Rolle signed.”

Rolle says he remembers signing the documents given to him, but didn’t know what they were for.

“There are many things I sign everyday,” Rolle said. “She [Hernandez] started doing destruction back in 2011. You have an Internal Affairs secretary and you don’t think she would falsify paperwork and bring it to the chief of police to sign. When I saw that Captain Kent signed it, I said ‘I know [Kent] is very thorough so if she signed it then it must be done right.’ So I signed it not knowing what was destroyed.

“Hernandez would come to me almost once a week to tell me what was going on in Internal Affairs,” Rolle continued. “She never said anything about Captain Kent, but always complained about Captain Rea. That’s the thing that puzzles me. Why would she go to him if she comes to me complaining about Captain Rea? I think they had a plan to set us up.”

A source inside the Homestead Police Department stated Hernandez’s story to Rea was fabricated because of a mistake Hernandez had made before she began lawfully destroying documents.

“There was one form she did not fill out,” the source said. “We would have been fined, but it was not a crime. She was trying to fix the problem without telling anybody about it. She panicked and made up this story.”

The source said after the allegations were made, Hernandez asked to be transferred from Internal Affairs to dispatch, the position in which she was originally hired. She also applied for an open position as a dog catcher.

Hernandez is still a Homestead Police employee.

The lawsuit states Rea reported the allegations in September 2013 to the state and Gretsas. Gretsas, according to the lawsuit, advised Rea to report the allegations to Rolle.

When asked for a comment, Gretsas said, “I have been advised by the city attorney not to comment because it is a pending lawsuit.”

Rea stated after he brought the allegations of illegal conduct to Rolle, he was treated in a hostile manner.

“Certainly my relationship was restrained at best,” Rea said. “The ultimate hostile action would be the termination.”

A Homestead Police Department source stated, “Rea’s job had been in jeopardy for a couple years before the allegations were presented.”

Rolle denied treating Rea differently. He also stated because of the allegations, separate investigations on Kent and Hernandez are being conducted by the state.

Rolle is confident when the investigation is complete the facts will show the allegations in the lawsuit are false.

“The investigation will uncover the truth,” Rolle said.