How did former Manatee County administrator break the law? New documents detail charges

Investigators detailed three felony charges against Former Manatee County Administrator Scott Hopes in newly released investigative documents.

The State Attorney’s Office announced third-degree felony charges against Hopes on Thursday for grand theft, notary fraud and improper use of public records. A Manatee County Sheriff’s Office probable cause affidavit detailed those allegations.

Deputies arrested and booked Hopes, 63, into the Manatee County Jail Thursday, according to the sheriff’s office website. Hopes was released from jail Thursday after posting a $75,000 bond.

The sheriff’s office began investigating Hopes last March after receiving a criminal complaint regarding a public records request. In November, deputies announced that they recommended charges against Hopes, but the case was passed to the State Attorney’s Office to determine if those charges would be filed.

Hopes, who previously served on the School Board of Manatee County, became the county administrator in April 2021. With little explanation, he resigned last February after less than two years on the job.

Manatee County Government officials said Hope’s departure was a “voluntary resignation.” His separation agreement included 120 days of severance pay, six months of health benefits and one year of deferred compensation. Hopes made an annual salary of $215,000 as county administrator.

After he resigned from his county position, AeroVanti, a private jet club, selected Hopes as CEO, but he was replaced a short time later. The company has since become embroiled in lawsuits.

Hopes did not respond to the Bradenton Herald’s request for comment Friday afternoon.

Notary fraud

Hopes is charged with notary fraud as part of a wide-ranging scheme that repeatedly broke Florida law, according to the sheriff’s office.

The County Attorney’s Office received a complaint about the process in April 2023, when a notary public said she found two documents on the Clerk of Court’s website that were forged with her signature while she was on vacation.

As county administrator, Hopes was tasked with signing official documents, which must be done in the presence of a certified notary public. According to current and former staffers who spoke with investigators, Hope rarely met with a notary public to sign documents because it was “more effective and efficient” to sign the documents when he had time and then have the documents notarized later.

The sheriff’s office said investigators found enough evidence to determine that Hopes, as the leader of the county’s workforce, had “mandated a process to intentionally and systematically subvert the laws of the State of Florida governing the institution of Notary Public by insisting he sign documents requiring notarization at his own leisure without a certified Notary Public and requisite witnesses immediately present on an ongoing basis.”

Grand theft and misusing public records

Prosecutors allege that Hopes participated in grand theft by accepting nearly $13,000 in improper overtime pay from Manatee County Government.

As county administrator, Hopes was an exempt administrative employee who was not allowed to earn overtime pay, according to federal law. But in three different instances, the sheriff’s office found evidence to prove Hopes had been overpaid.

The first overpayment came in Hopes’ first paycheck, investigators say. Hopes logged 106 hours worked — likely due to the emergency response to a leak at Piney Point — the sheriff’s office said.

But an emergency pay code for that event was not in effect, and Hopes should have only been eligible for 80 hours worked, according to the sheriff’s office. In his first paycheck, Hopes was overpaid by $2,157.69, deputies said.

The second overpayment came in October 2022, after Hopes submitted a time card reflecting 165.75 hours worked as part of the Hurricane Ian emergency response, according to an audit performed by the Manatee County Clerk of Court’s Inspector General’s Office.

After overpaying Hopes by about $15,000, county payroll staffers attempted to correct the issue and deducted $6,200 from his next paycheck, deputies say. According to an arrest report, the automatic correction happened because some exempt employees are allowed to receive one time their hourly rate during an emergency, but employees above the director rank, including Hopes, do not qualify for that benefit.

In November 2022, as part of the county’s emergency response to Hurricane Nicole, Hopes received a similar overpayment for hours worked, according to the sheriff’s office. Prosecutors say Hopes’ improper time card resulted in an overpayment of $1,757.23.

However, county operations were not suspended during the storm, and the use of an emergency pay code had not been authorized, deputies said.

In total, Hopes was overpaid $12,778.52, without making proper notification of overpayment, according to the sheriff’s office.

“Hopes claimed to have made notification of the error to Human Resources after he read his pay stub, but the approximate $11,000 overpayment for the two emergency events was never returned to the county coffers,” deputies wrote in an arrest report.

The third charge that prosecutors filed against Hopes, fraudulent use of public record, is linked to his improper time cards, according to the sheriff’s office.

What happens next?

According to a sheriff’s office report, deputies recommended charging Hopes with destruction of public records for clearing his county-issued iPhone and iPad ahead of his resignation last February.

In an interview with deputies, Hopes said he wiped the devices because there were “confidential alarm codes” for certain county properties, such as the Powel Crosley Mansion, on the devices and that he “did not trust IT” with those codes, even though IT staffers already had access to them, according to the sheriff’s office.

“By destroying said records, Hopes intentionally attempted to prevent its inspection,” investigators wrote in an arrest report. “Although confidential alarm codes may be considered exempt from public record requests, they are still public records.”

However, prosecutors declined to press charges linked to the alleged deletion of public records.

Hopes is expected to appear in court for arraignment on April 5, according to court documents.