Records shed light on felony charges made against former Manatee Administrator Scott Hopes
New records released Friday detail allegations against former Manatee County Administrator Scott Hopes, who is being prosecuted on three third-degree felony charges.
State Attorney Ed Brodsky filed charges against Hopes on Thursday, including grand theft, notary fraud, and fraudulent use of public records.
New records made public on Friday indicate that Hopes is charged with the grand theft of $12,778.52 in county funds received as overpayment during three emergencies that occurred during his tenure as administrator. His contract does not allow for payment of overtime, court records show.
In total, during the three emergencies, Hopes was overpaid $12,778.52, according to claims made against him. A third-degree grand theft charge has been filed against Hopes as a result, and because of that finding, Hopes has also been charged with a third-degree felony for the fraudulent use of public records.
Additionally, Hopes was charged with a third-degree felony for allegations that he forged a notarization of two county records.
Emergency operations pay in question
Scott Hope's tenure as Manatee County administrator started on April Fool's Day 2021, and he was thrust into an emergency response situation almost immediately.
Felony charges made against him this week claim that pay received during that incident, and also during two emergency response situations to hurricane's Ian and Nicole.
Court records indicate that Hopes was only eligible for 56 hours of pay during the pay period, however, Hopes filed for 106 hours of pay. Computer functions were limited to pay for only 80 hours because there was no emergency pay code in effect, but it still resulted in $2,157.79 of overpayment to Hopes which was never returned. Records do not make note of the Piney Point fertilizer plant emergency response situation that occurred during those dates.
Hope's pay during Hurricane Ian is also in question. The charge filed against Hopes claims that he was overpaid by $8,863.60 and no evidence was found to indicate that restitution was ever attempted.
Another state of emergency was also declared in Manatee County between Nov. 5 and Nov. 18, 2022, in response to Hurricane Nicole. During that pay period, Hopes received pay for 38.5 hours of vacation and 50.5 emergency weather hours. The cost of the seventeen additional hours amounted to $1,757.24.
Fraudulent notary public signature
Hopes is also accused of a third-degree felony for the forgery of a notary public signature on two county documents.
An aide for the Manatee County Commission, who is also a certified notary, filed a complaint against Hopes on April 20 claiming that two documents published on the Manatee County Clerk of Court's website contained her forged signature and were fraudulently notarized.
The records in question were to confirm the satisfaction of State Housing Initiative Partnership Program loan terms to two parties. Both documents were signed by Hopes and witnessed by two staff members. Both documents indicate they were notarized by the complainant on December 27, 2022, however, the complainant was actually on a cruise during a vacation on that date.
The complainant gave a sworn statement that the notarization of the document was forged, and investigators found "readily apparent" differences in handwriting and other reasons to believe the complaint.
Handling of public records
The MCSO's investigation began after a complaint was filed against Hopes by Florida Center for Government Accountability Director of Public Access Initiatives Michael Barfield. He claimed that Hopes wiped his county-issued devices before returning them to the county upon his resignation.
According to public records, Hopes was almost scot-free on those claims until he decided to provide a statement in January to the State Attorney's office.
Upon investigation, MCSO found that Hopes did reset his devices in the presence of county IT staff but that the records were not destroyed. The Manatee County Sheriff's Office was able to recover unredacted versions of public records on the devices, and upon inspection, the office reported that it even agreed with redactions made to copies of those records that had been released to the public.
Investigators noted that they were left wondering why Hopes would want to wipe the devices so eagerly, and stated they did find photographs of a medical nature on the device that could have been the reason.
However, after the MCSO investigation had concluded, Hope's attorney Lisa Chittaro contacted the State Attorney's office with notice that Hopes was willing to provide a statement after previous silence on the matter.
During a sworn interview, Hopes indicated that he had tried to erase the data because he was concerned about the presence of confidential alarm codes. According to records, the statement incriminated Hopes by indicating intent to destroy a record even though none were found to be destroyed by detectives.
Detectives found probable cause to believe that Hopes intentionally and improperly destroyed public records. However, Brodsky's office did not pursue charges on that claim.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Records shed light on felony charges made against Scott Hopes
