Auditors find lax oversight of Broward Sheriff’s Office trust fund
A trust fund overseen by the Broward Sheriff’s Office has been plagued with lax rules on conflicts of interest and missing documentation, according to an audit made public Wednesday.
Sheriff Gregory Tony commissioned the forensic audit in September.
The investigation conducted by Carr, Riggs & Ingram LLC examined the agency’s Law Enforcement Trust Fund, which consists of money forfeited during criminal investigations. Auditors examined records from Jan. 1, 2008, through June 30, 2019, when former sheriffs Al Lamberti and Scott Israel oversaw the program.
Tony said he requested the audit because the agency did not have a consistent process for distributing hundreds of thousands of dollars seized during criminal investigations to community groups.
“We have been reviewing and analyzing all expenditures in this agency,” he said. “I would be a fool not to.”
Tony is facing his predecessor, Israel, in the Aug. 18 Democratic primary. Israel led the agency from January 2013 until his suspension by Gov. Ron DeSantis in January 2019.
Trust fund dollars are passed on to charitable organizations, but auditors found the Broward Sheriff’s Office did not require grant applicants to disclose potential conflicts of interest with the sheriff or BSO personnel. In several cases, the agency did not perform conflict-of-interest checks.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants were handed out under the Israel and Lamberti administrations to nonprofit organizations with officers who had made political contributions to the sheriff, according to the audit.
More than $790,000 in grants were distributed to 14 organizations with officers who had given Israel’s campaign just over $17,100 in political donations, according to the audit.
The list includes several well-known charitable organizations in the community, such as the Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County and Women in Distress of Broward County.
Lauren’s Kids, a nonprofit focused on child sex abuse prevention, received $10,000 through the trust fund.
That organization is headed by the powerful lobbyist Ron Book, who had given $3,000 to Israel’s campaign. His daughter, state Sen. Lauren Book, serves as the organization’s chief executive officer.
Amy Rose, a spokeswoman for Israel’s campaign, said the campaign has not had time to review the audit’s findings in detail, but she questioned the timing of its release before the election.
“In the last weeks of a desperate campaign they are trying to throw something together,” Rose said. “This is nothing more than a politically motivated attack.”
Efforts to reach Lamberti Wednesday were unsuccessful.
Auditors found other issues with the Law Enforcement Trust Fund.
Israel’s administration established application periods, workshops, review committees, documentation requirements and monitoring. But much of the paperwork couldn’t be produced or wasn’t viewed by the agency as a permanent record.
The agency did not define what is considered a conflict of interest for the committee that rated applications.
Funds were used in ways that didn’t appear to comply with statutes and guidelines. During fiscal years 2014 1/4 u20102015 through 2018 1/4 u20102019, auditors found $4,450 in individual membership due renewals. Federal guidelines allow agency dues to be paid with the funds but not individual dues. Federal funds were also given to ineligible groups that did not meet federal criteria. This included $25,000 for the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center, Inc., $10,000 for the Church of Brotherly Love Inc., and $50,000 for the Broward Partnership for Homeless Inc. Funds were given to law enforcement organizations providing training, which was not in compliance with federal guidelines.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office paid up to $90,000 for the review, according to an agreement signed on Sept. 27. The audit has been sent to the Broward County Commission, which approves trust fund grants.
Tony said he will implement the 20 recommendations auditors made to strengthen the program. Those recommendations include requiring disclosures of potential conflicts of interest and establishing a central electronic depository of records.
Skyler Swisher can be reached at sswisher@sunsentinel.com, 561-243-6634 or @SkylerSwisher.
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